Journalist, editor, and educator rooted in community engagement and collaborations.
Kristine Villanueva is a seasoned reporter, editor, and educator passionate about harnessing people-powered media to reinforce and expand community-based information networks, especially in diaspora communities. She has worked in news organizations such as ProPublica, Resolve Philly, POLITICO, The Center for Public Integrity, and more. She has also served as the Vice President and National Board Representative of the Asian American Journalists Association, Philadelphia, and taught engagement journalism at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism for four years. She now teaches in the Community College of Philadelphia Department of English. Her experience in engagement journalism also includes leading digital, social media, newsletter, and SMS texting strategies to reach disenfranchised communities. She has also led nationwide crowdsourced, collaborative investigations. In her off hours, she likes to paint zines, go to punk shows, and cuddle her cat, Perseus (aka Percy).
Recent Projects:
Phillypino Oral History Project
The Phillypino Oral History Project is a community-based oral history and photography project capturing the rich narratives of Filipino immigrants who have lived in Philadelphia for at least ten years. The project focuses on memory work that delves into participants’ experiences during martial law, the implementation of labor export policy, the People Power Revolution, and more. As the project lead, I conducted interviews, developed the exhibition guide and exhibit copy, trained community participants in trauma-informed reporting techniques, and co-curated an exhibit at the Free Library of Philadelphia’s central branch. See the digital exhibition guide here.
News Ambassadors
News Ambassadors is a program that strengthens local news through solutions journalism, community engagement, and collaboration to reduce polarization and uplift common ground.
Comprised of several local news collaboratives nationwide, students fill local news gaps by learning solutions journalism, community-engaged reporting techniques, and how to collaborate with local newsrooms and community organizations to maximize impact.
Students also have the opportunity to be paired with counterparts in demographically dissimilar areas to expand their scope of learning.
See the News Ambassadors newsletter and Instagram.
Equally Informed Philly
Equally Informed Philly aims to reach Philadelphians who do not have steady access to broadband internet. A multi-layered approach to news gathering and dissemination, the initiative from Resolve Philly includes a grassroots reporting network that produced a print newsletter, helped with community listening events, and even contributed to local newsrooms.
EIP also had a resource Q&A text line in English and Spanish. In addition to sending critical information to subscribers, my team also surfaced information needs that were then addressed through collaborative reporting with local newsrooms, community events, and through the text line. EIP also had a resource line for Philadelphians affected by gun violence.