2026-2027

Kathryn DePauw

Kathryn DePauw covers Indigenous and tribal communities in Northern Michigan for the Traverse City Record-Eagle. Before this, she editor-in-chief for the White Pine Press, Northwestern Michigan College’s newspaper. There, she earned awards for her photojournalism and reporting on local stories, COVID-19, and the 2020 election. In 2022, the Michigan College Press Association named her the Janet Nellis Mendler Student Journalist of the Year. DePauw earned a degree in freshwater studies and has worked with many local nonprofits as a water quality monitor, geographic information systems specialist, and digital content creator. She was awarded the 2021 Student Environmentalist of the Year award from the Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council for establishing a chloride monitoring program.

Macy Lipkin

​Macy Lipkin covers the Hispanic/Latino community in Ogden, Utah. Her reporting also will include Weber State, Utah's fourth-largest university and the nearby Hill Air Force Base, the area's largest employer. This region is the heart of the manufacturing, aerospace, and defense industries. Before joining Report for America, Lipkin worked as the associate producer for Basic Black at GBH News in Boston, freelanced in Ecuador, and interned with Connecticut Public Radio and a local newspaper in Lisbon, Portugal. She is fluent in Spanish, conversational in Portuguese, and working on deciphering the language of dogs. She holds a bachelor's degree in peace and justice studies from Wellesley College.

Morgan Casey

Morgan Casey covers wellness, mental health and the environment in Cumberland County, North Carolina, at Border Belt Independent. She previously reported on this beat 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.

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.

Rachel Spacek

Rachel Spacek is an investigative reporter who covers migrant labor and equity issues in the Pacific Northwest for investigateWest. Spacek joins InvestigateWest from Boise, Idaho, where she covered Latino affairs, housing, homelessness and local government for the Idaho Statesman. She has received commendations from the Idaho Press Club for her work. Spacek's previous experiences include business reporting as an intern at the Los Angeles Times and covering community news for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Spacek began her journalism career at the University of Nevada, Reno, working for the college newspaper, where she met her college sweetheart and now fiancé, Ryan.

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.

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.

Ben Jodway

Ben Jodway covers LGBTQ+ Ohioans living in rural communities at The Buckeye Flame. Before that, he covered education for the Midland Daily News, including a superintendent search and the resignation of Central Michigan University's president. Jodway was a reporter on Central Michigan University's student newspaper, CM Life, covering general assignments. At WCMU Public Radio, he covered libraries being criticized for displaying LGBTQ+ books. He has a bachelor's degree in history from CMU.

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.

Berenice Garcia

Before joining Texas Tribune, Berenice Garcia covered local governments across various cities in the Rio Grande Valley, crime and general assignments, as well as spearheaded healthcare coverage at The Monitor newspaper. A Valley native, she traveled east to earn her bachelor's degree in journalism and politics from New York University. During her time there, she interned at NBC News, the Daily Beast and the New York Daily News. When she's not reporting, Berenice enjoys getting the wind knocked out of her at the gym.