Left to Right- BenitoLink Intern Leila Sadeghian, Reporter Jenny Mendolla Arbizu, Executive Director Leslie David, Reporter Robert Eliason, Reporter Carmel de Bertaut, Content Manager Noe Magaña, Interns Juliana Luna and Jonathan Crowther. Photo by Intern Jonathan Crowther
Left to Right- BenitoLink Intern Leila Sadeghian, Reporter Jenny Mendolla Arbizu, Executive Director Leslie David, Reporter Robert Eliason, Reporter Carmel de Bertaut, Content Manager Noe Magaña, Interns Juliana Luna and Jonathan Crowther. Photo by Intern Jonathan Crowther

This article was written by BenitoLink Board Secretary, Lois Locci. 

For a third year, the Monterey Peninsula Foundation has invested in BenitoLink’s paid Internship Program, one of only a few such opportunities in San Benito County.

The Monterey Peninsula Foundation(MPF) is the nonprofit organization known for staging “two celebrated golf tournaments: the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the PGA TOUR and the PURE Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach, a PGA TOUR Champions event. The community investments that stem from each of these golf tournaments support hundreds of nonprofits working to impact thousands of lives in the Central Coast region in California.”

The Foundation’s tradition of charity since 1937 was seriously impacted in 2020 and again in 2021, threatening the level of support they sought to offer. Modifying their event in 2021 to accommodate COVID challenges, CEO Steve John writes that nevertheless their charitable giving “will target basic needs like food insecurity, educational inequities and health inequities brought on by the pandemic.”

BL newsroom is always busy. (Left to right) Marketing Coordinator Alex Esquivel, Content Manager Noe Magaña, Executive Director Leslie David and Intern Leila Sadeghian. Photo by Jenny Mendoll Arbizu.
BL newsroom is always busy. (Left to right) Marketing Coordinator Alex Esquivel, Content Manager Noe Magaña, Executive Director Leslie David and Intern Leila Sadeghian. Photo by Jenny Mendolla Arbizu.

BenitoLink is an essential news provider for San Benito County, publishing critical health and educational information on a daily basis. The grant will target these needs, allowing BenitoLink to continue hiring reporter interns on the COVID beat, web maintenance interns for our WordPress platform, and marketing interns for graphics and photography. The Foundation’s support during the stress of the pandemic boosted BenitoLink’s ability to cover so many unique and thought-provoking stories that we wouldn’t have otherwise been able to cover. BenitoLink is the go-to site for local COVID-19 data, how to stay safe, and when and where to get tested.

But BenitoLink’s Internship Program addresses career inequities too, defying the limitations young people can face in San Benito County. Support from the Foundation is what allows us to offer professional paid internships, often only accessible to students in job centers like Silicon Valley. In San Benito County, BenitoLink joins a small cadre of organizations offering career starts, for example Pacific Scientific, Raley’s, and Graniterock.

In an anonymous survey, BenitoLink asked interns what they liked most about their experience and what message they would leave for future interns. Here’s a sampling of their responses:

  • I liked the fact that I was treated with the respect given to colleagues despite my status as an intern and that my ideas were taken into account.
  • Having to interview people because it would get me out of my comfort zone.
  • Don’t be afraid to voice your ideas to the group [the editorial team]; there’s always different angles to a story!

BenitoLink Interns who work in the “back office” maintaining the website and have helped us improve our “ABOUT” section on BenitoLink.  https://benitolink.com/benitolink-team/

Our 2021 photography/marketing intern Jonathan Crowther produced this year’s Christmas card photo, news photos and photos used in marketing.

The following are some samples of articles written and often suggested by reporter interns:

Emma Hoffman SBC supervisors extend term for civil grand jury

Olivia Madera Victory Over All

Julia Hicks 35 retirees sue county, judge halts it pending first lawsuit

Andrew Pearson state Senator Caballero talks sb87 vaccine rollout during visit to San Benito, 11-year-old boy lobbies for disabled accessibility

Erika Piña COG members receive update on Measure G funding

Corissa King  SBHS Students speak on what it’s like to be part of the LGBTQ community

Juliana Leon San Benito County Chamber of Commerce honors residents and businesses

Leila Sadeghian United Way Gala at Swank Farms a big success

Diana Lopez Junior Journalism/High School SBHS field hockey player heads to Division 2 university

Support for the BenitoLink Internship Program comes from the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, host of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Pure Insurance Championship Impacting the First Tee; Taylor Farms; United Way; the Emma Bowen Foundation; and BenitoLink Donors.

 

 

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