A collage of people sitting at a table with masks on.
Top: With Julian Mark when the office was only three. Middle: Interviewing Diane Jones, at the 24th Street testing site. Bottom: At a Friday narrative workshop with other Mission Local reporters including from right to left Craig Mautner, Xueer Lu, Annika Hom and Junyao Yang

What’s up everyone! It’s Annika Hom and I’m asking you to donate. After 3.5 years at Mission Local, I like to say I’m a veteran reporter — which just means that I’ve pissed off slightly more government officials and political groups than my junior colleagues. (Judging from the doozies scheduled for next year, they’ll catch up, though.)

Okay, maybe you’re ambivalent about funding the news. Well, then think of your Mission Local donation as funding education. Mission Local taught me and other young journalists how to do it all: How to write, how to ask uncomfortable questions, and how to schedule stories from the dance club. In 3.5 years, I’ve lived one hundred lives – as a housing inspector, a ramen reviewer, a private investigator, a love guru, and a breakfast sandwich addict, all of which made me a better writer and reporter. 

Unfortunately, as Jia Tolentino said about the (almost) death of Jezebel, few places exist today where inexperienced writers can cut their teeth. She’s right; it seems like every news job these days requires that you come out of the womb with razor-sharp fangs and a Bob Woodward obsession. That’s, in part, what makes Mission Local unique. Two-thirds of my colleagues had little to no prior reporting experience, and at least two had completely different careers before coming to Mission Local. Yet today, they’re some of the best and brightest reporters in this city.

The training is invaluable, but so is the sense of community Mission Local instills. My colleagues have had a night out interrupted by skateboarders and shootings, stories they jumped on to bring you. Off the clock, I often hear from readers and sources in the “Wild” — as a “civilian,” one source put it recently — who offer questions, compliments, and criticism on my pieces, undeterred by the fact that I’m in my pajamas and it’s 9 p.m. on a Friday. (True story.) But it’s fine. I’ve loved it all, dear reader, because how often can a reporter say they really know the people they’re aiming to serve each day? How often can a reporter say, I know this idea is a story, because I saw it, and I care, and I live here, too? 

In my time at Mission Local, I learned to recognize and report stories, and care about the people in them. Very soon, I’ll be off on a new reporting adventure. While I have some trepidation, I feel more confident because of my experience here — one that’s moved me professionally and personally. I’m thrilled to see how my colleagues continue to serve and astound this city. Please donate to keep them going. 

All the best,

Annika


Just this year, Mission Local has won awards at the Institute for Nonprofit News and the Society of Professional Journalists. We have consistently delivered in-depth, fast news to the Mission and San Francisco — but this work isn’t free.
We have support from thousands of San Franciscans, giving anything from $5 to $500. We are asking for your help.
Mission Local has been consistently ahead of the curve, breaking important city-wide and local stories and always placing them in their appropriate context. This is independent, nonprofit news reporting at its best, and if you haven’t already, please consider supporting our work.
Many thanks to those who’ve already stepped up their contribution. Just as you, our readers, depend on us, we depend on you. 

Follow Us

REPORTER. Annika Hom is our inequality reporter through our partnership with Report for America. Annika was born and raised in the Bay Area. She previously interned at SF Weekly and the Boston Globe where she focused on local news and immigration. She is a proud Chinese and Filipina American. She has a twin brother that (contrary to soap opera tropes) is not evil.

Follow her on Twitter at @AnnikaHom.