In today’s polarized environment, what would it take to build community — a common sense of shared purpose that keeps neighbors talking across any perceived divides? Now, imagine it’s your job to advance that mission.
St. Louis Public Radio is excited to welcome two new producers to the STLPR newsroom to attempt just that. Last December, the James S. McDonnell Foundation (JSMF) awarded STLPR more than $800,000 to fund a new program that will model how St. Louisans can talk to each other, to create greater understanding in our region. The grant was the largest foundation grant in St. Louis Public Radio history, and will fund the work over four years to support the initiative on air, online, and in the community.
“To turn the momentum we see in our region into inclusive, sustainable growth, we have to be able to work across lines that have divided us for too long,” said JSMF President Jason Q. Purnell. “St. Louis Public Radio has the necessary community trust to facilitate conversations across differences. From those conversations may come unexpected alliances that can tackle our most persistent challenges in St. Louis.”
Inspired by StoryCorps’ One Small Step program, the new producers have the opportunity to shape the program from the ground up, with topics that may touch on gaps in understanding across geography, class, age, and identities. In the coming months, STLPR will share their conversations on our award-winning show St. Louis on the Air, in regular segments on the podcast and radio episodes, in videos shared on social media platforms, and multi-media content delivered in a new curated newsletter.
Meet Luis
Luis Antonio Perez joins STLPR as the lead producer on the initiative. Perez is an award-winning producer with more than 15 years of experience in public radio, specializing in community-first projects.
At Colorado Public Radio, his work earned Podcast Academy "Ambie" nominations, a New York Festivals Radio award, a Webby honor, and regional SPJ and Edward R. Murrow awards.
Previously at Chicago Public Media, he helped pioneer the Urban Alternative Radio format and led community audio storytelling workshops. Luis also served as board president of the Association of Independents in Radio and is a proud alumnus of AIR’s New Voices program.
Perez holds a master’s degree in leadership for creative enterprises from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s from Columbia College Chicago.
“My approach to this kind of work is that I rely on the community to tell me what it is that we should be talking about,” Perez said. “I don’t want to parachute into communities and make assumptions about where I think the divides are. Instead, I want to go and talk to people,” he said.
Perez said it’s imperative to explain what his interests are in this experience. “Transparency is important. We should always be honest about expectations and not make promises that we can’t keep.”
“Some communities are probably really good at telling their story and are very aware of the divides and how to address them,” he said. “Other communities are maybe less aware. They know something’s up, but they don’t know what. And they might not know how to approach these types of conversations.”
Perez said that ultimately, a slight paradigm shift can nudge these community discussions in the right direction. “It’s not even about the differences. It’s really about what we share despite our differences. How we are alike, the things that bring us together. This project can — and should — do more than just focus on what divides us,” he said.
“It’s about what we share and being sensitive to the fact that our divides don’t exist for no reason. There are factors — outside of personal philosophies and preferences — that have resulted in the divisions between us. At the same time, people have different thoughts, different opinions, different experiences,” said Perez, who is of Puerto Rican and Colombian descent.
The work in front of STLPR is deeper than “smashing two people together in a room to talk,” he said. “It’s really about embracing the community, asking questions, listening, and following the lead of the people we talk to.”
“How do we elevate voices to capture what St. Louis is feeling and thinking?” he said. “We don’t need to start at the center of a divide and survey the best location to build a bridge. We can start with the people and they can show us where they need the bridges to be built.
Building bridges 101
The team is still very early in the process of building those community connections. “So right now, I’m just boots on the ground,” he said. “We’re having literal coffees with people, just having conversations with folks,” he said. That means that there’s still an opportunity for people to influence where this goes.
“I encourage people to reach out. I’m here to listen. I’m not bringing my microphone just yet, so people can be super honest and just share what they really think.”
You can reach Luis to share your thoughts on this project or all things St. Louis at lperez@stlpr.org.
Meet Paola
Paola Rodriguez is STLPR’s new Engagement Producer and will work closely with Perez on the initiative. She will also play a critical role in elevating the work of the newsroom, sharing STLPR’s journalism creatively on digital platforms, and engaging the public in other meaningful ways.
Rodriguez is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and holds a master’s degree in legal studies from the University of Arizona.
Prior to joining STLPR as staff, Rodriguez was an intern with STLPR in 2021, and later, a reporter and producer at Arizona Public Media. In Tucson, she reported on uranium mining that poisoned tribal drinking water and Arizona’s fight to block a civil-war-era abortion ban. Her work has been recognized by organizations like the Radio Television Digital News Association, the Public Media Journalists Association, and the Arizona Press Club.
She credits STLPR for her love for public media. “To say [that internship] was transformative is an understatement,” she said. “Part of why I love public media so much is because we put our audience first,” Rodriguez said.
Although her early connection to journalism was through commercial stations, Rodriguez recalls the impression that side of the business left. “The burnout and the type of stories that were being told, they were not ones that I felt resonated with my soul,” she said. “If it weren’t for St Louis Public Radio, I don’t think I would have probably, honestly, have stayed in journalism.”
When this engagement producer opportunity arose, Rodriguez said, it seemed like a very obvious yes. “The St. Louis region is home. And if there was a way for me to come back home and help bolster the community that made me the person that I am today, and help amplify voices, that’s absolutely what I want to do,” Rodriguez said.
“This week, I’ve spent a lot of time meeting with different community leaders. And what I mean by that is, not politicians. Not people that are invested monetarily in the city, but local leaders that you might not always see in the newspaper, right? Talking with them about what they need, what they want.”
Rodriguez said these early conversations are paving the way to understanding what makes people fearful about having difficult conversations, and then keeping that in mind, as they build out the project.
“I’m simultaneously cautious and so excited,” Rodriguez said. “Cautious, because I want to make sure that we’re protecting already really fragile communities, but excited, because I see so much opportunity in building this feeling that St Louis is home, across communities, which is something I don’t think we’ve really seen before,” she said.
Rodriguez is optimistic that there is a way St. Louis Public Radio can create a bridge of understanding and acceptance that’s durable and real. “Not necessarily that we agree on things, because that’s really hard to do, but a place where we can come together and understand, okay, this is what’s happening. This is how I can be invested. This is what is happening in my neighbors’ lives."
What would success look like for her in this project?
“When people look at the metrics of how well a project does, they look at donors, listens, and things like that. But for me, I really sit on the feelings of people. I want someone to listen to this project and say ‘I want to try to emulate, try to replicate this type of conversation with my family, with my friends, maybe with a stranger in a restaurant,'” she said. “I think that’s the biggest goal for me; having people want to also do this work.”
You can reach Paola to share your thoughts at prodriguez@stlpr.org.
