To succeed, we must reflect our audience to serve all the citizens of our city and state with relevant, trustworthy news

A well-informed public is how we solve problems in our country — by bringing them to the citizens' attention so they can find and demand better ways. This is why our nation's founders made a top priority of free speech and an independent press that would expose corruption, enlighten the public, hold the powerful in check and keep citizens in charge of their government. 

The 21st century has brought a great many challenges to the news industry and the business models supporting it. Tough times force tough decisions. We've decided to spend our resources more than ever before covering the stories that matter most, that help our community, that improve lives in Milwaukee and Wisconsin.

In order to succeed, the Journal Sentinel must serve all the communities in our city and state with relevant, trustworthy news that informs our democracy. Our parent company recognizes that it, too, must do more to serve all the communities in our USA TODAY Network.

"We will never achieve our quest for truth until our newsrooms fully reflect the communities we serve. Only then will we have diversity of perspectives to understand the facts we report in their full and proper context," said Maribel Perez Wadsworth, president of the USA TODAY Network, in announcing a new diversity initiative in 2020.

More:Gannett newsrooms making steady progress in overall diversity

Our goal is that the newsroom staff of the Journal Sentinel will closely reflect the audience we serve by 2025. We must do more to keep all the people in our region well-informed about urgent news and events, health and safety matters, job opportunities, schools and education, and how elected representatives and government officials are serving the public.

Since the initiative was announced, we've added journalists from a variety of backgrounds to our newsroom. Our staff is now 75% white, compared with about 70% in our primary southeastern Wisconsin region. 

Our staff is 11% Black, compared with 13.5% of residents of our region. Our staff is 4.6% multi-racial, compared with 2.6% of the region, according to the Census, but only 6.5% Hispanic compared with 9.4% of the area. Nearly 43% of our journalists are women, an increase from 35% in 2020 but still well below half.

More:To better serve our Milwaukee community, we must continue hiring diverse, talented journalists

It's important to have journalists and newsroom leaders with life experiences and backgrounds that help us understand the needs of the people we serve. But it is the job of each of us to listen and learn how we can best find answers to your most pressing and important questions.

Only by listening can we learn. How do we better serve young adults and people of color? We ask about their most pressing news and information needs. We deliver relevant stories through mobile apps, text alerts, videos and social platforms, in English and Spanish. We hire skilled journalists who understand their life experiences.

This is how James Causey and Angela Peterson were able to report, with great skill and depth, the surprising story of Marlin Dixon, who went to prison as a child for a crime that shocked Milwaukee but is now determined to break the cycle of violence that has haunted his family for generations. And how Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley might have been part of the brutal mob beating that sent 14-year-old Dixon to prison had Crowley's family not been evicted from the same neighborhood shortly before the crime occurred.  

It's how Talis Shelbourne found the shameful scarcity of resources available to girls first caught up in Wisconsin's juvenile justice system. And how Sarah Volpenhein learned about the experiences of young Native Americans in Wisconsin Indian boarding schools.  

It's how Jessica Rodriguez produced a revealing profile of Jose Perez, the first member of his family to be born on the U.S. mainland and the first Latino to be elected Milwaukee Common Council president. And how La Risa Lynch found out about the Sherman Park couple who decided to bring a source of fresh, healthy foods to their neighborhood, where many families live below the poverty line and don't have a car to drive miles away to get groceries. 

It's how Raquel Rutledge, Daphne Chen and John Diedrich exposed rampant electrical code violations and fatal fires in the city's poorest neighborhoods in "Wires and Fires," an investigation that was named a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for Public Service, along with special reports by the Washington Post and the New York Times.

If you subscribe to the Journal Sentinel, you are providing key support to this kind of local reporting that strengthens our community and informs our democracy.

In addition, tax-deductible donations may be made to directly support six Report for America positions in Wisconsin. Report for America reporters at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel help strengthen news coverage for our region’s historically underserved communities and of environmental issues facing our state's two great watersheds — the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River Basin. Donations may be made at: jsonline.com/RFA.

Report for America reporters in Green Bay and Appleton focus on our state's 11 federally recognized Native American tribes, on key education issues and on child care challenges facing many Wisconsin families. Donations to the Green Bay positions may be made at: bit.ly/GB_RFA.  And to the Appleton coverage at: bit.ly/Appleton_RFA

Thank you for your support. 

Email Editor George Stanley at george.stanley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @geostanley.