San Pancho Voz is a free online magazine, events and business directory with over 2,000 monthly readers. It is a non-profit, no-advertiser publication in three languages published monthly during the winter “high season.” San Pancho Voz is dedicated to help improve communication, awareness and quality of life for the residents of San Pancho, Nayarit. It was launched in early 2022 during a period of aggressive development and influx of expats to provide a regularly-updated resource for community members who want to engage with each other and stay “in the know.”
San Pancho Voz’ vision and operating principles are steered by the local volunteer group “San Pancho Solidarity,” where Travler is a member. Its core mission is to help build community solidarity by connecting local people and businesses, and to raise awareness of opportunities and issues that affect the town. Its editorial policy is to provide neutral, fact-based, community-oriented perspectives and content. The editorial goals are to generate positive dialog, raise community awareness, help improve quality of life and help protect the community’s shared environment. It is funded, operated, edited and published by Travler with invaluable contributions from other volunteers and writers.
Our goal is to teach 5 young adults from the community to become journalists and digital publishers by paying them a monthly stipend to contribute to each issue of San Pancho Voz. By learning how to research stories, write articles, take photos, upload and edit content for each edition of the publication, they will gain valuable marketable skills and some may even pursue careers as journalists, which in Mexico is a threatened occupation. Eventually, we intend to turn over San Pancho Voz’ publication to the community.
In 2023 the cost to engage 5 part-time apprentice journalists (who otherwise must work low-paying retail or odd jobs) is $90 USD each per month, over the 7 month period each year that San Pancho Voz publishes, for a total of $3,150 per year. In addition, the operating costs for San Pancho Voz web servers, software, licenses, fees, transportation and other costs is $2,880 per year in 2023. Volunteers are not paid; they teach the student journalists, write articles, edit and manage the publication on their own donated time.
Travler must raise at least $6,030 USD per year to keep San Pancho Voz operating as a non-profit, non-commercial benefit to the community. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution; you will be helping young Mexican adults learn journalism and make their community sustainable through digital publishing.
Long term, our goal is to offer this operational and software model to other communities in Mexico.
