June 24, 2024 | Stories
Claudia Amaro launched Planeta Venus three years ago and continues to seek new ways to make information accessible to the Latinx community. Equipped with a grant from the Wichita Foundation’s Info Challenge* in late 2023, she aims to grow the newsroom’s print and digital newspaper.
The newsroom shares community-centric stories in Spanish through its newspaper and online radio station.
“Planeta Venus has done a really good job of activating the Spanish-speaking community,” says Alejo Cabral, program director for Create Campaign. “There’s a huge gap in news being provided to Latinos. There’s a difference between talking at Latinos and talking to Latinos.”
Planeta Venus is helping make sure that distributing news to the Spanish community is not an after-thought. Recognizing the importance of equitable access to news and information, Amaro plans to hire more writers to broaden their news coverage.
“I feel like these first few months have been focused on structure,” says Amaro. “This has given me an opportunity to talk to people who are already in this industry, and I can go and ask questions and connect to so many resources I didn’t know existed.”
With aspirations to offer a platform for Spanish-speaking podcasts, Amaro has already expanded her office space in preparation. For now, her primary focus remains on delivering reliable news and information covering policies, health, business, and other relevant topics.
“This year is going to be a lot of new stuff for me and [the other newsrooms] and I just know confidently that we’re growing,” says Amaro.
To subscribe to news from Planeta Venus or explore their online radio station, visit https://www.planetavenus.online/.
*In December 2023, three local newsrooms were selected as recipients of the Info Challenge, a joint initiative between the Wichita Foundation (WF) and Tiny News Collective (TNC): Planeta Venus, the SHOUT and TMBP Media. Each newsroom received a $30,000 grant from Press Forward Wichita at WF and a two-year TNC membership, providing access to resources and connections with local news founders across the country.
