2022-2023

Cory Johnson

Cory Johnson is a multimedia journalist covering Mississippi’s George and Greene counties for WKRG, a CBS affiliate based in Mobile, Alabama. Johnson previously worked as an associate producer for Gray Television’s national investigative unit, and was a reporter and supervising producer for KOMU, mid-Missouri’s NBC affiliate. Johnson’s work as a reporter for two community newspapers in Wauseon, Ohio, his hometown, was recognized by the National Press Club. A graduate of the University of Missouri, he’s a member of the university’s prestigious Rollins Society for having served impoverished communities throughout Missouri, Memphis, Oklahoma City, Peru and Thailand. An Eagle Scout, he enjoys biking, camping, canoeing and hiking.

Ginny Monk

Ginny Monk is a housing reporter for The Connecticut Mirror, a nonprofit news site that reports on politics and policy across Connecticut. Previously, she covered real estate and consumer issues for Hearst Connecticut Media Group. Monk was on the investigations team at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette where she reported on housing, homelessness and children’s welfare issues, including juvenile justice. As a data fellow with the University of Southern California’s Center for Health Journalism, she wrote a series of stories about the unnatural and preventable deaths of children in Arkansas. Monk grew up in Pencil Bluff, a small township in Arkansas, and holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Arkansas, where she was editor-in-chief of The Arkansas Traveler, the student paper.

Jarrette Werk

Jarrette Werk is the Indigenous affairs reporter for Underscore, a nonprofit digital news organization with a focus on Indian Country and other marginalized coverage areas, based in Portland, Oregon. Werk is a multimedia journalist, and a recent graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. Originally from Montana, he is a proud member of the Aaniiih and Nakoda tribes of the Fort Belknap Indian Community. Werk was an associate producer for Nevada Public Radio’s “Native Nevada Podcast,” a podcast series highlighting the culture, issues, and perseverance of the 27 tribal nations in present-day Nevada, and he has interned with First Nation Focus magazine. One of Werk’s passions is portrait photography, and his ultimate goal is to take a portrait of at least one member of every tribal nation throughout Indian County. Currently, there are nearly 600 tribes in the U.S.

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.

Monica Cordero Sancho

Mónica Cordero Sancho is an investigative and data journalist for the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting, a news site based in Champaign, Illinois. Cordero’s work has been published by Univision, Bloomberg Businessweek, La Noticia, Radio Ambulante, NPR, openDemocracy and The New York Times. Born in Costa Rica, she is a graduate of the University of Costa Rica and the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. Cordero was the lead reporter, involving newsrooms from 12 Latin American countries, on the investigation into the evangelical movement’s political power in Latin America. Published in multiple outlets in the United States and in Latin America, this reporting won the 2020 Ortega y Gasset Journalism Award, the most prestigious journalism prize in the Spanish-speaking world, for best investigative reporting. Cordero is a member of a pub-run group in Brooklyn, New York and loves pastrami sandwiches and chocolate cake.

Samantha Searles

Samantha Searles covers gun violence and prevention for WHYY, the major public media organization in the Greater Philadelphia area. Prior to joining WHYY, Searles was an on-air reporter for Suffolk University/New England Cable News and a contributor to Framingham Source, a news site covering Framingham, Massachusetts. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism with a broadcast concentration from Suffolk University. When she’s not reporting, she loves the performing arts, gardening and getting her dog out of trouble.

Theo Peck-Suzuki

Theo Peck-Suzuki covers childhood poverty in southeast Ohio for WOUB Public Media, a PBS and NPR affiliate based in Athens, Ohio. A recent graduate with a master’s degree in journalism from Ohio University, Peck-Suzuki interned with WOUB as a multimedia reporter. Previously, he worked to advance sustainable community development in Appalachian Ohio with the nonprofit Rural Action, and studied cultural anthropology at Brown University and The University of Chicago. His desire to write about people in a way that would be meaningful to those outside the academic world is what led him to become a journalist. In his free time, he writes creatively and plays guitar.

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.