That's actually not what the sentence is saying. Look at it in context: the previous sentence is about the number of members of AKA. "With a total membership approaching 1 million, is a parenthetical. "All working informally in their communities" refers to "other members" at the beginning of the sentence, not the entire membership of the Divine Nine. The next paragraph is a quote from someone who is a member of another D9 group.
And so what if the reporter was formerly a sportswriter?
People in media change beats ALL THE TIME. Team beat writers (which she was for the Nationals for several years) are as in-depth on those beats as political writers, business writers, etc. are on their beats. Nice info cherry-picking.
