… and help "AL DÍA's Academy" of multicultural journalism

What is the relationship between soccer and journalism?

This is my view: In both human endeavors you need a team of stars, a brilliant coach, plus a no less brilliant business manager.

On top of that, you need a rather complex logistics to keep in balance two contrarian activities: The artistry of a field performance and, at the same time, the practicality of what in reality is a business. 

After the emotions from the field are over, somebody else must manage the cold realities of a business operation and its balance sheet.

That's was enough inspiration for us to start more than four months ago with the idea of using the World Cup as a good justification to conduct a fundraising for one of the little known facts about AL DÍA.

Yes, AL DÍA is a for-profit news media business operation, as it is  — in the context of Hispanic Media companies —  UNIVISION, for instance.

There are huge differences, however.

One of the them is that, although both generate profits, our purposes are quite the opposite when it comes down to those profits.

We dare to invest a significant part of those profits in areas still overlooked by the giants of Hispanic news media in the country.

Born at the grassroots level of the Latino community, not in the corporate board rooms in which UNIVISION was created as a multi-million dollar investment, AL DÍA News Media knows better what is needed at the community level, where millions of Latino consumers who generate billions of dollar in profits live, work, toil and spend.

AL DÍA actively spends its own money and staff time to make what we believe are significant contributions, not only to Latinos, but also to everybody else in our city, and also across our nation.

More than five years ago the AL DÍA Foundation was created with this single objective in mind: To promote excellence in American journalism on Latino issues.

There was an undeniable reality: The low quality that had unfortunately made, with few illustrious individual exceptions, Latino news media (broadcast or print) be seen as a second class media, and plain mediocre, regardless of their different degrees of financial success.

Years ago we started with the simple task of giving scholarships and paid internships to individuals interested in pursuing careers in journalism.

Also we acknowledged the best work being done by professional practitioners in the field with $10,000 dollar "Felix Varela" national journalism awards.

As of late, our Foundation has created the "Felix Varela" fellowship, which will give journalism graduates the opportunity to pursue (through the AL DÍA Foundation) a one-year fully paid 'Master Practicum' in multicultural, multimedia and multilingual journalism.

As a result of these efforts, we have contributed to the careers of many, some gone to other news organizations in which the training picked up at the AL DÍA shop has come in very handy.

That is the only reason why we are throwing a party this Friday, June 13 — to celebrate both World Cup Soccer and journalism, all the proceeds donated to the AL DÍA Foundation and its philanthropic mission of creating a new class of multicultural, multimedia and multilingual reporters.

To benefit those who tomorrow we are sure will produce excellence in a new American journalism, and perhaps make impact in reflecting more comprehensibly the multicultural society the United States of America is gradually becoming.