Alternative Newsweekly Foundation (ANF) supports independent watchdog journalism to inform and educate and supports the core principles of the alternative press: Speaking truth to power, telling stories other publications won’t, and giving voice to those who would otherwise go unheard.
ANF is the fiscal sponsor to independent entities that build local news and information infrastructure to serve their communities, including the Fund for Independent Journalism in Monterey County.
Salinas is the largest city between San Jose and Bakersfield with 160,000 residents, 80 percent of whom identify as Latino or Hispanic according to the 2020 census. It is the county seat, the center of a $4.6 billion agriculture industry, the original home of John Steinbeck, but its longtime daily newspaper, The Californian, has essentially abandoned the city. In September of this year the CBS affiliate KION abruptly closed its 14-person Salinas newsroom with no advance notice.
Despite the lack of coverage, the stories from Salinas and the Salinas Valley are vital and deserve to be told. They are a snapshot of the most compelling issues facing California in 2025 and warrant more coverage, not less.
Research shows that in the absence of good local journalism, civic engagement deteriorates, corruption, government spending and fraud flourish, voter participation declines and trust in local leaders is undermined by misinformation. These negative impacts are exacerbated in majority minority communities.
We have a solution - Salinas Valley Now.
Monterey County Weekly is going to provide for the largest city in the county its own local news source. We will start a free, daily digital news product delivered via email – Salinas Valley Now. It will be available as an email newsletter at no charge to whomever signs up. It will offer the option to read the stories in Spanish via a translation module.
Like its predecessor Monterey County Now, it will be a trustworthy local source of information for a city and surrounding communities that desperately deserve it. The stories that show up in Salinas Valley Now will move the needle.
One of the things we learned in a series of listening sessions is that whatever your primary issue is, whether that’s advancing low-wage workers economically, improving childhood health, ratcheting up educational outcomes, or advancing social services – journalism produces an immediate and tangible return on your philanthropic investment. Together we can get this done.
Please help us reach our Monterey County Gives! goal of $300,000 in order to hire additional reporters and digital producers so we can launch Salinas Valley Now in the Spring of 2026.
With the demise of responsible reporting in this country your very existence is imperative. You're the watchdogs with a balance and you do an amazing job
- Jeannette F, Monterey
