Encuentro Virtual
Background
Voices from the community are often what shape our reporting here at ¡Presente! Media and we rely on them to highlight perspectives that are often overlooked by mainstream platforms. Encuentro Virtual is a series of moderated community conversations as part of our goal to further our outreach and expand engagement with audiences. It is a project meant to provide community members a platform to voice their concerns and bring awareness to the issues that are most important to them.
Popular news outlets largely ignore the perspectives of those more affected by social issues. Instead, they often use a form of parachute reporting where the sensationalism of a story is prioritized over the community living with the impact, or the coverage of the issues is superficial instead of critical and nuanced. Through the Encuentro Virtual series, we provide equity back to the community in the form of engagement and produce stories that they can see themselves reflected in. By partnering with key leaders and local organizations, we hope to expand our audience reach and gain a deeper understanding of the issues that impact Latinx, immigrants and communities of color.
Encuentro Virtual Series Ep. 1 Trailer
¡Presente! Media piloted the Encuentro Virtual series in May 2020, co-presented by Philatinos Radio Coordinator Edgar Ramirez and with the support of the Bread & Roses Solidarity Fund for COVID-19 Organizing, to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the Philadelphia Latinx community. Attendees emphasized the need for culturally sensitive and fluently competent local media to address the pressing issues facing the community. Ramirez shared, “I think that we need to produce media that helps us feel part of this country and city, that we contribute, and that we are treated equally.”
During the pilot, community members expressed concerns over the inaccessibility of COVID-19 information and lack of resources for the Latinx community.
Educator Carmen Marcet stated that in general, and even more so during the pandemic, the City of Philadelphia has not offered culturally competent translations of important information for immigrant communities. “We feel like we are second-class citizens.”
Through conversations like this one, Encuentro Virtual has helped shape the cultural awareness of organizations in the area as well. For example, after attending the pilot session, a representative from the Leeway Foundation shared that the organization changed its approach towards bilingual information after listening to feedback from community members.
“¡Presente! Media’s first virtual community meeting was invaluable to the team at Leeway. At the meeting we heard feedback from monolingual and bilingual Spanish speaking folx talking about the challenges of navigating English centric information, making them less likely to access resources and other opportunities. This conversation resulted in Leeway shifting its approach in regard to Spanish translation immediately. Directly adopting the translation model used by ¡Presente! Media, Leeway made sure to offer simultaneous translation during the entire session and will continue to implement this practice moving forward.”
- Testimonial from a former Leeway Foundation staff member
In the coming months, ¡Presente! Media will host the Encuentro Virtual series with community meetings to discuss topics such as health access, economic justice, immigration, LGBTQIA+ and racial equality, and COVID-19 relief.
If you would like to learn more and get involved as the Encuentro Virtual series develops, please email us at info@presentemedia.org.
Encuentro Virtual Episodes
Episode 1: COVID-19 impact on the Latino community
In this episode, co-presented by Philatinos Radio Coordinator Edgar Ramirez, we discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the Philadelphia Latinx community.
Episode 2: LGBTQIA+ Representation
In this episode, we discuss LGBTQIA+ representation with two special guests, Daniel de Jesus, painter, composer, songwriter, and performer, and Gabe Loredo, fiber artist and illustrator.
Episode 3: Latinx Representation in the newsroom
In this episode, we discuss Latinx Representation in the newsroom with three special guests: Edgar Ramírez, Philatinos Radio Coordinator, Gabe Castro, Program and Production Coordinator at PhilyCAM & Host of the podcast Ghouls Next Door and Ericka Conant, AL Día News reporter.
