Helga Salinas and Jason Schumer to join Injustice Watch

Injustice Watch is excited to announce that Helga Salinas and Jason Schumer are joining our team this summer.

Salinas, an experienced digital journalist, joins us June 1 as our first-ever audience director. In that role, she’ll develop an audience growth strategy and oversee our digital and community engagement efforts, including our newsletter, social media, events, and engagement reporting.

A native of Southern California, Salinas comes to Injustice Watch from CapRadio News, an NPR affiliate in Sacramento, California, where she was the audience engagement editor. Before joining CapRadio, Salinas was an engagement reporting fellow at ProPublica Illinois, where she led engagement efforts for “Driven Into Debt,” an investigation of ticket debt and racial disparities in Chicago. Prior to that, she worked at The Seattle Times, where she was the newspaper’s sole social media producer.

“As Injustice Watch’s first-ever audience director, I look forward to working with thoughtful folks at a place that I know has worked hard to build trust with communities most affected by the court system, and that cares about centering people’s lived experiences in their reporting,” Salinas said.

Salinas has a bachelor’s degree from UCLA and a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

“Helga brings a wealth of experience to this exciting position,” said Injustice Watch executive director Juliet Sorensen. “We’re thrilled to welcome her to the team and look forward to the many forms of audience growth and community engagement to come under her leadership.”

Schumer will be joining Injustice Watch August 1 as our operations manager, where he’ll support the day-to-day operations and strategic growth of our team.

Schumer is currently the executive director of South Side Weekly, where he led the transformation of the organization from a volunteer-run newsroom to a fully staffed, award-winning nonprofit. In 2022, he led South Side Weekly through a successful merger with the Hyde Park Herald, preserving the oldest community newspaper in Chicago.

“Many of the team members at Injustice Watch have been close collaborators over the years,” Schumer said. “As a reader and someone that managed a small newsroom, I’ve always thought they punched above their weight when it comes to the impact of their reporting. I’m beyond thrilled to be joining the team at such an exciting time of growth and possibility.”

Schumer was hired as South Side Weekly’s first employee in 2016 and has grown with the organization for the past seven years. He worked as business manager and director of operations before becoming executive director in 2018. Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, Schumer has a master’s degree in neuroscience from the University of Chicago.

“I couldn’t be more excited to welcome Jason to the Injustice Watch team,” said Amanda Miley, director of development and operations. “He is a thoughtful and strategic leader and will be a true asset during this next chapter of our growth.”