Community members celebrate Juneteenth at the Rialto Juneteenth Jam at Alec Fergusson Park on June 19, 2025, in Rialto, California. This year's theme,“Its a Family Affair” reinforced building positive spaces for family-oriented entertainment through games, shared resources, and opportunities for community building. The organizations Stronger Together Now, Black on the Block, and Fentwood Hoops, collaborated to throw the event.

Overview: Photographer Aryana Noroozi, who joined Black Voice News and IE Voice in 2022, has been building community partnerships that uplift stories across the Inland Empire. Her work has been featured in Black Voice News and the IE Voice, celebrating the region’s resilience and strength. The fourth edition of the annual BVN and IE Voice Year in Photos report continues building a visual archive that reflects the breadth of life in the Inland Empire.

Photos by Aryana Noroozi

Photographer Aryana Noroozi joined our team in 2022 as a Report for America corps member and CatchLight Local News Fellow. Since then, she has continued to build community partnerships that uplift stories across the Inland Empire. In this fourth edition of the annual Black Voice News and IE Voice Year in Photos report, Noroozi continues building a visual archive that reflects the breadth of life in the Inland Empire – community members experiencing, celebrating, uplifting, and organizing for equity and justice.

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Charles Bryant and Lynnelle Bryant pose for a portrait outside their business, Masbuild, a construction services firm, in Pasadena, California, on January 17, 2025. The couple lost their Altadena home in the Eaton Fire. Over 14,000 acres burned in the Eaton fire which spread through Altadena, a multicultural community, with a home ownership rate of more than 70% and a Black population of 18%. Alltadena is also recognized as one of Southern California’s oldest Black communities. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
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Volunteers pack the car of a drive up recipient at the Pasadena Relief Drive in Pasadena, California on January 17, 2025. The drive served those affected by the wildfires and in need of water, food, clothing, bedding, toiletries and diapers. (Aryana for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
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Rose Mayes, president of the Riverside African American Historical Society, poses for a portrait during the 30th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Walk-a-thon at the Riverside Public Library on January 20, 2023. Approximately 1,000 people participated in the event hosted by the Riverside African American Historical Society. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
Members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. step as the community gathers both to participate in and watch the Black History Parade in Fontana, California, on February 23, 2025.
Members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. step as the community gathers both to participate in and watch the Black History Parade in Fontana, California, on February 23, 2025. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
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Volunteers gather to assemble hygiene kits for youth affected by the Los Angeles wildfires at the LA Fires Community Giveback event hosted by the Why We Give Project in partnership with Ikea at the Burbank Ikea on February 11, 2025. The organization is a BIPOC, female led organization that serves marginalized communities by providing them with hygiene kits. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
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A protester crosses Sierra Avenue in Fontana on June 14, 2025, while a car performs a burn out, by using its’ engine power to spin its wheels while stationary, creating friction and generating smoke from the tires. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
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Frank, a Fontana resident, poses for a portrait on Sierra Avenue in Fontana on June 14, 2025. “I’m here because we have to come out and support our people. We need to tell all these Trumpers that we are going to be here, that we work hard and we deserve some respect. We don’t want him to like us. We just want him to respect us,” Frank said. He emphasized the importance and encouraged his community to vote in the midterm elections. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
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Protesters gather for the “No Kings” protest in Downtown Riverside, California on June 14, 2025. Thousands showed up for “No Kings” protests across the nation in which opponents of President Donald Trump’s administration rallied against a military parade in Washington D.C. to celebrate the Army’s 250th anniversary, which coincided with Trump’s birthday. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
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Protesters gather for the “No Kings” protest in Downtown Riverside, California, on June 14, 2025. Thousands showed up for “No Kings” protests across the nation in which opponents of President Donald Trump’s administration rallied against a military parade in Washington D.C. to celebrate the Army’s 250th anniversary, which coincides with Trump’s birthday. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
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Christal Parker, MSN, FNP-C, poses for a portrait inside the exam room at her business, Savvy Beauty and Wellness Lounge in Rancho Cucamonga, California on July 10, 2025. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News/ CatchLight Local)
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Campers gather for Future Pets, Saving Vets at the Mary S. Roberts Pet Adoption Center in Riverside, California on July 10, 2025. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News/ CatchLight Local)
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Lillith Van Buren poses for a portrait before performing in the DIVACON talent show at St. John’s Community Health in San Bernardino, California on July 12, 2025. The event—which was the first of its kind—featured an art show, resources and tabling by community organizations and a vibrant talent show, with poetry, song and drag performances. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News/ CatchLight Local)
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Community members of all ages and identities gather for the Summer Solstice 2025 New Play Festival hosted by the Solstice Theatre IE, an arts program focused on creating shadow puppetry plays to uplift diverse voices, land and diaspora, at Sandalwood Farms in Rialto, California on July 12, 2025. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News/ CatchLight Local)
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Lisa Henry poses for a portrait at the Riverside Art Museum on July 9, 2025. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
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Doula Chantel Runnels, speaks during the panel presentation at the Celebration of Black Motherhood event hosted by the Inland Empire Health on August 18, 2025. The event featured panel presentations from maternity care experts, vendor booths with community resources for parents, and a photo booth. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News/ CatchLight Local)
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Participants practice yoga flow led by instructor Sister Nature T during Zen & Juice, hosted by Flex Different Studio and Juice Bar, in San Bernardino, California on August 16, 2025. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News/ CatchLight Local)
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Danielle Mackey, 69, looks out the window in her home where she could see flames during fires in Highland, California on September 19, 2025. Mackey has experienced several fires and recalls when she faced a mandatory evacuation during the Slide Fire in 2007. “I was panicked, and I was thinking, ‘Okay, we get everything in the car, and then what do we do?’”  she said, explaining the evacuation process in which traffic began to bottle neck. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News/ CatchLight Local)
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Riverside Unified Magnet Coordinator, Maroufkhani takes students around the campus to view previous collaborative student murals now displayed at Ramona High School on December 18, 2025. The mural these students worked on today was a collaborative project between students at Mountain View Elementary, Jefferson Elementary, and Sierra Middle School to celebrate the first graduating cohort of students who started the Dual Language Immersion program in kindergarten and stayed through to senior year at Ramona High School. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News/ CatchLight Local)