José Joel Delgado-Rivera is Spotlight PA’s new general manager for the Berks Bureau. This is a newly created position, supported by the American Journalism Project, responsible for fundraising, partnerships, and community outreach for Spotlight PA’s newsroom in Berks County.
Delgado-Rivera comes to Spotlight PA from the Animal Rescue League of Berks County, where he was the chief communications officer. He has also served as board president of the Reading Pride Celebration and a board member of Family Promise of Berks County and Centre Park Historic District.
Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Delgado-Rivera previously worked in communications at the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón and at the Puerto Rico Children’s Museum. In his free time, Delgado-Rivera is a magician and performer, sharing his love of magic with younger generations of magicians. He also enjoys volunteering for community causes, exploring Berks, and spending time with his two cats.
“I am honored to join Spotlight PA and help strengthen its mission of delivering independent, high-quality investigative journalism in Berks County,” Delgado-Rivera said. “Local reporting can only exist with strong community support, and I look forward to building new relationships and inspiring the community to support Spotlight PA’s mission ensuring our reporting serves Berks for the long term.”
Berks is the second bureau in a network of community newsrooms launched by Spotlight PA to remake and revitalize local news coverage. The newsrooms are locally focused and linked together through our statewide reporting and centralized, efficient operations.
“We don’t want to just report on a community, we want to be a part of it,” said Christopher Baxter, CEO & president of Spotlight PA. “José is the perfect choice to ensure Spotlight PA is a powerful force for good in Reading and Berks County.”
Spotlight PA is an award-winning, independent, nonpartisan newsroom founded in 2019 to revitalize investigative and public-service reporting across Pennsylvania. The mission of Spotlight PA is simple: to hold powerful private and public forces to account by producing nonpartisan journalism that gets results and serves the public good. Spotlight PA has the largest collaborative local journalism network of its kind in the United States, with stories regularly republished across 130 partner newsrooms, allowing our vital reporting to reach Pennsylvanians in all corners and drive positive change.