Inside the NNS Newsroom: I’ve been at NNS since its beginning. Here’s why I stay. | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Edgar Mendez
December 14, 2022
I found myself in the downstairs hall of the Lao Buddhist Temple, 1925 W. National Ave., in Clarke Square recently celebrating the wedding of an old friend.
In its time, the cream-bricked, three-story place of worship, fronted by statues of two white lions, has served as the setting for many celebrations and community activities, including a dance class in the very same downstairs hall in 2010.
It was there I reported my first story for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. Before  getting the job at NNS, I was undecided about whether I would pursue my lifelong goal of being a professional journalist, a dream derailed when I dropped out of high school, or would remain in community work. I was less than two years removed from graduation from UW-Milwaukee but struggled to gain traction as a writer. Until then, my portfolio consisted of some writing I’d done in college and a few freelance pieces I wrote for El Conquistador and a now-defunct website called Scene 262. I was proud of work, but to say that I wasn’t making enough to pay the bills is an understatement, so I moved to social services.
The job description from NNS called for a reporter, passionate about the community, to cover the Clarke Square and Layton Boulevard West neighborhoods on the South Side of Milwaukee, a neighborhood I still live in. I remember feeling like the job was created just for me. Even though I stumbled through my interview, founding NNS Editor Sharon McGowan saw more in me than I saw in myself and hired me. At that time, NNS consisted of just two staff reporters, myself and a colleague who covered Lindsay Heights on the North Side. Also part of the team was our longtime programming whiz Dwayne Burtin, senior photographer Sue Vliet and a handful of volunteers. Our first training assignment was to go into the community and come out with a story.
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I felt I found one at the Lao Buddhist Temple, where couples strutted across the dance floor to salsa beats. I remember being nervous about having to explain that I was a reporter for a news service that had not yet launched and that the story was part of a training assignment and might never see the light of day. Without a car at the time, I remember being excited about the opportunity to walk to the temple to cover news in a neighborhood I grew up in and cared deeply about. I couldn’t tell you what became of the story about the dance class, but I can tell you that this moment was just the beginning of what has become the most rewarding career experience of my life.
Twelve years later, I’m now the senior staff reporter at NNS. While I’ve seen many talented reporters move on to television, magazines and other opportunities in Milwaukee and around the country, something special keeps me there — the people and stories we tell.
During my tenure, I’ve had the opportunity to write about so many issues that matter to me, my family and my community.  Many of those stories highlighted positives, such as the installation of a new football field at Mitchell Park, the first district championship won by a team from the Felix Mantilla Little League, GED classes at Journey House, celebrations, community champions and stories of redemption.
Not all the stories I’m proud of are celebratory. Over the years I’ve also covered violence and policing in Milwaukee, the opioid epidemic, homelessness, lead poisoning, human trafficking, the deaths of local legends, reckless driving and even my own unjust arrest while covering a story in 2018.
The celebrations, just like the challenges, need to be covered. It is the way that NNS covers them that brings me pride and has kept me there for the long run. Starting with our founding editor Sharon McGowan in 2010 and continuing through our transition to our current editor Ron Smith, our mission has always been to provide fair and balanced reporting on Milwaukee neighborhoods that are often covered through a lens that focuses more on the negative and ignores the positive. At NNS, we highlight the successes, or as Ron would say, “illuminate and celebrate,” while also presenting our challenges in a way that is informative and helpful.
When I say helpful I mean that we hit the streets and talk to those who live and work in the neighborhoods we cover- the people who know it best. We highlight people who work to improve the quality of life in the city, and we provide resources to help those who face challenges. We don’t swoop in to cover our communities from an outsider’s point of view. We are residents and stakeholders of the communities we cover.
There are many things I’ve been proud of during my time at NNS. But the most rewarding part of being at NNS to me have been the times where someone from the community has reached out to thank me for writing a story about an issue they care about; an issue that the community cares about. This is why I chose NNS. Maybe that’s why NNS chose me.
For 11 years, the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service has used professional journalism to paint a complete portrait of Milwaukee’s communities of color — residents who usually make the news in other outlets only when there is trauma, drama, chaos, and confusion.
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