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Screenshot, L.A. Taco

In 2020, I wrote about a group of local food writers reimagining their work ([link removed]) and its role in local news. One of them was Javier Cabral of L.A. Taco ([link removed]) .
That for-profit digital newsroom received an Emerging Voice Award in 2020 from the James Beard Foundation. L.A. Taco describes itself as “a platform for Los Angeles. We are a source of news and information covering food, culture, and community in the metropolitan area. We are independently owned and operated by L.A. and for L.A. In our mission, we aim to bring raw and street-level journalism from all corners of L.A. County to our loyal readers, supporters, members, and partners who share our passion for Los Angeles.”
And, when called, those readers were loyal.
This week, my colleague Amaris Castillo wrote about L.A. Taco’s call for help when faced with furloughs. ([link removed])
“I don’t think that we knew how much people cared about us,” said investigative reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray. “And it just felt like people weren’t going to let us fail, no matter how depressing things felt, or what we were thinking personally. It really felt like L.A. had our back …”
You can read the full story here ([link removed]) .
L.A. Taco’s story offers a good reason to go back and revisit the work of The Membership Puzzle Project ([link removed]) , which spent years devoted to helping newsrooms build robust membership platforms that go far beyond the “give money, get a tote bag” model. And from last year, here’s Medill’s Local News Initiative onthe very real problem of subscriber churn ([link removed]) and how to fight it.

Sponsored post
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Telling untold stories with source tracking
Source tracking gives news leaders data to improve community representation in their coverage and find audience-focused story ideas. American Press Institute’s Source Matters automates source tracking to help newsrooms better reach and represent the communities they cover. Learn how Source Matters can help you better serve your community here ([link removed]) .

While you’re here:
* Read about The Associated Press’ plan ([link removed]) to launch a nonprofit to raise $100 million for local news.
* From Indiegraf and Amanda Zamora, learn about “how to align your mission with revenue goals, avoid burnout and achieve sustainable growth.” This webinar ([link removed]) takes place on Thursday, July 24.

That’s it for me. Next week I’ll return to more of the amazing projects from this year’s Poynter-Koch fellows.
Kristen
Kristen Hare
Faculty
The Poynter Institute
@kristenhare ([link removed])
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