San Juan, Puerto Rico — Six new investigative journalism proposals have been selected to receive grants from the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI).

The proposals submitted by journalists Israel Rodríguez Sánchez, Adriana de Jesús Salamán, Diego M. Nieves Berríos, Vanesa Baerga, Leyrian Colón Santiago and Juan Xavier Villavicencio Vázquez grew out of two educational programs organized this year by the Instituto de Formación Periodística, CPI’s educational arm. One program focused on helping journalists better understand and identify groups promoting policies that oppose LGBT+ rights, while the other aimed to encourage news coverage of issues affecting the Puerto Rican diaspora.

CPI will provide grant recipients with editorial mentorship and assistance with data visualizations, public records requests and audiovisual production for their reporting projects, which will later be published by CPI and its media partners.

More Investigations Into Policies Affecting LGBT+ Rights

The educational program on policies affecting the LGBT+ community, held in April, featured a presentation on the findings and methodology behind the award-winning investigation Transnacionales de la fe, which showed how neoconservative evangelical political power expanded across Latin America with backing from networks linked to the United States and the White House. Participants also received tools for conducting multimedia interviews and scrutinizing legislation affecting LGBT+ communities in Puerto Rico, as well as methods for putting into context the role of a hostile social environment in health disparities between LGBT+ communities and the heterosexual population.

Among the proposals selected for grants following the program was one submitted by Adriana de Jesús Salamán, a journalist with Rayos X, the investigative journalism program broadcast by Telemundo Puerto Rico, who also teaches journalism at Universidad del Sagrado Corazón. Another selected proposal came from Israel Rodríguez Sánchez, a journalist and assistant professor at the University of Puerto Rico’s School of Communication and Information. He has more than 25 years of experience covering government affairs, legislative proceedings and election campaigns and is the author of Escándalo Político y Periodismo en Puerto Rico. Also selected was a proposal by Diego M. Nieves Berríos, a young journalist who co-directed the publication Pulso Estudiantil and works as a reporter for NotiCel while pursuing a master’s degree in journalism at the University of Puerto Rico’s Río Piedras campus.

Each grant recipient will receive $3,000 to develop their investigation, with support from organizations including True Self Foundation, Coalición Orgullo Arcoíris, Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Puerto Rico.

Greater Focus on Issues Affecting the Puerto Rican Diaspora

The journalism workshop held in August, meanwhile, focused on the importance of reporting that documents realities extending beyond borders. It included a panel discussion featuring independent journalist Bianca Graulau; Alana Casanova Burgess, host and producer of the La Brega podcast; Yomaira Figueroa Vásquez, director of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies in New York; and historian Jorell Meléndez Badillo. Participating journalists also attended a hands-on workshop on the current demographic profile of the Puerto Rican diaspora, led by the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics and researcher Cristalís Capielo Rosario, who explained health disparities among Puerto Rican populations in the United States. Veteran El Nuevo Día Washington, D.C., correspondent José Delgado and Joel Cintrón Arbasetti, CPI’s journalist covering the diaspora, also took part in the program, discussing how to develop story ideas and cultivate sources within diaspora communities.

Among the proposals selected for grants following the journalism workshop was one submitted by Vanesa Baerga, a Chicago-based independent journalist whose report, “Growing Old Alone: The Family Cost of Puerto Rican Migration,” received the Puerto Rico Journalists Association’s National Journalism Award and the Overseas Press Club’s Award for Journalistic Excellence in 2026. Another selected proposal came from Leyrian Colón Santiago, a multimedia journalist who covers Latin America and its diasporas for global audiences and works for El Faro English. A proposal by journalist and historian Juan Xavier Villavicencio Vázquez was also selected for a grant.

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