2024-2025

Esteban Candelaria

Esteban Candelaria

Esteban Candelaria covers child welfare and the state Children, Youth, and Families Department for The Santa Fe New Mexican. He is based in Albuquerque. Prior to joining The New Mexican, he covered education at the Albuquerque Journal. There, he tackled accountability stories about the state education department's administration of services for students to stories about the proliferation of guns in Albuquerque schools. Before the Journal, he covered criminal justice and the local courts at The Colorado Springs Gazette. Esteban graduated with a bachelor's degree from Colorado College, where he also won an award for his time and contributions to student journalism during the COVID-19 pandemic.

KOSU

KOSU is more than a radio station. We’re a community organization dedicated to sparking curiosity with stories, resources, events and information that connect people. We report news in collaboration with the public, not just for the public. KOSU helps Oklahomans understand issues that are important to them and discover new things about our state.
Elise Plunk

Elise Plunk

Before joining Louisiana Illuminator, Plunk earned her bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Florida, where she worked as editor-in-chief of Atrium magazine, a narrative nonfiction outlet on campus. She also worked as an environmental communications intern for the Thompson Earth Systems Institute, where she wrote feature stories and produced social media content on environmental topics relevant to Floridians, and as a climate journalist fellow at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. Plunk's favorite class in college was environmental journalism, where she learned to connect her passion for the natural world with her studies in reporting. When she isn't working, she loves making art from upcycled materials.
Gisselle Medina

Gisselle Medina

Gisselle Medina covers religion, culture and community development in the Central Valley for Fresnoland. Prior to joining Report for America, Medina built an education beat from scratch at The Frisc, a small newsroom in San Francisco. Their work has been published in the L.A. Times, The Oaklandside, The Daily Californian, Greater Good Science Center, and much more. Medina was a 2023 White House Correspondents' Association scholarship recipient and was part of the 2023 NAHJ and NLGJA student projects. Medina received a master's degree in journalism, with concentrations in investigative reporting and multimedia, from UC Berkeley, where they also studied English as an undergraduate. Originally from Los Angeles, Medina lived in Fresno for 10 years, where they cultivated a passion for helping people while residing in a room and board facility and uncovering the disparities faced by the residents. Outside of work, Medina loves to spend time with loved ones, playing board games, dancing to music, traveling to new places, and reading poetry.
Isabella Aldrete

Isabella Aldrete

Isabella Aldrete is a bilingual journalist for The Nevada Independent. She covers political races up and down the ticket, as well as the Legislature and how policies affect Latinos. Prior to joining Report for America, Aldrete interned for NBC News. There, she covered everything from Sam Altman’s investments to the CHIPs Act. Aldrete also worked at the Dow Jones News Fund, covering workplace benefits for Employee Benefit News. She’s a 2024 graduate of Barnard College.

David Escobar

David Escobar covers diversity in the Adirondacks for the Adirondack Explorer & North Country Public Radio. He previously served as the news editor for WFUV 90.7 FM in the Bronx. Along with mentoring student reporters, he produced, directed, and hosted the station's daily news podcast "What's What". Escobar has also worked as an associate producer for the podcast and radio show "Our Body Politic" and as an intern for WNYC's "The Takeaway". His journalism career started at WFUV as an anchor and student reporter. Prior to working in journalism, Escobar researched the history of Chinese migrant labor at the John Muir National Historic Site as an intern for the National Park Service. He has a master's degree in public media from Fordham University, where he also earned bachelor's degrees in journalism and digital technology & emerging media.

Morgan Casey

Morgan Casey covers wellness, mental health and the environment in Cumberland County, North Carolina, at CityView Today. Before joining Report for America, Casey led the writing and fact-checking of a team national investigation into U.S. lithium mining with The Howard Center for Investigative Journalism that published with USA Today and aired on PBS Newshour. Before that, she was a fellow with News21 where she was part of a team reporting on how Catholic health system mergers with local secular hospitals impact abortion access. She holds a master's degree in investigative journalism from Arizona State University and earned her bachelor's at the University of Maryland.

David Mamaril Horowitz

David Mamaril Horowitz covers education at the Bowling Green Daily News in Kentucky. Before joining Report for America, Horowitz covered local news as a freelancer in San Francisco, where he wrote hundreds of articles for outlets such as Mission Local, the San Francisco Examiner, and Hoodline. He is a recent graduate of Lede, the professional program for data journalism at Columbia University. As a tech reporter at Mission Local, he wrote an investigation on pay and transparency at ride-hail companies that went viral. A week later, Uber improved the transparency shortcoming Horowitz had highlighted. In his free time, he learns Spanish and wrangles data for the Data Liberation Project.

Nadia Lathan

Nadia Lathan covers the Texas statehouse with a focus on energy for the Associated Press. Before joining AP, Lathan covered culture, policy, and health as an intern at the Investigative Reporting Program and a science writer for UC Berkeley School of Public Health. She helped report on the 2024 presidential primaries as an intern at The Mercury News and East Bay Times and has written about the Bay Area’s proactive transportation community for Oaklandside. Lathan holds a master’s degree in journalism from UC Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Economics from University of Redlands. In 2021, she studied social policy as a foreign exchange student at University of Oxford. She adores biking, playing with her cat, and listening to technology podcasts when away from her desk.

Emily Small

Emily Small does accountability reporting on economic disparities and health and human services issues for Door County Knock. She had bee a freelance journalist reporting on county government and local impacts of national issues like substance use disorder and labor shortages for Door County Knock and the Washington Island Observer. She received a first-place Wisconsin Newspaper Association award for Feature Writing in 2023. Small started in journalism as a staff writer and assistant editor for the Washington Island Observer, covering local government, business, features, and writing a bi-weekly personal column. She has a bachelor's degree in English literature and gender studies from Carthage College.