A nonprofit organization that pays interns to work in Idaho newsrooms is expanding. Voces, whose mission is to increase coverage and representation of Latinos in the media, has received half a million dollars.
Since 2022, Voces has placed 25 Latino interns in newsrooms across the state. Last week, they were awarded a grant from Press Forward, a media coalition working to bolster local journalism initiatives.
In 2023, Voces funded Daniel Ramirez’s summer internship at the Idaho Statesman. He’s now a full time reporter at East Idaho News and the only bilingual reporter on staff. A first generation student, he said he never thought he’d be able to make it in the industry.
“For [Voces] to be able to pay for me to be there was something that shocked me, just considering the fact that most internships are unpaid,” Ramirez said.
“It really helped me realize that there are people who want to see you succeed,” he continued. “They helped me a lot to just understanding that I can do anything I want. If I dream it, I can achieve it.”
More than half of past Voces interns received offers at the end of their internship. Many alumni contribute to the few bilingual news programs in the state.
“There is a community that we aren't tapped into in journalism,” Ramirez said. “Oftentimes, people who are Hispanic, Latinos never interact with a journalist or don't know how to interact with journalists or don't know anybody who speaks Spanish.”
“It's something that's very cool to extend to the Hispanic and Latino community that like, hey, actually someone cares about us to come out here and talk to us and speak to us in a language that is easy for them to understand,” he added.
A spokesperson for Voces says the $500,000 grant will help them increase recruitment in more remote areas of the state.
Disclaimer: Several Voces interns have worked in Boise State Public Radio’s newsroom and our own Murphy Woodhouse serves on their advisory board.
