Welcome to Richmondside! We’re an independent, free nonprofit source of news and information serving Richmond, CA. We are about, for and with Richmond. You can read our journalism on our website, subscribe to our email newsletter and follow our WhatsApp channel and social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. You can also text us questions or share tips, photos and videos about Richmond.
Richmondside was launched in the summer of 2024 by Cityside Journalism Initiative, a nonprofit news organization based in the East Bay that also publishes Berkeleyside and The Oaklandside. We’re committed to providing trustworthy journalism and valuable information resources that enable Richmonders to better engage with and enjoy their community. Everything we do is informed by what Richmonders have told us about their information needs. Read more about our deep listening work.
Our values and funding
We’re big believers in being as transparent as possible about our organization, its mission, our work and our business model. News organizations don’t always tell you, or know, what drives their decisions. It’s particularly important to be an open book in the age of mis- and dis-information. Read more about the values that guide our work.
Richmondside is supported by funding from Google News Initiative, the American Journalism Project, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Chamberlin Education Foundation, the Hellman Foundation, the Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation, and the Y & H Soda Foundation, as well as individual supporters. No donor or funder has any influence over our reporting. Read more about our editorial independence and who funds us.
Our team
Richmondside’s small but mighty team is bolstered by a roster of local freelance writers and photographers, and Cityside team members whose expertise includes community outreach, audience engagement, live events and platforms and products. As support for Richmondside grows, so will its newsroom.
Richmondside Editor-in-Chief Kari Hulac has worn many hats in a journalism career spanning more than 20 years. She held several editorial leadership positions at the Bay Area News Group, including Editor of The (Hayward) Daily Review and Features Editor of The Oakland Tribune, and she was a Regional Editor based in the East Bay at local online news network Patch.
Richmondside City reporter Joel Umanzor previously worked at the San Francisco Standard, where he covered breaking news and reported on topics ranging from public safety to policing to culture. Before that, he was a Hearst Breaking News Fellow reporting for the San Francisco Chronicle and Houston Chronicle. He grew up in Richmond, still lives locally, and has two children in the West Contra Costa Unified School District, where he also worked as a bilingual Spanish tutor and translator.
Richmondside Education reporter Jana Kadah joined Richmondside as its education reporter in May 2025. Before that, she was city hall reporter for San Jose Spotlight where she earned several first-place awards for her local government, business/economy and public service reporting from the California News Publishers Association. She has also worked a reporter for Bay City News, where she wrote multiple stories a day about issues ranging from homelessness to the environment and education.
About Cityside
Cityside is a nonpartisan, nonprofit journalism organization in the Bay Area with three local news sites: Berkeleyside (founded 2009), The Oaklandside (2020) and Richmondside (2024). Cityside also publishes Nosh, award-winning East Bay food coverage that appears on all our news sites. Cityside’s journalism seeks to buttress community connections, and help people feel more engaged with their city and with one another.
Cityside was founded by journalists Frances Dinkelspiel, Lance Knobel, Tasneem Raja and Tracey Taylor. Frances, Lance, and Tracey started Berkeleyside in 2009 because they were concerned about the dearth of local reporting on Berkeley. Their instincts and journalism experience helped develop a respected and influential model for trusted, intensely local news. When Tasneem joined the founding team in 2019 Cityside gained insight and experience in nonprofit, community journalism.
Our work at Berkeleyside and The Oaklandside has taught us that a strong community focus, an unswerving commitment to covering local stories that matter to residents, and an openness to dialogue create a powerful bond with our readers and enable trusted, valuable journalism.
That same commitment is being applied to Richmondside, which was launched after a months-long listening program in Richmond where we heard from hundreds of Richmond residents about their information needs. Many told us they are hungry for a trustworthy source of news and information for and about their city. As with its other newsrooms, Cityside’s goal with Richmondside is to amplify community voices, share the power of real information, and investigate systems, not just symptoms.
Cityside and its newsrooms are a shining light in an otherwise gloomy landscape for local news nationally. Since 2005, more than 2,900 local newspapers have closed in the United States — more than two close every week — and tens of thousands of journalists have lost their jobs. Communities without reliable local news are poorly informed and vulnerable to the spread of misinformation. They see lower voting rates, more partisanship, and less civic engagement, all of which contribute to an unhealthy democracy.
Learn more about Cityside, its mission, its team, board of directors and how and who funds us at the Cityside website.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence is at the heart of everything we do at Richmondside. Without it, we lose the trust of our readers, which is critical not only to our survival, but to our ability to do the independent community journalism that is core to our mission. See our editorial independence policy.
Photo licensing
We receive frequent requests from other publishers, organizations, and individuals to reuse our photos. Richmondside’s photos are copyrighted and cannot be distributed, reproduced, displayed, or broadcasted without prior written permission and a copyright license from Cityside. Learn more about photo licensing.
Comments
The goal of the Richmondside comments policy is to help create a vibrant and civil space for conversation. We want Richmondside to reflect the passionate, diverse voices of Richmond, but we also want it to remain a place of civility and respect for other people. Guidelines for comments are simple: Be relevant, be courteous, and argue with issues not people. See our Comments policy.
Contribute
We’re eager to work with local independent writers, reporters, researchers and other community members to share Richmond’s stories, serve local information needs, and amplify important perspectives from across our city. So, how can we make it happen? We put together a primer on what you should know if you’re interested in freelancing before you send in your pitch.
