Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Los Angeles is a world-class city that deserves a strong, independent, and world-class local press that serves every neighborhood and community member. The recent wildfire disaster underscored how access to real-time, accurate, and comprehensive local news can be literally lifesaving for Angelenos. This is why I am deeply honored to join the Los Angeles Local News Initiative as its founding Chief Executive Officer.

My commitment to this work is deeply personal. As the daughter of immigrants, I learned early on about the vital importance of trustworthy local information and its power to transform lives. Whether translating government documents, facilitating doctor visits, or helping my mother navigate American institutions on a seamstress's salary, I witnessed firsthand how access to accurate information could open doors and create opportunity.

Throughout my professional career and as an active local volunteer, I have championed fact-based storytelling to drive social change. In higher education, I helped produce research that made complex issues accessible and actionable, empowering communities to advocate for historic reforms that expanded college access and success. When people have access to clear, reliable information about issues affecting their lives, transformation is possible.

Today the stakes could not be higher. When local media outlets struggle or disappear, communities lose their voice and democracy loses its foundation -- we lose the shared facts that enable civic dialogue, the watchdog reporting that exposes corruption, and the vital information that helps people make decisions about their daily lives. The L.A. Local News Initiative represents a bold new vision for local journalism: one that puts communities at the center, empowers local voices, and creates a sustainable model for independent reporting that both serves and reflects the people of Los Angeles. By combining professional journalism with community participation, we are not just preserving democracy — we’re reimagining how local news can strengthen it.

I look forward to working alongside our community members, media partners, and supporters to build a new kind of local news organization -- one that serves all Angelenos with the quality coverage they deserve, and that our democracy demands.

With gratitude and determination,

Michele Siqueiros