This post is the first of a new series on impact research, “Insights.” In it, Kira Limer, Report for America’s Manager of Impact and Evaluation, shares what we know about the program’s impact on career trajectories and how we know it— the methodology behind the findings.
Sustaining careers in journalism is a key outcome for our program. We’ve found it’s most effective to gather career information using LinkedIn and other professional platforms rather than relying on surveys. Because reporters generally have a robust online presence, we can confidently generate career statistics that include nearly all of our alumni. The first round of this research, in 2022, included 204 alums. As of 2025, the group has grown to an impressive 493!
Every fall, Report for America takes a close look at the careers of our alumni. It’s our hope that the program has ignited a passion for journalism and has equipped alumni with a solid foundation of skills they need to succeed in journalism in the long run.
When we examine the data each October, the most recent graduates have had about three months to settle into whatever is next for them. Alumni from previous years take a variety of paths. Some build their careers at the same newsroom for years, while others find new and exciting opportunities that take them to other parts of the country or the world.
When I finished up this year’s research and looked at the stats, something stood out to me: Our corps members have increasingly decided to continue in journalism after graduating from Report for America. Among those who graduated in 2025, 92% continued in journalism jobs. That’s the highest percentage we’ve seen among our grads. (In 2024, 87% continued in journalism right after graduating and in 2023, the figure was 83%).
Overall, 81% of our 493 total alumni are still working in journalism, including the majority of each class year dating back to 2019 graduates. It’s too early to say how this trend will play out over the coming years as we add even more alumni to our network and track careers over longer periods of time, but we will continue to monitor through our longitudinal research.
Another exciting data point is the number of Report for America newsrooms hiring our alumni. As of this year, 155 of our past or present host newsrooms employ Report for America program graduates (with no salary support from us). This indicates that we’re not only helping journalists develop the skills to succeed in today’s newsrooms, but we’re also helping newsrooms become financially stable enough to expand their reporting capacity.
Report for America is building a network of support that can elevate individuals and organizations at a time when the news ecosystem needs it most. Current research about journalism employment reveals a bleak picture of the overall industry. Medill’s recent 2025 State of Local News Report reported that “from 2023 to 2024, the newspaper industry recorded the 11th-highest loss of jobs among any industry tracked by the [Bureau of Labor Statistics], in terms of percentage. Over that period, almost every U.S. state lost newspaper jobs; in half of all states, there are fewer than 1,000 newspaper workers left.”
Another study co-authored by Report for America alumna Elizabeth Thompson, now with UNC’s Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media (CISLM), showed that even journalists who stay in the field are concerned about factors like low pay and burnout. Forty-six percent of the journalists and former journalists in the study reported they are not confident in the future of the profession (36% were unsure). With such a small number of working journalists, and the future of the industry uncertain, the 400+ Report for America alumni in journalism today can make a big difference.
Report for America’s increasingly powerful impact is made possible by our financial supporters. If you feel inspired by this work, we invite you to please consider making a gift to ensure that Report for America continues to deliver tangible, transformative results for the ecosystem of local news.