Border Belt Independent
The Border Belt Independent is a nonprofit, digital newsroom that focuses on issues and challenges that affect Bladen, Columbus, Robeson, and Scotland counties in southeastern North Carolina.
2025-2026
Hunter Morrison
Prior to joining KRBD Community Radio in Southeast Alaska, Morrison reported on arts, fishing and the environment for KDLL Public Radio on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. His journalism career began in the Florida Panhandle, where he interned for an independently-run magazine covering business and culture. He later freelanced for a number of small town newspapers before making the transition to public radio at his college radio station, WUWF, in Pensacola, Florida. After graduating, Morrison left his life in Florida behind to embark on an Alaska adventure, where he spends his summers hiking and his winters skiing. Morrison holds a bachelor's degree in communications from the University of West Florida, where he was editor-in-chief of The Voyager, the student-run newspaper.
Ismael Lele
Before joining the Oklahoma Eagle, Lele worked as a reporting intern at the Tulsa World, serving audiences with stories related to homelessness, housing costs and gun violence. The previous summer, he contributed to a multimedia project analyzing the state of American democracy through Carnegie-Knight's News 21 program. At the University of Oklahoma, he earned a degree in journalism and worked for the independent student newspaper — The OU Daily — as a city reporter and editor. His interest in news writing stems from his high school days, when he wrote movie reviews and sports content for his high school paper, the Tiger Tribune.
Desiree Hagan
Desiree Hagen is a reporter based in Kotzebue, Alaska which is located about 30 miles above the Arctic Circle. She's worked in public radio for over a decade and started her carrer in journalism after hosting a podcast on Alaskan gardening and agriculture. She's worked as a reporter for KBBI in Homer, Alaska and KYUK in Bethel, Alaska. Currently she is news director for a one-person newsroom for KOTZ in Kotzebue.
KOTZ
KOTZ is a nonprofit public radio station that serves the Northwest Arctic. The news department covers everything from local city government and megadevelopment projects, to climate change and mining. We have a small one-person newsroom.
KRBD Rainbird Community Radio
KRBD is a public radio station in Ketchikan, Alaska, and is owned and operated by Rainbird Community Broadcasting. KRBD is a community radio station that seeks to inform, engage, enlighten, and delight to make a positive difference in the lives of the people of Southern Southeast Alaska. The station is located on Revillagigedo Island, in the heart of the Tongass National Forest, and serves a listening area of approximately 18,000 to 20,000 people, including the communities of Ketchikan, Saxman, Metlaktla, Craig, Klawock, Thorne Bay and Hydaburg. KRBD is a vital news source for the area, as well as the area’s LP-1 emergency provider.
Anita Li
Anita Li covers education for the Prince William Times. Li's passion for local nonprofit news started when she interned for WLRN, Miami's NPR station. She graduated from Northwestern University, where she reported for The Daily Northwestern. She has also interned at FOX 5 DC. She speaks Mandarin and Spanish, and is always on the hunt for a good tiramisu.
Dallas Free Press
Dallas Free Press, a nonprofit news site, launched in January 2020 with the mission of amplifying voices and exploring solutions to the city’s systemic inequities. It focuses community journalism efforts on three zip codes in South Dallas and West Dallas, which are predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods, respectively.
Camilo Diaz Jr.
Prior to joining the Dallas Free Press as a visual journalist, Camilo Diaz Jr. was a video intern at KERA, the NPR and PBS member station for North Texas, where he developed a deep appreciation for video production, making his inner child smile by working at a station he watched growing up. He also worked as a multimedia fellow at the Fort Worth Report, covering local news in his hometown. As a teenager, he began documenting his community and identity through photography, leading him to the world of photojournalism. He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in journalism with a concentration in photojournalism from the University of North Texas.
Isabelle Taft
Isabelle Taft covers immigration for New York Focus through Report for America. Prior to joining Focus, she was a reporting fellow on the National desk at the New York Times, covering breaking news around the United States and writing about criminal justice, higher education and immigration. Before that, she spent four years in Mississippi reporting for Mississippi Today, the Biloxi Sun Herald and ProPublica. Her investigation into Mississippi's practice of jailing people with no criminal charges to await mental health treatment helped lead lawmakers to overhaul the involuntary commitment process there. Taft's first full-time journalism job was copy editing at Viet Nam News in Hanoi. She speaks Spanish and is proud to be from Atlanta.