Tucson Spotlight has been named one of seven Latino-serving newsrooms chosen nationwide for the Solutions Journalism Network's inaugural Addressing Health Disparities Fellowship.

Reporter and Director of Bilingual Initiatives Diana Ramos will lead the fellowship work, with Publisher and Editor Caitlin Schmidt, a two-time Solutions Journalism Network fellow, overseeing the project.

Over the next year, the newsroom will produce solutions-focused reporting on health equity issues facing Tucson's Latino community, with a particular focus on maternal and reproductive health, refugee and migrant health, chronic disease in the elder Latino population and the lasting effects of water contamination from decades of TCE pollution.

The fellowship comes as Tucson Spotlight deepens its health coverage. The outlet, the only newsroom in Southern Arizona publishing original journalism in both English and Spanish every weekday, has already reported on the healthcare crisis facing immigrant women, forever chemical contamination of groundwater and access to mental health and gender-affirming care.

A dedicated health intern, Zoey Oberstein, joined the team this spring and has already reported on measles and flu cases in Pima County and seizure protocols in local schools.

Each of the seven selected newsrooms receives monthly coaching, and professional development in solutions reporting, framing that is central to Tucson Spotlight's mission.

"Our community has faced years of systemic inequalities, ranging from water contamination in majority Hispanic areas to dwindling hospital access," Schmidt wrote in Tucson Spotlight's application. "Despite these challenges, our community has repeatedly picked itself up and made significant efforts to advocate for its own resources and information. A solutions approach allows us to give a powerful voice to those local leaders and residents who are actively battling these disparities."

Community research conducted through the Listening Post Collective found that Tucson residents across demographics described avoiding the news to escape anxiety, a pattern that solutions journalism directly counters by shifting the narrative toward what's working.

The other six newsrooms in the cohort are El Tecolote in Oakland, California; Yale Climate Connections; Shoresides in Wilmington, N.C.; Tu Prensa Local in Long Island, N.Y.; Factchequeado; and Univision 23 in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas.

Tucson Spotlight is a community-based newsroom that provides paid opportunities for students and rising journalists in Southern Arizona. Please consider supporting our work with a tax-deductible donation.