Alejandro Figueroa
Food ReporterAlejandro Figueroa covers food insecurity and the business of food for WYSO through Report for America — a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Alejandro particularly covers the lack of access to healthy and affordable food in Southwest Ohio communities, and what local government and nonprofits are doing to address it. He also covers rural and urban farming
Alejandro is a 2021 graduate of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University, and while there he reported for The New Political, a student-run publication focused on politics and government. His reporting has been featured on NPR, The GroundTruth Project and the Ohio Newsroom.
Alejandro was born in a small coastal town in Puerto Rico and in 2014 he and his family moved to Columbus, Ohio. When he's not reporting, he enjoys going out on a hike and he sometimes daydreams about restoring an old pickup truck.
Email: afigueroa@wyso.org
Phone: 937-917-5943
-
The Montgomery County Auditor's office released a detailed city-by-city breakdown of its tentative property value update Thursday. This year residential properties countywide will see a record setting 34% average increase. -
Springfield City Schools launched a partnership with a local community garden to provide families with fresh food access. -
The national nonprofit, Welcoming America, recently renewed Dayton as a welcoming city in recognition of its work in support of immigrants and refugees. -
U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown — who’s in the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture — introduced a bill that would address some of the challenges Ohio’s organic farmers face. -
Mission of Mary Cooperative has been growing produce across six urban lots in east Dayton since 2009. The nonprofit runs a CSA and food access programs in the Twin Towers neighborhood. It also just received a nearly half-million dollar estate gift to keep growing that mission. -
A trial date has been set for a former Montgomery County assistant prosecutor at a motion hearing on Thursday at the Montgomery County Commons Pleas Court. -
Using drones for agriculture is still a fledgling business. Though the practice is slowly becoming an effective way of promoting crop biodiversity and sustainability. At a demonstration hosted by the Tecumseh Land Trust, Ohio farmers got a peak at what the future of agriculture could look like. -
City of Trotwood approves agreement with Gordon Food Services to open new full-service grocery storeThe City of Trotwood recently approved an agreement with Gordon Food Services to open a new full-service grocery store. That’s after the city’s only supermarket, Foodtown, closed in 2019, leaving residents without a traditional grocery in the community. -
Mosquito samples taken by the Clark County Combined Health District recently tested positive for West Nile Virus. The samples were taken from the west end of Springfield in late June. -
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R-OH) signed the state's two-year budget on Wednesday. The $191 billion budget earmarks money to pay for free school meals for some income-eligible K-12 students. Though some advocates say it doesn’t go far enough.