Our mission
To provide cross-cultural feature writing and bold investigative reporting in the Chico area of the Northern Sacramento Valley.
ChicoSol is a not-for-profit news organization covering issues overlooked by traditional media that are starved for resources and unable to provide the in-depth coverage investigative reporting produces. We provide a digital platform for stories that span cultural borders, including those related to race, ethnicity, immigration status, language and class, and examine how power and policy affect vulnerable communities.
We follow the stories that often get dropped by print newspapers as we seek those who are accountable and those who can help find ways to address the community’s most vexing problems. In short, we believe that fact-based journalism nourishes democracy, that truth is sunlight. We distribute a new issue the first week of each month by sending an email note to all who have joined our subscription list.
Our objectives
- To provide in-depth features that encourage and enlarge community discourse;
- Provide investigative reporting in the community’s interest;
- Mentor young journalists and provide a publication outlet for student writers.
Our work is sustained by these principles:
- Journalism is a community service and performs best when it’s not profit-based;
- Context, background and accuracy are key to honest reporting and more important than competition for scoops in a local news market;
- Fairness and balance should be provided through consideration of diverse viewpoints;
- Journalists must expose or correct rather than serve as a platform for misinformation;
- Fair pay in news reporting is essential.
Our history
ChicoSol was launched in 2007 by Henri Flores and Leslie Layton, initially serving as a bilingual classroom teaching tool. Leslie was an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Journalism at California State University, Chico, and a freelance writer. It rapidly evolved into a bridge between the campus and community and soon began publishing professional writers as well as student journalists on a digital platform.
We developed a readership in the community through a free subscription system and published stories in both English and Spanish, establishing ourselves as a leader in the non-profit digital news field.
We continue to be committed to reporting that serves Spanish-speaking and other minority communities that are often overlooked by more traditional news outlets. We publish in Spanish when translation services are available to us. To the extent possible we support student journalists, and encourage as we can young writers who represent or have a connection to minority communities. We believe that delivering information to Butte County’s minority audiences is crucial. Diversity in the ranks of news professionals that reflects the state’s diversity is an important step.
ChicoSol specializes in in-depth reporting and high-quality writing that will engender audience trust. Dozens of our stories were reprinted or published in partnership with the Chico News & Review (when it had a print edition). Other stories have reached a broader audience after being reprinted by New America Media (now defunct), Ethnic Media Services (EMS) and other media outlets.
Please click here to read about our special projects, media coverage and awards and honors recognizing our work.
Follow us on Facebook at: ChicoSol.org – Facebook and on Twitter at: @ChicoSolNews.
To support our work and learn about our membership program, click here. We welcome you as a subscriber or as a donor — or better yet both!
To learn about how ChicoSol is funded and maintains editorial independence, click here. Our organization not only maintains a firewall between news coverage and revenue sources, but guarantees financial transparency for our readers’ benefit.