March 11, 2021: One year since the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, the virus has claimed more than 2.6 million lives worldwide, and is approaching 530,000 deaths here in the United States. Report for America corps members adapted with swiftness and grace to cover the most consequential story of a generation, maybe a
America’s annual celebration of Black History Month takes on a remarkable dimension this year as the nation reels from a summer of protests confronting racism and police violence; as communities of color are disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic due to systemic failures, from lack of local pharmacies to medical racism; and as Black leaders and activists
“The Black press is really important for Report for America and communities at large because they have such a rich history of telling stories of communities and people that have been disenfranchised, and whose stories have not been told in mainstream media,” said Alison Bethel McKenzie, vice president of corps excellence at Report for America,
The killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last year reignited America’s racial reckoning with a momentum unseen since the embattled days of the Civil Rights Movement. As hundreds of thousands of protestors took to the streets nationwide, issues like police reform and the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on communities of color were brought to the forefront. Throughout