Richie Rodriguez, the Daily Forty-Niner Community Engagement Manager, wants to establish the publication as a strong organization that is a reliable voice for the Long Beach community.
The community engagement manager’s role is to assist the publication in its efforts of rebuilding and maintaining relationships with organizations on and off campus, and to create an inviting environment within the newsroom.
“I think we’ve put a very strong emphasis that the people that are not in these walls as often as we are, they’re just as important and they are a direct representation of what the Daily Forty-Niner is,” said Rodriguez.
Outside the newsroom, he wants to work with on-campus organizations and “work alongside them and what they stand for,” which include projecting the voices of on-campus organizations, while still being “as factual and representative as we can.”
“Something that I’m very passionate about, and I’ve always tried to do in my level of writing is to highlight voices that are underrepresented, or people that just don’t have the ability to speak for themselves,” said Rodriguez.
Rodriguez wants to take into account that CSULB is a diverse campus, and the publication should reflect the voices and opinions of the campus, through both its content and the people creating the content.
As a graduating senior, he hopes the next Community Engagement Editor will be empathetic, and someone who has a strong voice, as he believes the editor needs to be a voice of understanding and has the goal of providing a sense of unity.
“I feel like as a journalist, and as a publication in Long Beach, one of the few here, it’s our job and duty to create visibility for all types of people,” said Rodriguez.