Spotlight Delaware will kick off expanded coverage of Southern Delaware this summer with the addition of a bilingual reporter focused on Kent and Sussex County.

Margaret “Maggie” Reynolds, a graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont, will start her role in July at Spotlight Delaware, the state’s first nonprofit, collaborative news source. Reynolds, who is fluent in Spanish, will focus special attention on rural, Spanish-speaking and other historically underserved communities.  

This new reporting role at Spotlight Delaware is made possible with support from Report for America, a nonprofit that helps place early-career journalists into local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities. Spotlight Delaware research found that declining local news coverage has created an information void in many rural communities, limiting Delawareans’ ability to have their voices heard on important issues. 

“Maggie will be specifically tasked with covering Kent County and western Sussex County, putting an investigative eye on stories of importance to give residents the information they need,” said Jacob Owens, editor-in-chief of Spotlight Delaware.

“Boosting our coverage in Southern Delaware is our biggest newsroom initiative of 2025,” Owens added. 

Since its launch in January 2024, the Spotlight Delaware has grown to a team of 12 and will expand to 17 by the end of 2025.

Spotlight Delaware aims to hire additional staff focused on Southern Delaware this summer. As with all of Spotlight’s work, the stories produced by its reporters will be shared free of charge with Spotlight’s newsroom partners, including the Seaford and Laurel Stars.

“Many of the people we spoke with at our community listening sessions say they really value local news and information and they want more – to help them thrive on a daily basis, learn more about their communities and understand how they can influence policymakers’ decisions,” said Allison Taylor Levine, Spotlight’s publisher and CEO. “Maggie’s arrival also will bring a big boost to our efforts to bring multilingual coverage to the state’s growing Hispanic population.”

Reynolds has experience covering rural communities for The Daily Gazette in Schenectady, N.Y., and VTDigger in Vermont. She served as editor-in-chief of the student newspaper at Middlebury College and taught English and American culture to middle and high school students in Madrid, Spain.

“I was really drawn to Spotlight Delaware because it is a nonprofit newspaper, which I see as a really viable route for the future of journalism,” Reynolds said. “I’m also excited to be taking on government accountability and investigative work, and to be focused on rural communities. I was doing similar work in Vermont, and I saw how local journalism had the power to bring communities together.”

To learn more about Spotlight Delaware, visit spotlightdelaware.org.

ABOUT SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE

Spotlight Delaware is on a mission to engage, empower and connect Delawareans with local news and information. We envision a Delaware where all neighbors have access to the local news and information they need to thrive on a daily basis, participate in local democracy and engage with their communities. Sign up for our free newsletter at spotlightdelaware.org/newsletters, and donate at spotlightdelaware.org/support. 

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