No Funds, No Coverage — Help keep The Santanero alive!

Hi, I’m Daniel Diaz — founder, editor, reporter, and everything-in-between at The Santanero.

I started this independent newspaper in April 2022 with a friend to better inform Santaneros and bridge the gap between our community and elected officials. Since then, it’s been a slow, costly journey — one I’ve taken on while working two part-time jobs, attending school full time and $23,384.24 invested in (so far via my wages since 2022, spent on camera bodies, lenses, web hosting, domain protection, etc.).

I’ve been doing this completely unpaid since day one, because I believe our city deserves accurate, clear, and accessible information by someone born and raised here. By someone who understands the city's faults, perks, people, and hold those in office and the staff who get paid by taxpayers accountable in a respectful but critically important manner (might get a little to real sometimes when reporting live though—those who watched my Instagram lives know what I am talking about).

The Santanero is a one-person operation. I write, edit, report, translate, and design everything myself. It is a passion of mine, not just a job. I’ve tried to raise funds — even launched a tote bag last month — but production costs ended up exceeding the revenue. If you got one, it’s officially a collector’s item now.

Here’s the truth: journalism isn’t free to produce. The costs of website hosting, design tools like Canva with licensed fonts, translation services, and I have yet to file to become a formal business because that too comes at a cost. I’ve done all I can to keep the lights on, but my well has run dry — California drought dry. Without support, The Santanero will likely shut down by the end of August.

And this is happening at the worst possible time. Our community is facing a lot — uncertainty, fear, stress. Next year, it will only get more critical with mid-term election season in full swing. The Santanero is here to help make sense of it all. That’s my mission.

I’m asking for your help to raise money to keep this project alive. Your donation is a gift — not a payment, not a subscription, not a business transaction. It’s something I receive with sincere gratitude. I wish I could give something back, but I can’t. Every dollar will go directly to helping me stay housed, keep the website running, cover local government meetings, provide translated content, and more.

If you want to see what that looks like in detail and what the goals are, you can visit www.santanero.org/transparency/. I promise to keep receipts and invoices and publish them every quarter. If not, my mom will hold me to account.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for supporting independent, local journalism.

And to the haters — if you want to keep the beef going, you gotta help keep the lights on too. No journalism, no beef. Simple as that!

With love for this city,

Daniel Diaz

The Santanero