Despite challenges, stories on Sonoma’s health disparities find audience

Sonoma County is well-known as a foodie capital, with large concentrations of wealth thanks to a thriving wine industry. The area is also home to beautiful stretches of open space, state parks and greenways. But despite the plethora of farmers markets and high-end restaurants and grocery stores, there remains a stark disparity in terms of who can afford all that healthy food. And despite the abundance of open space and parks in some Sonoma communities, others, like Roseland, are sorely lacking in places where community members can go for outdoor recreation. That’s partly why the rate of obesity and diabetes in places like Roseland is higher than in other parts of Sonoma County.

The focus of my reporting was a multi-year community health initiative to increase access to good food and opportunities for exercise in a low-income, predominately Latino community in Sonoma County called Roseland. At first, the story – centered on an initiative targeting a low-income, predominately Latino community in Sonoma County – was heavy on health policy and statistics but low on narrative drama. In the course of my reporting, I found that the regular moms from the Roseland community were the most interesting aspect of the story. I focused a lot of my reporting on one school where St. Joseph Health had begun offering free Zumba and nutrition classes for women in the neighborhood. My first visit was slightly awkward, but on my second visit, I decided to actually participate in the Zumba class as a way to get a feel for what the women were experiencing. I took my 18-month-old daughter with me as I don't always have reliable child care and most of the women bring their children. That second visit was when I felt I started to get more interesting quotes and anecdotes.

I stayed after the class and talked to a few women, gathering stories of weight loss and diabetes control helped along by the Zumba and nutrition classes. I also got a good feel for what a neighborhood characterized by strong family bonds but lacking opportunities to eat well and exercise. On my third visit, I again took my daughter, and a photographer from the newspaper. By this visit, it was easy to flag down a translator to help me do the final interview questions with Alejandra Sarmiento, who became the main focus of my story, as well as the cover star for the week the story ran. After months of seeing only white males on the cover of the paper, it was wonderful to see a young Latina woman having a great time and looking healthy and happy.

By my third visit, I had developed a rapport with three or four women, and I could have continued reporting on the story in greater depth, if it weren’t for the time and money constraints that come with being a working mom and a freelancer. In fact, my biggest challenges in seeing this story through to the end came from lack of time and funding to really dig into the story and the community.

I had left my staff job at The North Bay Bohemian in February 2014, just before beginning the fellowship, after an editorial shake-up and low wages forced me to make a decision to leave the paper. I was still committed to running the story, under a new editor, in The Bohemian. Sonoma County is limited in terms of major publishing venues, so I had few options for other places to pitch the story. Unfortunately, the pay-per-word at the paper is pretty low, and I ended up earning less than $400 for many, many hours of reporting and writing. If I’d had more funding, I could have spent more time on the story, which would have resulted in a richer, more in-depth exploration of health issues and initiatives in low-income areas of the county.

I spent quite a bit of time tracking down good sources at the county and school levels. I visited one elementary school and sat down with some the grant coordinators and the district food manager. My interview with the district food manager supplied some of the best quotes, since she had a bird’s-eye view of the food the Roseland District students were eating on a daily basis, including whether they were eating the new, healthy food choices at all.

If I could do one thing differently, I would’ve figured out exactly what the story was about before running the first installment. I ended up writing one news story, which ran in July, and then a cover story, which ran in early September. It would have made more sense to run the news story after the cover story since the shorter news piece just didn’t work as a stand-alone. It was lacking the context that would help the reader to see why the subject matter was important.

After my stories ran, I was asked to be on two radio shows and leapt at the opportunity to get on the air and talk about this reporting project and why it matters. While I’m not totally comfortable yet doing radio interviews, I didn’t want to miss a chance to reach a wider audience. I also made sure to post and repost the stories and segments on social media. I sent links to the article to the Sonoma County Dept. of Health, Roseland Elementary School District, California Alliance for Family Farmers and other interested groups. I was also asked to appear on a TV show on KRCB North Bay Public Media, where I spoke about my findings from the article and general disparities in health outcomes for different areas of Sonoma County.

For reporters embarking on similar projects, I suggest starting your research early by reaching out to the community first to find out what they believe to be the most important pieces of the story. Second, be sure to do lots of interviews with diverse stakeholders. I started with an information specialist at the health department and she was able to connect me with the school leaders, community stakeholders and other sources who made up the bulk of my sources.

Photo courtesy of Michael Amsler.