Impact Stories

When Diana Alba Soular began reporting for her solutions article titled “NM endowment offers perpetual funding source for rural libraries,” no money had been allocated in the state budget to support this network of essential community institutions in Southern New Mexico. While pressure from rural library advocacy groups had limited traction, Alba Soular’s sustained questions around state lawmakers’ positions on the matter contributed to their decision to add $2.5 million in funding. After unsuccessfully reaching out to state Rep. Nathan Small, D-Las Cruces, the chair of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee, for an interview about funding rural libraries, she was able to get other representatives on the record. However, this allocation of money was only a fraction of the $27 million goal needed to fully fund the endowment initiative rural libraries are calling for.

Since launching in 2022, The Green Line (TGL), a hyperlocal news outlet that serves young Torontonians and those living in underserved areas, has blended financial sustainability with deep community engagement, all while offering coverage of tangible solutions. At the heart of its operating model is the Action Journey strategy, which involves explaining and investigating the root of problems people face, convening community-focused events with discussions around those issues, and developing reporting as well as resources that can help address them. An example of its solutions coverage and engagement is the project “Living With Covid in Toronto.” TGL has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the audiences and communities it serves, as well as from local institutions with which it has partnered on various projects. Its revenue has grown by 125% from 2022 to 2023, with a mix coming from partnerships; foundation and government grants; and readers. Anita Li, founder and publisher of The Green Line, has said solutions journalism plays a crucial role in attracting support from grantmakers and audiences alike.

Thanks to Lavun Community Radio’s solutions-oriented coverage in the local Nupe language, several communities neighboring Kutigi, a town in Nigeria’s North Central region, were able to replicate improvements addressing challenges with utilities such as electricity, potable water and environmental sanitation. Leaders from a neighboring town and settlement sought guidance from Kutigi’s utilities commission and subsequently set up steering committees to manage various maintenance strategies, which included providing skills training for young people to become involved in the work. (Lavun Radio, a community-owned and operated station, was trained in solutions journalism as part of the Solutions Journalism Africa Initiative, managed by Nigeria Health Watch.)

Gabriela Barzallo (January 2024): Reporter Gabriela Barzallo wrote a solutions story titled “¿Puede la bioeconomía tomar el relevo al petróleo en la Amazonia ecuatoriana?” (“Can the bioeconomy replace oil extraction in the Ecuadorian Amazon?” https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-06-22/can-the-bioeconomy-replace-oil-extraction-in-the-ecuadorian-amazon.html) for the Americas section of El País, one of the most extensive and trustworthy Spanish-language outlets, in June 2023. Shortly after, Ecuador’s minister of tourism, Niels Olsen, reached out to discuss some of the nonextractive economic practices she explored in her article, including ecotourism. In a plan for the country’s tourism industry outlined at the beginning of 2024, the minister specifically mentioned his intention to promote sustainable and entrepreneurial forms of tourism that would benefit rural and indigenous communities.

La Raza (2023): The Field Foundation of Illinois provided a $25,000 grant to La Raza, a leading Spanish newspaper in Chicago, to support its coverage of democracy and the Hispanic community ahead of the 2024 election cycle. Moving beyond the usual horse race coverage, Jesús Del Toro, the publication's director and general manager, said La Raza would be “transparent in what is covered and how we do it, opening our reporting to include our audience’s perspectives and needs regarding politics and elections, and producing content that showcases local solutions and initiatives.” It also plans to produce “educational materials, such as voter guides, to help our immigrant readers to better understand democracy and its process in the USA,” explained Del Toro. (La Raza participated in the 2023 edition of the Advancing Democracy Fellowship, led by SJN, Hearken and Trusting News.)

As a result of working for the Southern New Mexico Journalism Collaborative, which brings together nine media outlets covering COVID-19 and pandemic recovery from a solutions lens, several journalists pursued opportunities for career growth and professional development. Diana Alba Soular, who has 15 years’ experience in legacy newsrooms, took the job of project manager and editor with the collaborative and said, “Solutions journalism opened my eyes to possibilities of what journalism can be.” While there are many persistent issues in New Mexico, she said media organizations could take more responsibility “to advance the health of our communities,” by learning and reporting on better ways to tackle problems. Another reporter, Reyes Mata III, developed his skills in solutions journalism through work done for the collaborative. His reporting and the attention he received contributed to his working as a freelancer for The Washington Post.