2022-2023

Kate Fishman

Kate Fishman covers environmental regulation and natural resources on California’s north coast for The Mendocino Voice, a news site. She has worked as a field editor with Patch Media and covered several towns in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, writing about the volatility of school boards and the impact of COVID-19 and climate change on communities. Fishman’s journalism career started with profile writing for her local paper in New Paltz, New York when she was in high school. At Oberlin College, she reported on arts and culture and eventually became the managing editor of The Oberlin Review, the student paper that serves the city of Oberlin, Ohio. She loves to teach, and practice, writing of all genres.

Lucy Grindon

Lucy Grindon reports on low-income rural communities for North Country Public Radio in northern New York state. A recent graduate of Columbia University, she holds a master’s degree from the School of Journalism, where she covered education for Uptown Radio, documented responses to the war in Ukraine at Ukrainian Orthodox churches, and produced written and audio stories on local news, music and food. Grindon has worked for Commonweal magazine and her reporting for the National Catholic Reporter won a Catholic Press Award for best reporting of social justice issues. At Middlebury College, she studied history and Arabic, reported for The Middlebury Campus and was an opinion editor, and hosted two radio shows.

Michaela Towfighi

Michaela Towfighi reports on struggling middle-class and working-class residents for the Concord Monitor in New Hampshire. Prior to joining the Monitor full time, she was a summer intern there. A 2022 graduate of Duke University with a degree in public policy and journalism and media studies, she covered education, COVID-19 and the 2020 election and helped edit stories about the Durham County Courthouse for The 9th Street, a Duke newsletter, and North Carolina’s Indy Week. Her story about a family grappling with a delayed trial for a fatal car accident in Concord, New Hampshire won top honors in Duke’s Melcher Family Award for Excellence in Journalism. Towfighi is an American expat who calls London home, despite not having picked up a British accent just yet.

Samantha Hendrickson

Samantha Hendrickson covers the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio for The Associated Press. Before joining Report for America, she was a general assignment and business reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Hendrickson is a proud alumnus of The Minnesota Daily, the University of Minnesota’s student-run paper, and covered the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, the trial of Derek Chauvin and the police shooting of Daunte Wright. She also freelanced for The Intercept after discovering that a key witness for the defense in the Chauvin trial had a pending lawsuit against him involving the death of a young Black man. When she isn’t reporting, Hendrickson loves to craft, cook, read, do yoga and create the perfect playlist.

Teresa Homsi

Teresa Homsi is an environmental reporter in northern Michigan for WCMU public radio, which is based in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Homsi covers rural environmental issues, and their intersection with public health and Michigan commerce. Holding a bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan University in environmental studies, journalism and anthropology, she was a beat reporter for Central Michigan Life, the student paper, and interned for the Huron Daily Tribune and for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy’s superfund program. Homsi helped start her university’s sustainability office, and implemented projects, policy and programming. Her work has gained national and international recognition from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

Bianca Morales

Bianca Nicolle Morales Borges is the cultural expressions and community values reporter for the TucsonSentinel, an online publication in Tucson, Arizona. While Morales worked on earning her bachelor’s degree in journalism at the University of Central Florida, she interned as a reporter for the West Orange Times & Observer. A bilingual reporter, Morales hails from Puerto Rico and has worked as a contributor at the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting and a freelance reporter with the Oviedo Community News in Oviedo, Florida. When she’s not reporting she’s dancing, reading, hiking, swimming or surfing.

Craig Brown

Craig Allen Brown covers business news in the Greater Atlanta area for The Atlanta Voice, the source of news and information relevant to the African American community. Prior to this, Brown reported sports and local news for Atlanta’s NewsBreak, a newsletter. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mass media arts at Clark Atlanta University, where he was a sports editor and eventually the editor-in-chief of the school’s paper. Holding a master’s degree in sports administration from the University of Miami, Brown is the president of the Atlanta Association of Black Journalists. A veteran with 22 years of service in the U.S. Army, Brown’s duty locations include Korea, Germany, Iraq, Kuwait and Israel.

Graycen Wheeler

Graycen Wheeler reports on water issues for KOSU public radio, based in Stillwater, Oklahoma. A scientist-turned-journalist, she has written about science and technology for Symmetry, Science, Mongabay, among others, and covered local news, particularly housing and environmental issues, for the Monterey Herald, The Mercury News and Santa Cruz Local. Wheeler grew up in Norman, Oklahoma and started reporting while she was a graduate researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder. There, she wrote and edited for Science Buffs, a student-run STEM blog, and hosted a podcast, “Buffs Talk Science.” After earning a doctorate in biochemistry, Wheeler completed a master’s in science communication at the University of California, Santa Cruz. In her free time, Wheeler loves solving crossword puzzles and playing Dungeons & Dragons.

Jason Harward

Jason Harward is a multimedia journalist reporting on the state legislature and the economy for the Mitchell Republic in Mitchell, South Dakota. A recent graduate of Northwestern University, he holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism with a minor in legal studies. Harward spent three months reporting on the U.S. Congress for Medill News Service, part of Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, focusing on infrastructure, antitrust and the early buildup to the midterm elections. As an intern at KSAT, the ABC affiliate in San Antonio, Texas, he assisted in the production of daily newscasts and reported for the news site. When he’s not working, Harward loves the outdoors, cooking and reading Gothic novels.

Katie Redefer

Katie Redefer is a reporter whose work is published in two newspapers, Maryland’s The Salisbury Independent and Delaware State News. Previously, she was a metro correspondent for The Boston Globe’s city desk, reporting on breaking news. Redefer holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Emerson College, where she served as the editor-in-chief of The Berkeley Beacon, the student paper. In her free time, she enjoys practicing creative fiction writing, or sitting on the beach with a good book.