Florida

Molly Farrar

Molly Farrar covers accountability and policy in the consolidated city-county government of Jacksonville for The Florida Trib. Before joining Report for America, Farrar worked as a digital journalist for WHDH Channel 7 and as a freelance reporter in the Greater Boston area covering local politics. Her news and transportation reporting won regional awards, and Farrar was selected as a First Amendment Institute Fellow with the New England First Amendment Coalition. Her investigative work on criminal justice and prisons was published in GBH News and The Intercept. Her stories have also appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and The Boston Globe. Farrar graduated from Boston University with a degree in journalism and cello performance, where she also served as editor-in-chief of the Daily Free Press, the independent student newspaper.

Sharmila Venkatasubban

Sharmila Venkatasubban is a senior editor and health reporter at the Florida Trib. Before joining Report for America, Venkatasubban was a reporter, editor, and researcher for local and international news outlets for two decades. She got her start at alt-weeklies in Pittsburgh and has worked at BuzzFeed News, Al Jazeera Media Network, and, most recently, at CNN. Venkatasubban has helped shape crucial stories at the height of #MeToo, as well as investigations across fields including education, health care, law enforcement, and government accountability. At AJ+, she was part of a team that won an Emmy Award for its coverage of the war in Gaza.

Walker Smith

Walker Smith is a visual journalist for Mainstreet Daily News in Gainesville, Florida. Before joining Report for America, Walker's work was shaped by a diverse job history, from selling cotton candy at a dirt track in high school to working on industrial fishing boats in Alaska during the COVID-19 pandemic. He draws on his blue-collar background and experience in the supply chain to examine labor and rural industry. He holds an M.A. in Visual Communication from Ohio University and completed a photojournalism internship at The Post and Courier in Charleston, South Carolina. When he’s not photographing, he plays saxophone, works on commercial fishing boats, and spends time sailing.

Anita Li

Anita Li is the government accountability reporter at Coconut Grove Spotlight. Through Report for America, she previously covered education for the Prince William Times, where she won a Virginia Press Association award for reporting on Venezuelan teachers who lost their Temporary Protected Status. Before joining Report for America, Li interned at Minnesota Public Radio and FOX 5 DC. Her passion for highlighting underrepresented voices started when she interned at WLRN, Miami’s NPR station. Li grew up in Maryland and graduated from Northwestern University, where she reported for The Daily Northwestern. She speaks Mandarin and Spanish, and will never say no to mango pomelo sago or a good story.

Sinclair Holian

Sinclair Holian covers development and gentrification for the Coconut Grove Spotlight. Through Report for America, Holian previously covered segregation and its lasting impacts for The Roanoke Rambler in Roanoke, Virginia. Holian studied journalism at UNC Chapel Hill, where she reported on inequalities in the agriculture industry, public education, and healthcare. Her story, “Land Loss and Legacy on Historic Black-owned Farmland,” received the 2024 Article of the Year award from the national Hearst Journalism Awards Program. When she’s not chasing a story, she enjoys swimming, hiking, and exploring local thrift shops.

The Florida Trib

The Florida Trib is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom that serves Florida as a vital stream of journalism, holding those in power accountable and diving beneath the surface to tell stories that would otherwise go uncovered. Our mission is to strengthen the statewide and local news ecosystems by investigating entrenched problems and proposed solutions through using news in the public interest and community engagement.

Coconut Grove Spotlight

The Coconut Grove Spotlight is an independent nonprofit news organization that covers Coconut Grove, a historic community of approximately 20,000 residents within the City of Miami., as well as Miami City Hall, which is located in the village of Coconut Grove. The Spotlight is dedicated to providing public service journalism that serves the entire Coconut Grove community and that faithfully reflects the full diversity and interests of the community and its residents.

Coconut Grove Spotlight

The Coconut Grove Spotlight is an independent nonprofit news organization that covers Coconut Grove, a historic community of approximately 20,000 residents within the City of Miami., as well as Miami City Hall, which is located in the village of Coconut Grove. The Spotlight is dedicated to providing public service journalism that serves the entire Coconut Grove community and that faithfully reflects the full diversity and interests of the community and its residents.

Mainstreet Daily News Gainesville

Mainstreet Daily News is laser-focused on local. We keep citizens informed about local news, sports and events, so they can stay safe, cast informed votes, and be a better neighbor in Gainesville and the surrounding area. We work to unify the community by reporting the facts accurately and fairly, so people can draw their own conclusions.

The Florida Trib

The Tributary is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom that serves Florida as a vital stream of journalism, holding those in power accountable and diving beneath the surface to tell stories that would otherwise go uncovered. Our mission is to strengthen the statewide and local news ecosystems by investigating entrenched problems and proposed solutions through using news in the public interest and community engagement.