Our Mission

Bakersfield Express is a website advancing local culture and promoting civic involvement. The site’s core topic areas are quality of life issues, arts and culture, green living, and nonprofits and volunteering. The content comes from a mix of independent reporting, community contributed columns and photos, and reader commentary. The website offers an independent, alternative source of local news and information, as well as an opportunity for outreach among community groups.

Bakersfield Express is a professional and ethical voice in the community, and offers a place for community members to express themselves. Please read our Ethics Policy to learn more about our standards for quality, decency, and independence.

Bakersfield Express Inc. is in the process of becoming a nonprofit and is funded by donations, sponsorships and grants. For more information about supporting the website, please visit our Support Us page.

BakersfieldExpress.org, launched Aug. 10, 2009, is just the beginning of what we hope to become a highly interactive community website. As our memberships and sponsorships grow, the grassroots site will take an organic course and fill the needs of the community as they become known.

How to Contribute Your News

Does your organization have events to publicize? Do you like to write about things happening in the community? Are you a photographer who would like to share your images with a local online audience? Do you have a news tip or a story idea you’d like us to explore?

With small staff of volunteers, Bakersfield Express would not be able to exist without the participation of the greater community. Here’s how to get involved:

• Contribute stories or photos by e-mailing editor@bakersfieldexpress.org
• Send event information for the community calendar to calendar@bakersfieldexpress.org
• Send news tips and story ideas to news@bakersfieldexpress.org

Meet the Staff

Jennifer Baldwin, Executive Director and Editor
editor@bakersfieldexpress.org
(661) 246-6387

Jennifer Baldwin has 12 years of journalism experience, including reporting, editing, multimedia production, website design and content management. Previous to launching Bakersfield Express Inc., she worked at The Bakersfield Californian for six years. She currently works as Public Affairs Coordinator for California State University, Bakersfield. She has a bachelor’s in journalism with a minor in Spanish from California State University, Sacramento, and a master’s in journalism from University of California, Berkeley.

As the executive director and editor of Bakersfield Express, she manages the operations of the website, writes and edits stories, takes photos, manages story commenting, coordinates volunteers and community contributors, and leads the fundraising and marketing efforts. To avoid conflict of interest, she defers to the assistant editor on all issues related to higher education and CSUB.

Jeff Nachtigal, Assistant Editor
jeffnachtigal@gmail.com

Jeff Nachtigal is an experienced multimedia reporter and editor with a mix of newspaper, magazine and website experience. He previously has worked for three years at The Bakersfield Californian, where he was an education beat reporter and video producer. He has a bachelor’s in English from University of Washington and a master’s in journalism from University of California, Berkeley.

Jeff produces video and written stories for Bakersfield Express as well as helps with the website’s operations. To avoid conflict of interest, he handles all topics related to higher education and CSUB.

Our Board of Directors

Jill Egland, President

Jill Egland regularly employs both sides of her brain, being both a musician with the band Banshee in the Kitchen as well as a research and evaluation program specialist. Post college (University of Redlands, Communications emphasis), Jill traveled and worked overseas as a community development consultant. She re-entered the States a decade later via New York City, lived in the Lower East Side, studied photography at the New College and Pratt Institute, worked at the UNDP, traveled to Africa evaluating community-based health systems, had a baby, and came home to Bakersfield. Go figure. At the Arts Council, she’s who you talk to when you just know you’ve got a great idea for an arts project in your neck of the woods. Or desert. She’s also responsible for developing pilot arts projects with partner organizations, such as the Kern Regional Center, the California Bluegrass Association, the Writers of Kern, and the Highway 178 Initiative.

Christopher Meyers, Vice President

Christopher Meyers is professor of philosophy and director of the Kegley Institute of Ethics at CSU Bakersfield. He is also a member of the medical staff at Kern Medical Center, where he provides ethics consulting and education, services he also provides for most of the major hospitals in the Bakersfield area. Most of his research is in practical ethics, particularly bioethics and journalism ethics. His most recent books are A Philosophical Approach to Journalism Ethics (Oxford: 2009) and A Practical Guide for Clinical Ethics Consulting: Expertise, Ethos and Power (Rowman and Littlefield: 2007). Meyers grew up in Hermosa Beach and has lived in Bakersfield for over two decades. He escapes to the Eastern Sierras every summer, where he spends too much time — he’s told — tossing flies at trout.

Linda Fiddler, Secretary

Linda Fiddler has lived in Bakersfield for more than 20 years, teaching cooking at the Panhandler and for the Bakersfield City School District. She now has a contract with the Kern County Superintendent of Schools as a nutrition consultant for the Healthy California Network grant and enjoys introducing 4- to 7-year-olds to a variety of fruits and vegetables through the magic of cooking. She has lived all over the world and enjoys travel and the adventure of learning something new. In January 2009, Linda created Hope 4 Kern, an organization that encourages volunteerism and community service throughout Kern County. Learn more about this organization at www.hope4kern.org.

Louis Medina, Board Member

Louis Medina works as a grant writer for the Bakersfield Homeless Center. He is a former reporter of The Bakersfield Californian, where he worked from 2006 to 2009. Louis has also written several stage and screen plays. Louis did his undergraduate studies at the University of Southern California, where he graduated with a double Bachelor of Arts degree in East Asian Languages and Cultures and International Relations. He got his Masters in Applied Linguistics from the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain. Born in El Salvador, Louis is a native Spanish speaker. Louis volunteers for the Bakersfield SPCA and the Alliance Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault. He lives in Bakersfield with his dog Futuro, a Chihuahua-Terrier mix.

Special Thanks

Bakersfield Express could not exist without the help of volunteers. Thank you to Shauna Lofy, a local graphic designer, who donated her time and talent to create the logo and color palette for the website and business cards. Learn more about Shauna’s designs at www.ShaunaLofy.com and www.TheWayWeWear.etsy.com. Also, thank you to Paul Pomeroy, who has helped with the site’s development and also contributed photos. View his work at paul-pomeroy.posterous.com and www.solorzanophotography.com.