Nashelly Chavez: Subscribers’ support allows me to chronicle important issues

When my family and I landed in Petaluma in the early 1990s from Mexico, it would have been impossible for us to know how lucky we’d be to call Sonoma County home.

This community is where my sister and I were raised and received most of our formal education, and where my parents have built stable careers. It’s also been the setting for some of my fondest memories.

Nearly a quarter-century after arriving, I’m grateful life has allowed me to return to Sonoma County to work as a reporter for The Press Democrat, where I’ve had the privilege of covering diversity, equity and inclusion issues over the past seven months after a 2 ½-year stint on the criminal justice beat at the paper.

Continued support from subscribers and the community of my work and that of my colleagues has allowed me to chronicle some of our region’s most pressing issues centered around identity, belonging and representation. It is a pivotal time for our county, where we continue to reckon with the impacts of last summer’s police accountability protests, natural disasters and housing affordability issues.

It’s also allowed me to chart a path forward for more in-depth coverage of these issues, and new ones still on the horizon in 2022.

For that, I say thanks.

Nashelly Chavez

Race, diversity and inclusion reporter