Zila Sanchez reports for La Noticia, the largest Spanish language publication in North Carolina, where she focuses on affordable housing, a huge issue in Charlotte. Low-income families find it hard to afford to live in the city anymore. The issue is even bigger in the Latino community where they face added challenges of abuse and discrimination, including eviction from apartments or mobile homes, no relocation assistance and many other issues. Sanchez is a Charlotte native who knows the area well. She was the editor-in-chief of North Carolina A&T State University’s independent student newspaper, The A&T Register. While on The Register, Sanchez led her team in creating a Primary Elections Voter Guide for all the public Historically Black Colleges and Universities in North and South Carolina. Sanchez was able to participate in the Poynter Institute’s College Media Project, the Black Narrative, where the staff explored biases within local news organizations that affect the public’s perspective. She was also a speaker at the 2019 National College Media Convention and N.C. Scholastic Media Association’s Summer Institute.
Beat: Affordable housing around Charlotte
This corps member investigates and reports on affordable housing, a huge issue in Charlotte. Low income families cannot afford to live in the city anymore. The issue is even bigger in the Latino community where they face added challenges of abuse and discrimination, including eviction from apartments or mobile homes, no relocation assistance and many other issues. People are too scared to react. They don't know they have rights. It is our duty as a community newspaper to educate our readers on this important subject and provide them with information so they can negotiate with land owners and property managers to get what is rightfully theirs.