Kentucky

James Soderling

James Soderling is an education reporter at CivicLex as part of a pilot partnership with Press Forward Blue Grass, which trains community members to work as journalists in their hometowns. Soderling was born and raised in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, and is a recent graduate of Transylvania University. Before joining Report for America, Soderling reported for his university's newspaper, The Rambler, and worked at Community Action Council through his AmeriCorps service. He also interned at Kentucky Refugee Ministries and worked on Charles Booker's U.S. Senate campaign. Soderling's interest in journalism was solidified through his thesis on coal-dependent communities in transition, which combined on-the-ground reporting tactics with policy research to examine how places like his hometown adapt to economic change.

Samuel Collins Hicks

Samuel Collins Hicks is a public health and public interest reporter at MEDIALEX Community Newsroom as part of a pilot partnership with Press Forward Blue Grass, which trains community members to work as journalists in their hometowns. Before joining Report for America, Hicks was the city editor for the LEXtoday newsletter, delivering daily news to an audience of +40,000. He is also a poet, essayist, and TV/film actor. His debut essay Very Truly Yours was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Purple Ink Press, and his poems have appeared in multiple anthologies from Workhorse Publishing.

Scott White

Scott White is a digital communities reporter at The Woodford Sun as part of a pilot partnership with Press Forward Blue Grass, which trains community members to work as journalists in their hometowns. Before joining Report for America, White spent 39 years practicing law, focusing primarily on complex federal and state criminal defense and constitutional litigation. In addition to private practice, he served as the Kentucky Deputy Attorney General from 1996 through 2003. In 2022, White relocated his practice from Louisville–Lexington to Woodford County to help his longtime friend, retired Congressman Ben Chandler—the publisher of the Woodford Sun—keep the 150-year-old newspaper from going out of business. While focusing on business and community engagement, White also became a part-time reporter to help the newsroom stay afloat. He is no longer practicing law but is overseeing the paper's transition to a nonprofit organization.

Lia Salvatierra

Lia Salvatierra covers education in Northern Kentucky for LINK nky. Before reporting for LINK, Salvatierra spent two years as a local government accountability reporter for the Ouray County Plaindealer with Report for America. Her accountability work spanned a first-place investigation on an effort to secure local ownership over a federal reservoir to award-winning features on the area’s striking characters. In 2024, after graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill, Salvatierra attended the Hearst National Journalism Awards Championship, where she won second place for her article on the use of artificial intelligence chatbots for psychotherapy. Her work has also appeared in WyoFile, INDY Week and other outlets in North Carolina, Wyoming and Colorado. When she's not wordsmithing, Salvatierra is learning silversmithing.

LINK nky

With a focus on the public interest, LINK nky advances the Northern Kentucky Metro in the region, the commonwealth and the nation by providing transformative coverage of the news of the day with focus on the deeper issues that matter most to our community.

MEDIALEX Community Newsroom

MEDIALEX is a public platform for local voices to share stories that matter through community-created news, information, and entertainment. MEDIALEX provides local news & information in multiple languages through fact-based reporting by trusted members of the community. The organization's public interest/public health reporting model has been recognized as an effective example of community-centered, collaborative local journalism.

The Woodford Sun Community Newspaper

Founded in 1869, The Woodford Sun, a 156-year-old institution, remains Woodford County’s only independent local news source. In this local news desert, the Sun provides essential, trustworthy, place-based reporting that reflects and connects residents across Versailles, Midway, and surrounding rural communities.

CivicLex

CivicLex is a nonprofit organization working to strengthen civic health in Lexington by helping our community understand and get involved in local issues, connect with their neighbors, and have a say in decision making.

Lexington Herald-Leader

The Pulitzer Prize-winning Lexington Herald-Leader and its website Kentucky.com are committed to being Central and Eastern Kentucky’s primary source of news and commentary with the highest standards of journalism. Owned by McClatchy since 2006, the Herald-Leader endeavors to be a rewarding and caring employer and a force for positive change in the community. The newsroom’s 44 journalists focus on breaking news that holds leaders or institutions accountable, makes a concrete difference in the community and tells readers how something will directly impact their lives.  

Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting

The Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom based in Louisville with coverage focused statewide. Our mission is to protect society’s most vulnerable citizens, expose wrongdoing in the public and private sectors, increase transparency in government and hold leaders accountable. KyCIR is the creation of the nonprofit Louisville Public Media, which announced KyCIR’s formation in spring 2013. We are a part of the WFPL newsroom, an NPR affiliate.