“Don’t Wait for Permission” and more wisdom from Report for America’s 2025 Corps Member Graduation
May 29, 2025 – Days after announcing a new cohort of 107 incoming corps members, Report for America honored the talent and contributions of 98 corps members graduating from the national service journalism program during an inspiring virtual ceremony.
Within its national service program model, diverse, independent, community-based newsrooms are recruited to host emerging journalists, with Report for America coordinating corps member recruitment, contributing a large portion of the corps members’ salary, and providing ongoing training and development opportunities. The corps members – selected from a highly competitive application process – then spend up to three years reporting on under-covered topics and underrepresented communities, honing their craft and further preparing for a career in local news and reporting.
Of this year’s 98 graduates, nearly half have been hired by their host newsrooms to continue their critical coverage and maintain the community trust they’ve built. Since 2017, more than 82% of Report for America graduates are still working in journalism.
During the ceremony, graduates heard from two inspiring speakers – Cristina Silva, managing editor from The Boston Globe, and Mirtha Donastorg, a fellow graduating corps member working at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution – on what it takes to work in local news today, why it’s needed, and why it’s worth it.
Find a summary of their wisdom below and watch their full keynote remarks from the Report for America Local News Awards and Graduation.
Cristina Silva, managing editor for local news at The Boston Globe, knows the highs and lows of a journalism career: the grueling hours, the thrilling scoops, the bylines you fought for, and the moments you questioned if you belonged. And she knows how vital organizations like Report for America can be, not just in placing journalists in under-covered communities but in building the support structures emerging journalists need to stay, grow, and lead.
“As a journalist of color, I knew how much it mattered to have reporters who reflected their communities,” she said. “And I knew firsthand how hard it was to break into the industry. Report for America doesn’t just open a door; it helps people walk through it and stay inside the room.”
Silva’s advice for emerging reporters is both practical and deeply human. “The people who last in journalism,” she said, “aren’t always the ones with the most natural talent. They’re the ones who can adapt, who find a way to recover after setbacks, who keep a sense of curiosity and compassion.”
That kind of growth–and that kind of courage–shaped Mirtha Donastorg’s journey through Report for America. Now at the end of a four-year stretch as a corps member, Donastorg reflected on how it all began.
Writing, she confessed, has always scared her. But it also draws her in. “Being a reporter is the realization of a long-held desire,” she said. “I wanted to write full-time. I wanted to be a megaphone for other people’s stories. And Report for America helped make that dream a reality.”
Before applying to Report for America in 2020, Mirtha had been working for five years at CNN, first as a researcher, then an associate producer. She’d written a handful of pieces, but wasn’t yet a full-time reporter. The COVID-19 pandemic changed everything.
“In the midst of that scary, terrible, lonely time, I gained some clarity,” she said. “If I didn’t go after my dream, I knew–dramatic as it sounds–that I would regret it on my deathbed.”
Over four years, she has written nearly 400 stories. When her first newsroom shut down a year and a half into her term, support from Report for America and her regional manager, Maria Elena Fernandez, helped her land on her feet at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the very outlet she’d marked on her initial application but hadn’t yet been ready for. “It was kind of kismet,” she said. “But it wouldn’t have happened without Report for America facilitating the connection.”
Silva sees that kind of mentorship and support as one of the most powerful things Report for America offers. “When you’re early in your career, it’s easy to think everyone around you has it all figured out,” she said. “But most journalists, especially the ones you admire, are still learning, still growing. It’s okay not to be perfect. It’s more important to keep going.”
For Donasturg, that persistence has turned into purpose. “I’ve learned how to not just answer the five W’s in a story, but to ask deeper questions of myself: Who does my reporting serve? What is the impact of my work? Why this story over another?”
She’s written breaking news, longform narratives, and investigative pieces. She’s covered everything from the death of a former president to the cultural history of Freaknik. She’s also served on the Corps Member Council and found community through Report for America’s training and development opportunities and local meetups.
“These are experiences I would not have had if it weren’t for Report for America,” she said. “What Report for America is about, ultimately, is opportunity. It opened doors I couldn’t have imagined.”
Thank you to Cristina Silva and Mirtha Donasturg for sharing their wisdom with Report for America’s graduating class, and for believing in the power of local journalism to build vibrant, thriving communities.
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