With a generous grant from Report for America, the Miami Fourth Estate, a nonprofit news organization, launched an ambitious publication last year to serve Miami's Liberty City, a part of South Florida often overlooked by local media outlets.
The Liberty City Independent was created to "rebuild hyper-local news in an underserved community," said Tony Winton, who founded Miami Fourth Estate in 2020. He publishes the Key Biscayne Independent and the Liberty City Independent, both digital publications that also partner with WLRN in sharing news content.
Winton hired Billy Jean Louis, who is Haitian and grew up in South Florida, as the Independent's sole reporter. His position is funded, in part, with a grant from Report for America, a national nonprofit that helps pay the salaries of reporters to cover underreported issues or communities.
“Liberty City is a news desert, and [Report for America] wanted to bring coverage there,” said Jean Louis, whose beat includes deeply reported local stories.
READ MORE: Local nonprofit media outlet plans coverage of Miami's Liberty City
In one recent story on the neighborhood's high infant mortality rate, Jean Louis focused on a local nonprofit's effort to help improve health care for women and their babies.
Another story he pursued was a popular fashion show held the Liberty Square Community Center. The event launched the 2025 Miami Met Gala.
Other notable stories Louis has done include an interview with Khalilah Ali, the ex-wife of the late Muhammad Ali, and a look at an affordable housing project in nearby Overtown backed by Miami Heat legend Alonzo Mourning.
Liberty City is home to about 50,000 residents — about eight in 10 are Black — and would be Miami-Dade County's seventh-largest city if it were a municipality and not just part of Miami.
It's also one of the county's poorest areas, yet it has a vibrant economy driven by mostly small businesses that are locally owned and operated, according to a 2017 University of Miami/Florida International University economic study.
The study's authors found that 87% of all Liberty City businesses employ less than 20 people, and that all its businesses generated a collective $12 billion in annual sales.
Jean Louis said he wants to write about all aspects of life in Liberty City — is businesses, its people — with an eye on covering the whole community.
“ I have not approached someone in Liberty City to do a story where they felt like they couldn't trust me... they were very welcoming and they're very happy that there is a [news outlet] dedicated to writing about them,” he said.
You can email Billy Jean Louis with any news tips at blouis@miami4th.org and read his stories at the Liberty City Independent or on his Tik Tok account.
