2024-2025

WCMU Public Radio

WCMU public radio went on the air in 1973 and today has eight transmitters covering more than half the state, most of it rural, and a news site. WCMU brings cultural programming and quality news to hundreds of thousands of people who do not have access otherwise. Its mission is to educate, inform, entertain and engage, and in doing so, helping to improve the quality of life for families in central and northern Michigan.

The Associated Press

The Associated Press is a global news agency that began 172 years ago as a cooperative of five New York City newspapers. With 263 locations in more than 100 countries, AP provides journalism to roughly 15,000 media outlets around the world. AP sets standards for ethics and excellence, and has won 52 Pulitzer Prizes, including the 2016 gold medal for Public Service for an investigation into labor abuses in the seafood industry, reports that freed more than 2,000 slaves. AP’s seven news bureaus in the northeast U.S. provide vital local and regional news to 378 newsrooms.

Ventura County Star

The Ventura County Star is a digital and print news organization that has been serving Ventura County in coastal Southern California for more than 90 years. We are the only daily newspaper located in Ventura County. We are a general news organization, with an emphasis on watchdog, government, health and environmental issues. Ventura County has a population of about 860,000. We cover all of the county’s 10 cities and the unincorporated areas.  

The St. Louis American

The St. Louis American has covered the African American community since 1928. The Black-owned newspaper is now the largest weekly newspaper in Missouri. The American also is a 13-time recipient of the National Newspaper Publishers Association’s Russwurm Award, which recognizes the top African-American newspaper in the country. 

The Hastings Banner

The Hastings Banner, which has been in existence in south central Michigan since 1856, is a locally owned, quintessential family operation. The owner, with the help of his children, runs nine weeklies, specialty publications and commercial printing. His grandchildren help to maintain the property and produce Facebook videos. A small but seasoned news staff produce exclusive, comprehensive print and online coverage of Barry County, which has a population of about 62,000.

Technical.ly

Technical.ly is a major part of narrating economic change for the communities we serve. We’re interested in second and third tier regional economies. We’ve reported on each of our communities for five or more years, the longest being Philadelphia for a decade. Our reporters are trained to be deeply ingrained in the communities we serve, while also holding perspective from around other local economies. We are read by serious technologists, experienced entrepreneurs and economic development leaders who allocate resources among constituencies.

Jesse Bedayn

Jesse Bedayn reports on economic inequality for The Mercury News in San Jose, California. Before becoming a Report for America corps member, Bedayn studied investigative reporting and narrative writing at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, where he wrote about health care and aging in California and investigated the fraught world of for-profit nursing homes for the Investigative Reporting Program. Bedayn has worked as a stringer for The New York Times and as a research and data assistant at KQED public radio, he plumbed through police use-of-force cases for The California Reporting Project. Bedayn holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Kent in England. As editor of the student paper InQuire, he won local awards and shared the paper's first national U.K. award since the paper's inception in 1965. Bedayn grew up in the foothills of California's Sierra Nevada, and spends his free time rambling in the mountains.

Becca Savransky

Becca Savransky is an education reporter for the Idaho Statesman in Boise, Idaho. Before joining the Statesman, Savransky was a reporter for SeattlePI, the website of the former Seattle Post-Intelligencer paper, where she wrote about the surge of COVID-19 cases and the pandemic's impact on the Seattle community. Savransky has also covered homelessness and housing in Seattle, reporting stories about the lack of affordable housing in the region and the barriers people faced in finding permanent housing. She has worked as a reporter and social media curator at The Hill in Washington, D.C., and was managing editor and summer editor-in-chief at The Daily Northwestern, the student paper at Northwestern University. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and political science. She's from Stamford, Connecticut.

Tampa Bay Times

The Tampa Bay Times is the largest newspaper in Florida, with a rich, award-winning history of investigative, narrative and enterprise journalism. We have 120 journalists covering three counties and the state of Florida. That includes reporters and editors across news, investigations, enterprise, features, sports and digital. Our ownership structure is unique in journalism, preserved by our late visionary owner, Nelson Poynter. He bequeathed the newspaper to a school for journalists here in St. Petersburg, now known as the Poynter Institute, to protect our independence. We take that independence very seriously, focusing our resources on distinct, exceptional reporting. Our mission as a news organization traces back to our founding in 1884: to report the truth and contribute to an informed society. That mission depends on maintaining our credibility within the community. Poynter said it best in 1961: “When we turn to history we can draw inspiration from those who risked their necks and their economic lives to keep the free press free. Every year newspapers are cited for Pulitzer prizes and other awards in recognition of spectacular crusades and courage. But we have an even greater daily triumph of American journalism in helping to fulfill less spectacular but imperative needs. Without these self-government cannot endure.”

Technical.ly

Technical.ly is a major part of narrating economic change for the communities we serve. We’re interested in second and third tier regional economies. We've reported on each of our communities for five or more years, the longest being Philadelphia for a decade. Our reporters are trained to be deeply ingrained in the communities we serve, while also holding perspective from around other local economies. We are read by serious technologists, experienced entrepreneurs and economic development leaders who allocate resources among constituencies.