Midwest

Carlos Ballesteros

Carlos Ballesteros is a former reporter for Newsweek, where he covered politics, foreign policy, labor and immigration. He has also written about his hometown of Chicago for the Chicago magazine, South Side Weekly, Nation, and In These Times. He was editor-in-chief of Claremont College’s Student Life for which he led a team of more than one hundred student journalists.

Chicago Sun-Times

The Chicago Sun-Times is the legendary news voice of Chicago’s working class. The news organization was recently acquired by a diverse consortium of philanthropists, business leaders and Chicago area labor organizations.

Block Club Chicago

Block Club Chicago is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Chicago’s neighborhoods. The news organization’s mission is to cover the city through a truly block-level lens that encourages people to get involved at a local level — whether that’s through campaigning for a local school council seat or trying a family-owned restaurant instead of the new Olive Garden. Block Clubs seeks to build community through ground-level reporting of the city’s neighborhoods. Six full-time reporters are embedded in the communities they cover, which allows them to form lasting connections to the neighborhoods that don’t exist when reporters parachute in for a story. Currently, daily coverage is focused in clusters of neighborhoods throughout Chicago, including: Wicker Park, Logan Square, Humboldt Park, Pilsen, Back of the Yards, Little Village, Englewood, Chatham, Lincoln Square, Irving Park, the South Loop and parts of Downtown.

Associated Press

The Associated Press is a global news agency that began 172 years ago as a cooperative of five New York City newspapers. With 263 locations in more than 100 countries, AP provides journalism to roughly 15,000 media outlets around the world. AP sets standards for ethics and excellence, and has won 52 Pulitzer Prizes, including the 2016 gold medal for Public Service for an investigation into labor abuses in the seafood industry, reports that freed more than 2,000 slaves. AP’s seven news bureaus in the northeast U.S. provide vital local and regional news to 378 newsrooms.

Detroit Free Press

The Detroit Free Press primarily covers three counties in southeast Michigan, including robust coverage of the city of Detroit. Founded in 1831, it’s the oldest business in Detroit. The Detroit Free Press has earned 10 Pulitzer Prizes in its history, including one for exposing lies and corruption in the administration of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Its role is to serve as watchdog and community convener.

Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism is an award-winning investigative news outlet based in Madison, Wisconsin. The mission of the WCIJ is to increase the quality, quantity and understanding of investigative journalism to foster an informed citizenry and strengthen democracy. The organization collaborates with Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television, commercial media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, training students in classroom settings. Collaborative partners have included ProPublica, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Center for Public Integrity, Reveal, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin, Madison Magazine, HuffPost and other outlets.

Becky Dernbach

Becky Z. Dernbach reports for Sahan Journal, a news organization in Minnesota’s capital, St. Paul, that focuses on the state’s immigrants. Dernbach focuses her reporting on the education of Hmong, Somali, Latino and other immigrant students. Until recently she was an editorial fellow in the San Francisco office of Mother Jones, where she reported on labor and health care issues and fact-checked stories for the magazine and web. She graduated with a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School in 2019. While at Medill, she was a research assistant for the Chicago Tribune and published an investigation on Medicaid backlogs in the Chicago Sun-Times. Dernbach grew up outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and now calls Minneapolis home. Before she entered journalism, she worked in communications in the Twin Cities focused on racial justice issues. She’s also worked as a substitute teacher in the Minneapolis Public Schools. Dernbach is the author of a rhyming picture book about the 2008 foreclosure crisis, Fannie and Freddie.

H.L. Comeriato

H.L. Comeriato reports for The Devil Strip, a community-owned, independent news outlet in Akron, Ohio. Comeriato covers health care in the region in its broadest sense from gun violence to immigrants navigating the Medicaid system. Comeriato is a writer, editor and multimedia journalist living and working in Akron, Ohio. Their work includes contributing to TransAkron, a visual storytelling project and comprehensive, educational resource designed to explore the lived realities of trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people living in the Rustbelt. Comeriato is a graduate of the University of Akron Williams Honors College and has interned with the Akron Community Foundation. Currently, they serve on the Board of Directors for the Community AIDS Network/Akron Pride Initiative. Their work has appeared both in print and online.

Brittany Callan

Brittany Callan reports for The Beacon, a nonprofit, digital news organization in Kansas City, Missouri, where she focuses on health and the environment and the connections between the two. Before joining Report for America, Callan was a communications associate at the Medical College of Wisconsin and a freelance fact-checker for Discover Magazine. She has reported on a labor union movement in the service industry for Milwaukee Magazine and research in bioprosthetic ovaries for Northwestern Research News. She graduated with an M.S. in Journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in 2018, where she specialized in health, environment and science. She holds a B.S. in biomedical engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering in 2015.

PrincessSafiya Byers

PrincessSafiya Byers is a reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service which focuses on low-income minority residents of the Wisconsin city. Her wide-ranging beat covers health, minority businesses, faith, jobs, housing and transportation. A proud Milwaukee native, Byers is a 2020 graduate of Marquette University, the Catholic university in Milwaukee. She has had internships with the Milwaukee Community Journal, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service itself. Byers has also co-produced a community podcast and written for community newsletters. In 2018, she was awarded the Bucks Youth Leader award for community service and leadership. In addition to her journalism, Byers has been working for the non-profit children and family center, COA Youth and Families Center, which began in 1906 as the Children’s Outing Association.