2025-2026

Harshawn Ratanpal

Before joining KBIA and the Missouri School of Journalism, Ratanpal covered money in politics at OpenSecrets, tracking campaign finance and lobbying data. At the Missouri School of Journalism, he covered local government, homelessness and the state legislature for mid-Missouri’s NPR member station KBIA and the Columbia Missourian. He was also the news director of KCOU, the campus student-run radio station. He holds a bachelor’s in journalism and a Bachelor of Science in economics. His first real-world gig was interning for his hometown newspaper, The San Diego Union-Tribune. He started his career in the 7th grade, writing for his school paper, the PawPrints. In his free time, Ratanpal makes music, lifts weights and climbs rocks.

Rebecca E.J. Cadenhead

Rebecca E.J. Cadenhead covers youth and juvenile justice for MLK50. Cadenhead graduated from Harvard University in 2023, where she studied Philosophy and African American Studies. Cadenhead has served as a Puffin Fellow at The Nation and a Ledecky Fellow at Harvard Magazine. She has also held several editing positions, including Associate Editor at The Harvard Crimson and Features Editor at the Harvard Advocate. Her work, which spans long-form journalism and narrative nonfiction, has been awarded a 2023 CASE Award and a 2022 Pushcart Prize.

Illan Ireland

Illan Ireland covers environmental threats and challenges facing Mississippi communities at the Mississippi Free Press. Previously, he completed a fellowship at The Futuro Media Group in New York City, taking on projects related to public health, climate change and housing insecurity. Working with Futuro’s investigative unit, he helped uncover significant disparities in mortgage outcomes between white and Latino homebuyers in New Jersey. Ireland holds a bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University and a master’s degree from the Columbia Journalism School, where he reported on the escalating drug overdose crisis in New York City and the near collapse of the local shelter system. He’s a native Spanish speaker, a proud Mexican American and a lover of movies, soccer and unreasonably spicy foods.

Rose Schnabel

Rose Schnabel covers agriculture, water, and climate in North Central Florida at WUFT News. Before joining Report for America, Schnabel worked as a bilingual AAAS Mass Media Fellow at El Nuevo Día in San Juan, Puerto Rico, covering science and the environment. She holds undergraduate degrees in biology and Spanish from Indiana University, where she completed an honors thesis on the rhetoric of science in the 1950s birth control trials in Puerto Rico. During her time at Indiana, Schnabel worked as a science writer for their College and led the online creative content team of their undergraduate academic journal.

Aaleah McConnell

Aaleah McConnell covers the criminal justice system in New Hanover County, North Carolina, at WHQR Public Radio. Before joining Report for America, McConnell completed a fellowship with the national nonprofit organization States Newsroom, where she focused on enterprise stories centered on the affordable housing shortage, mental health care, and education. Before that, she interned at the Georgia Recorder reporting on laws proposed under the gold dome of Georgia’s state Capitol during the 2023 Georgia Legislative session. She also covered the 2022 Georgia Legislative Session for Gold Dome Debrief, a weekly podcast produced by Fresh Take Georgia. She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Emerging Media from Kennesaw State University, with a minor in African and African American Diaspora Studies. When not serving underserved communities through journalism, she loves to roller-skate and go on long walks with her dog Kai.

Isabelle Tavares

Isabelle Tavares covers environmental and public health impacts in Southwest Detroit at Planet Detroit. Before that, she spent two years in the Santo Domingo art scene exploring her heritage and making films about her experience as a Dominican-American. Her interest in film was spurred by her work as an associate archival producer for a PBS docu-series about public health. She holds a master’s degree in magazine, news, and digital journalism from Syracuse University, where she reported on the food apartheid. This reporting came after her time in Cuba learning climate resilience strategies from rural and urban farmers. In 2019, she wrote data-driven lifestyle articles for Reader's Digest as an intern with the American Society of Magazine Editors. She is co-editor of Clearline Magazine, a Detroit-based environmental textile art publication.

Safiyah Riddle

Safiyah Riddle’s reporting has appeared in Reuters, THE CITY, WNYC, Chicago Crain’s Business, Chalkbeat and more. Riddle won the Silurians Press Club’s Dennis Dugan award for her reporting on environmental contamination in New York City’s public housing. Her story about failed desegregation efforts in New York schools, which was part of a nine-part series, earned the 2023 Shaufler Prize in the student category. Riddle holds a master's degree in economic reporting from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, where she also concentrated in data and audio journalism. Most recently, Riddle was a fellow for This American Life, where she contributed reporting about a range of issues, including congressional elections and gun violence in schools. Raised in New York City, Riddle enjoys distance swimming in Brooklyn’s beaches (sometimes even in the winter).

Audrey Mei Yi Brown

Audrey Brown (they/them) covers environmental health equity and corporate accountability in the Bay Area for the San Francisco Public Press. Prior to joining Report for America, Brown covered environmental equity for the Bay Area climate news magazine KneeDeep Times. This followed a stint at the San Francisco Chronicle, where Brown worked on SFNext, a civic engagement initiative, covering a range of city issues spanning homelessness, digital inequity, and downtown recovery. Brown is a 2022 graduate of Columbia Journalism School. They grew up in San Francisco and still call the city home.

Jabari Gibbs

Jabari Gibbs covers Glynn County in Coastal Georgia at The Current. Before joining Report for America, Gibbs was an Emma Bowen Foundation Fellow at The Current, covering Savannah government and city politics. He graduated from Georgia Southern University in 2023, where he served as editor-in-chief of The Inkwell, the campus newspaper. Under his leadership, the paper received multiple awards for investigating neglected student housing conditions. When he is not writing, Gibbs enjoys watching the NBA and going on long walks.

Yana Kunichoff

Yana Kunichoff will be reporting on how Southern Arizona communities address systemic challenges in education, equity, environment, voting, and urban planning. Previously, Yana was a freelance reporter and documentary producer currently, where she most recently covered education for the Arizona Republic. Yana has also covered education for Chalkbeat Chicago, worked as a special projects editor for the Migratory Notes immigration newsletter, produced a feature-length documentary on the experience of elderly prisoners in Illinois jails, and worked as an editor at The Moscow Times. She holds a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University and a bachelor's in politics and sociology from Durham University.