Latino immigrants sound off on the challenges of accessing social services intended to help through the pandemic — Research & report by tania quintana For Roberto, a 55-year-old father and restaurant busser whose hours were slashed during the pandemic, the few thousand dollars promised by the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) would have lifted a heavy burden off his shoulders.* Instead, Roberto’s attempt to access the funds only…

El Tímpano welcomed four new team members in early 2022, resulting in more than doubling the size of our organization, diversifying our leadership, and expanding our capacity for growth, sustainability, and impact as we create journalism with, for, and about the Bay Area’s Latino and Mayan immigrant communities.

First we built a community. Now we’re building a newsroom. And expanding to the wider Bay Area. — When Teresa, a housewife in her late 50s, signed up for El Tímpano’s local news and participatory reporting platform last spring, the COVID-19 vaccine rollout was just getting underway, and it was chaotic. The first message she received from El Tímpano informed her of how to make an appointment at…

A Q&A with El Tímpano’s community organizer, tania quintana Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from, and what experiences have shaped your approach to community organizing? I was born and raised in East Oakland, and lived in the same apartment complex throughout my childhood and young adulthood…

How El Tímpano is strengthening a web of community connections — Disconnected. No one word better summarizes what El Tímpano heard from the hundreds of immigrants who contributed to our information ecosystem assessment four years ago. In community meetings, surveys, and conversations, Oakland’s Spanish-speaking residents repeatedly brought up their desires to get involved, take action, raise their concerns to elected officials…

El Tímpano’s community-centered approach to combat misinformation in Latino and Mayan immigrant communities — In the past decade, misinformation has emerged as a leading threat to democracy and public health. And the news industry has invested in countering this ill. We have created fact-checking sites, verification organizations, and disinformation beats, and strengthened our skills in identifying misinformation.

From icebergs to feedback loops, El Tímpano intern Sonya Lustig details how we’re working to understand this largely invisible crisis — By Sonya Lustig Three months ago, El Tímpano began investigating the prevalence of overcrowded housing in Oakland’s Latino and Mayan immigrant communities and how those housing conditions affect the health of residents, throughout and beyond the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Community is at the heart of El Tímpano, our mission, and how we work. We began not by launching a website but by building relationships within Oakland’s Latino and Mayan immigrant communities, and working with residents, community leaders, and local partners to design local news with and for those communities…

Examining the crisis before our eyes, and those that have been brewing behind closed doors — When Orlando Ruiz’s brother brought COVID-19 home from his janitorial job in May, self-isolation was out of the question. He lives in a house in East Oakland with his parents, brothers, and their families. …