2023-2024

Macon Atkinson

Macon Atkinson covers political and personal trends, threads and issues from a rural voter perspective during the presidential election for The Post and Courier. Prior to joining that newsroom, she worked at daily newspapers in the Carolinas and Texas, covering public safety, city politics and downtown development. She won a 2023 Sidney Hillman Foundation award for her work on "The Cost of Unity," a project revealing the gentrifying forces behind Greenville, South Carolina's success. Originally from Charlotte, she graduated from Appalachian State University in 2019. When she's not working, you can find her out on a run or cooking in her kitchen.

Sofi Zeman

Sofi Zeman covers education, safety and crime in Uvalde, Texas, for the Uvalde Leader News. Before joining the Uvalde team, she reported on education and state government for the Columbia Missourian and Missouri News Network, respectively. A few of her favorite past projects include writing about inequity in Missouri's clemency process and investigating corporal punishment policies in the public schools system. She graduated from the Missouri School of Journalism with a bachelor's in print journalism and a minor in Spanish.

Elijah de Castro

Elijah de Castro is a reporter covering rural communities for The People-Sentinel, a locally owned paper in Barnwell, South Carolina. Born and raised in semi-rural Upstate New York, he has reported on issues like climate change, poverty and infrastructure that affect families in his hometown of Trumansburg. While earning a bachelor's degree in journalism from Ithaca College, he broke major stories about the college's presidential compensation, and the college's decision to install artificial turf in its stadium despite health and environmental concerns. He also interned for The Progressive magazine, where he reported on Azerbaijan's genocidal blockade of the Armenian region of Artsakh, and how utility companies are fighting the transition to renewable energy.

Madison McVan

Madison (Madi) McVan covers economic mobility for the Minnesota Reformer. Prior to joining the Reformer, she covered the agriculture industry for Investigate Midwest, with a focus on labor, regulatory and environmental issues in the meat industry. She graduated from the University of Missouri in 2020 with degrees in Journalism and Latin American Studies. On the weekends, you can find her exploring the Twin Cities' coffee shops and breweries, watching sports or hanging out with her cats.

Stephen Marcantel

Stephen Marcantel works at the Acadiana Advocate in Lafayette, Louisiana, covering the news coverage gaps facing rural Acadiana, the surrounding parishes of Lafayette. He graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 2022 with a bachelor's in mass communications. Since then, he has worked as a freelancer at the Acadiana Advocate covering various business and life stories. He also freelanced for the nonprofit online newspaper The Current in Lafayette. Marcantel has covered stories of mothers losing their children to fentanyl and fighting for change, food insecurity facing the poorest in our community, the lack of shelter space for those experiencing homelessness in Lafayette, and Lafayette's struggle to clean up the Vermilion River.

Hannah Bassett

Hannah Bassett covers health disparities in Arizona for the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting. Prior to her career in journalism, Bassett worked for the federal government and nonprofits writing about public health, immigration and press freedom in the United States and abroad. Bassett holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Tufts University and a master's degree in journalism from Stanford University.

Mariah Thomas

Mariah Thomas covers education and workforce development in Ashland, Ohio, for the Ashland Source. Thomas recently completed her bachelor's in journalism and political science at the University of Montana, where she served on the editorial board of the student newspaper, the Montana Kaimin. At the Kaimin, Thomas focused on gender discrimination lawsuits, sports, budget cuts and the state Legislature's impact on college students. She was part of a team that produced "In the Crosshairs," a project funded by the Poynter Institute to examine a bill in Montana that would have put guns on college campuses. While at the University of Montana, Thomas traveled to Northern Ireland with the school's Journalism Abroad program and reported on domestic violence rates there. She served on her school's Accessibility, Equity and Inclusion Student Council. Thomas completed an internship with her hometown newspaper, the Helena Independent Record, where she covered everything from education to music festivals. That internship also gave Thomas a chance to work with the Montana State News Bureau, one of the leading newsrooms covering Montana politics, where she produced a series looking at the Democratic party's future in the state following its down-ballot losses in the 2020 election. Thomas values community service, and worked as the president of her university's Honors Student Association to coordinate volunteer opportunities for her peers in Missoula.

Tannistha Sinha

Tannistha Sinha covers politics in Houston for the Houston Defender Network. She graduated with a master's of science in journalism from the University of Southern California last year, and was the recipient of the Annenberg Graduate fellowship. While pursuing stories for the curriculum, she also served as a reporter and USC editor at the student-led newsroom Annenberg Media, and interned at the inequality desk of BuzzFeed News, where she focused on socioeconomic stories. After graduating, she joined HousingWire Media as a general assignment reporter, where she covered housing and real estate trends across the country, and concentrated on affordable housing and propTech. She grew up in Kolkata, India, and completed her undergraduate and graduate studies in English literature from Jadavpur University. Being an avid debater, she represented her university in several public speaking competitions across India. Her works have also been published by notable Indian newsrooms like The Hindu, The Telegraph, CNN News18, NDTV and The Wire.

Adam Goldstein

Adam Goldstein covers climate, the environment, public health, and more at the New Bedford Light in New Bedford, Mass. Prior to joining the Light, Goldstein covered agricultural policy and Capitol Hill for States Newsroom in Washington D.C., regularly reporting on the farm bill. He has also worked as an education reporter at the the Columbia Missourian, and prior to that, as a digital producer for ABC7 Bay Area. Goldstein also won a 2023 NAAJ Best Student Writing Award for a story he did about climate change impacting Corn Belt agriculture. Goldstein is a San Francisco native, and a graduate of Tulane University and the Missouri School of Journalism.

Henry Brannan

Henry Brannan covers rural healthcare in the Shenandoah Valley and outside of Charlottesville for VPM News and WMRA. Before joining Report for America, he was the 2022-23 Jim Lehrer fellow at the PBS NewsHour, where he produced stories on topics ranging from the disparities driving a projected surge in U.S. heart disease rates to the future of military recruiting as officials struggle to attract Gen Z recruits. Brannon got his start reporting at Street Roots, a weekly investigative street paper in Portland, Oregon. While there, he reported on the housing crisis, racial disparities in COVID-19 outcomes and Oregon’s struggling behavioral health system. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and History from Grinnell College. While in school, he researched corporate landlords' use of LLCs to obscure political contributions as an intern for the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project. He’s also a proud Pell Grant recipient and alumnus of Portland Community College.