2025 Impact Report
Letter from Our Executive Director
Challenges abound for local newsrooms, but I want to focus on the positives — because Report for America has helped achieve a lot of them.
This summer, we’re celebrating the 100,000 stories that our corps of talented, service-minded journalists have produced since we began fielding reporters in local newsrooms throughout the country in 2018.
In this report, we showcase some of their terrific work from this past service year — and its wide-ranging impacts.
Read the full report here.
Kim Kleman
Executive Director, Report for America
Corps Member Highlights
More than 100,000 stories have been told since 2018, when Report for America first began placing journalists in local newsrooms. These are stories that would have gone unreported if not for our corps members, newsrooms, and proven model.
When the Power Went Out, He Kept Communities Informed
Gerard Albert III
When Hurricane Helene tore its way through the region in the fall of 2024. Overnight, the first-year Report for America corps member found himself facing the incredible challenge of living through the worst natural disaster in the state’s history while also reporting on its impact.
The Reporter Who Stayed
Yiming Fu
Over the past year, Yiming has published more than 30 stories on the aftermath of the Maui fires, focusing on the experiences of those most affected, particularly within Lāhainā’s Filipino, working-class and immigrant communities. Yiming has earned the trust of residents by showing up, listening and reporting with care.
Uncovering a Broken System, One Story at a Time
Michaela Towfighi
Over the course of three years, Michaela published more than 500 stories focused on the lives of working- and middle-class residents across the state. But one project, in particular, stood out. Her “Sent Away” series, a six-month investigation into the fractured residential treatment system for children, gave voice to families navigating trauma and to kids caught in a system few understood.
Shaping the Future of Justice Reporting in Alabama
Alaina Bookman
During her corps term, Alaina produced nearly 400 stories, many of them part of AL.com’s “Beyond the Violence” project examining whether the city can grow beyond its crime problem and become safer, healthier and happier. Her reporting on RESTORE, a juvenile reentry program, earned national recognition from the Solutions Journalism Network.
