Capacity Creates Opportunity: Radio Campesina’s Growth Story

As part of The Pivot Fund’s Impact Series, we’re highlighting how investments in trusted, community-rooted publishers builds stronger organizations, healthier local information ecosystems and more resilient communities. First up is Radio Campesina, whose story shows what becomes possible when trusted newsrooms have the capacity to grow.

The Pivot Fund’s $150,000 investment helped Radio Campesina has evolve from a traditional radio broadcaster into a multimedia community news organization serving Latino communities across California and Arizona. The flexible investment strengthened editorial, digital, and business capacity, creating the organizational foundation needed to expand beyond a radio-centered model.

Rather than simply expanding programming, Radio Campesina built the systems and capabilities needed to create a more sustainable future for Latino community journalism. The investment helped Radio Campesina hire its first dedicated Spanish-language community reporter in Arizona, expand into digital video, livestreaming and bilingual storytelling, launch Chavez Digital Solutions to generate new earned revenue, and build partnerships with Arizona State University, community organizations and local businesses to strengthen journalism and workforce development.

“Before partnering with The Pivot Fund, we didn’t have a dedicated reporter in our Spanish Content Department in Arizona,” said Maria Barquin, Director of Spanish Content for Radio Campesina and Chavez Media. “Today, our reporters are in different communities every day, telling important stories for radio, digital and social media. The biggest impact has been the trust we have built by showing up every day.”

The results extended far beyond content. Chavez Digital Solutions generated approximately $80,000 in new revenue in just three months, Radio Campesina secured a $36,000 branded content partnership, expanded digital monetization through YouTube and strengthened its role as a trusted bilingual source of news, resources and community connections. Through cultural events, outreach to farmworker cuadrillas and community activations, the organization is reaching people where they are with information they can use.

Radio Campesina’s transformation demonstrates that investing in community journalism isn’t just about funding stories — it’s about building the organizational capacity that allows trusted newsrooms to innovate, diversify their revenue and continue serving their communities for years to come.