California

The Visalia Times Delta

The Visalia Times-Delta, where this reporter is based, is owned by Gannett. The California News Desert Initiative aims to promote content sharing among newsrooms so residents in under-covered communities get the news they need. 

Diego Vargas

Before joining Fresnoland as a Report for America corps member, Diego served as their community correspondent and covered stories in multiple beats, including local government, transportation and elections in Fresno County. He began as a general assignment student writer for Fresnoland in 2023 while serving as editor-in-chief for The Collegian, Fresno State's student-run newspaper. At the paper, he started his journalism career as an Arts & Entertainment editor and was involved in transitioning its weekly newspaper edition to a 24-page print magazine with a focus on long-form stories. He earned his bachelor's degree in digital journalism from Fresno State, speaks Spanish natively and is passionate about photojournalism.

Annie Barker

Annie Barker is a 25-year-old freelance photojournalist and Michigan State University graduate with two bachelor's degrees in journalism and creative advertising. Previously, she was a staff photographer at The Everett Herald and a photo intern at Detroit Free Press, Grand Rapids Press, and Deseret News, as well as a photo fellow with Boyd's Station. Annie has attended the Eddie Adams Workshop and the Missouri Photo Workshop. Between taking photos, you can find Annie with her partner, preventing squabbles between their cats, Marinara and Pesto, or looking to set the high-score on Pac-Man at the local arcade.

Jake Kincaid

Jake Kincaid is an investigative reporter at inewsource covering the impact of federal policy in San Diego. Before moving to San Diego, he reported from across the U.S. and Latin America covering misconduct by prosecutors in Ohio that left innocent people in jail for decades, abuse of political prisoners in Nicaragua, the impact of U.S foreign policy on the Colombian peace process and the failure of the coroner system in the U.S to accurately count COVID-19 deaths in rural areas. His reporting won National Headliner awards and he was an Overseas Press Club fellow with Reuters in Mexico City. His work has appeared in National Public Radio, The Guardian, USA Today, The Miami Herald and Univision. He holds a master’s degree from Columbia Journalism School in the Toni Stabile Investigative program and was an investigative reporter at Columbia Journalism Investigations. Jake speaks fluent Spanish. In his free time, he enjoys rock climbing, surfing and salsa dancing.

Sarah Hopkins

Prior to joining Open Vallejo, Hopkins was a reporting fellow at Inside Climate News, where she wrote feature stories on environmental justice, and an editorial intern at FRONTLINE, where she assisted with the production of long-form investigative documentaries. She previously worked as an investigator, writer and editor for public interest legal organizations, including the ACLU. Inspired by the intersections of science, law and public policy, she completed a master’s in science journalism at MIT. She is the recipient of the Taylor/Blakeslee University Fellowship from the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing and MIT’s S. Klein Prize for Scientific Writing for the Public. She was raised in a bilingual family in California, is fluent in Spanish and is a proud graduate of California public schools.

Amaya Edwards

Prior to joining Santa Cruz Local, visual journalist Amaya Edwards worked as the visuals intern for the San Francisco Chronicle and freelanced for different news organizations throughout the Bay Area, including the Oaklandside and San Francisco Chronicle. Edwards earned a bachelor's degree in photojournalism with a minor in race and resistance studies at San Francisco State University in 2022. She was a recipient of the Fran Ortiz grant during her time at SFSU, allowing her to work on her documentary photo essay about Black women doulas and their commitment to Black maternal health justice in and around Oakland.

Io Yeh Gilman

Before joining Mission Local as an RFA corp member, Io Yeh Gilman interned there in 2024, covering Pride, crime, homelessness, animals, and more. Born and raised in San Francisco, she previously reported on the city while working at The Lowell, her high school’s newspaper. In college, Gilman led Fifteen Minutes, The Harvard Crimson’s weekly magazine. She edited features and long form stories and wrote about a variety of topics including right wing attacks on DEI programs, climate change, science research, and more. Gilman holds a bachelor’s degree in History and Science from Harvard University and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

Mariana Martínez Barba

Prior to joining Voice of San Diego, Martínez Barba worked as a freelance journalist between the U.S. and Mexico, producing stories on immigration, culture, and climate for outlets like The Los Angeles Times, Prism Reports, and Ireland’s national radio station RTÉ. She also worked as a stringer for The Washington Post and as a field reporter and translator for The New York Times. As an intern with The Associated Press, Martínez Barba covered the historic inauguration of Mexico’s first female president, the capital’s ongoing water crisis, and investigated the growing network of migrant camps in Mexico City. She holds a master's degree from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY with a double concentration in international and bilingual reporting. She was a finalist for the Ñ Awards for NAHJ in 2024 and a recipient of the Silurians Press Club Award in 2023 for local reporting in New York City. She also holds a B.A. in Sociology from Occidental College.

Alejandra Molina

Alejandra Molina is a senior reporter and youth mentor at Boyle Heights Beat. Prior to joining the Beat, Molina was part of the team that launched De Los, a new section of the Los Angeles Times exploring Latinidad in L.A. and across the country. Before that, she was a national reporter for the independent and nonprofit Religion News Service as part of a global religion journalism initiative with the Associated Press and the Conversation. There, she covered Latinos and spirituality. As a staff writer, you can also find her bylines in newsrooms under the Southern California News Group, where she covered city, immigration and breaking news beats. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, Eater, LAist, and the Washington Post. She grew up in the L.A. region, including El Monte and Pomona.

inewsource

inewsource is a nonprofit newsroom serving San Diego since 2009 with investigative reporting that safeguards community interests and holds power to account. Through its signature Documenters program, inewsource trains and pays community members to attend public meetings and take notes. inewsource prioritizes innovation, including interactive and illustrated storytelling across platforms, and is the only local member of the Trust Project. Through various media partners, inewsource publishes its journalism on the web, social media, radio and television for local, state and national audiences.