Talking “Climate Divides” with Marcelo Jauregui-Volpe
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Hola Cultura sat down with one of the most prolific participants to come out of our SPEL program: Marcelo Jauregui-Volpe.
After joining the program as an intern in the fall of 2020, he went on to lead our reporting on D.C.’s heat islands and climate justice in 2021. This series was nominated for a journalism award from the Institute for Nonprofit News. Last year, Jauregui-Volpe stayed on to help us turn our heat islands reporting into “The Climate Divide” podcast. Now he’s taking on a new reporting role and project with Hola Cultura.
Read on to learn about his journey from SPEL to now.
Tell us about what keeps you involved in Hola Cultura.
Oh, wow. I think just being able to work on such interesting stories and my craft, specifically with reporting. Christine and Hola Cultura have trusted me to take the lead with some of these stories. And I think it’s just a great collaborative space too. I think the intergenerational aspect of it makes the collaboration really fun, exciting, and dynamic.
What advice would you give to newcomers to SPEL on how to get the most out of the internship?
on a reporting trip during summer 2021.
I think with SPEL, what you get out of it is what you put in. So I think really being involved in all the assignments and the different projects, especially when there’s a speaker that comes, just be willing to listen. And even if it’s a subject you’re not that familiar with, I think just being open to learning new things is really good. Because you just never know what can come out of it, even from a networking or reporting standpoint. If a journalist comes and speaks, maybe then you connect with that person later on for a story. It may seem small, but then you don’t know how that story can grow.
What story are you working on next?
Right now, we are working on a story about flooding and D.C. Specifically, we are focusing on some neighborhoods in Ward 7. Some streets in Ward 7 have had really bad chronic flooding problems for several years now. We’re just trying to tell the story of what led to this. How did this chronic flooding happen? And just try to bring awareness to it.
Our past investigative projects have benefited greatly from the support of Spotlight DC, The Fund for Investigative Journalism and the Pulitzer Center, in addition to our publishing partners, such as Washington City Paper, WAMU/DCist and WTOP. And we look forward to our continued work this year with WAMU and the City Paper.
Want to join the SPEL team?
We’re recruiting now for the summer semester (May 30 to July 25).
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