Mississippi

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.

Mississippi Free Press

The mission of the Mississippi Free Press, a nonprofit statewide newsroom, is to publish deep public-interest reporting into causes of and solutions to the social, political, and systemic challenges facing all Mississippians and their communities. We interrogate and report the systems that cause inequities on the road to lasting solutions through a mixture of narrative storytelling, data reporting, historic context and community dialogue through solution circles in under-reported communities to discover report causes and roots of inequities, followed by solutions journalism.

Torsheta Jackson

Torsheta Jackson is the Education Equity Solutions reporter for the Mississippi Free Press in Jackson, Mississippi. Prior to joining the newsroom full time, Jackson spent 19 years as an educator and coach and 12 years as a freelance journalist. She has bylines in YES! magazine, Mississippi Free Press, Mississippi Scoreboard, Jackson Advocate, Jackson Free Press, Eater and Bash Brothers Media. Her work as part of the newsroom's Black Women and COVID project covered education history, equity and access in Noxubee County and garnered national recognition. Jackson earned a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from The University of Southern Mississippi, graduating top of her Broadcast Journalism cohort. She also holds master’s degrees in curriculum and instruction from the University of Mississippi and in human lactation from Union Institute and University. She lives in Richland, Mississippi with her husband Victor and the two youngest of their four children. She enjoys traveling, making memories with her family, reading and coaching youth sports.

Mississippi Free Press

The mission of the Mississippi Free Press, a nonprofit statewide newsroom, is to publish deep public-interest reporting into causes of and solutions to the social, political, and systemic challenges facing all Mississippians and their communities. We interrogate and report the systems that cause inequities on the road to lasting solutions through a mixture of narrative storytelling, data reporting, historic context and community dialogue through solution circles in under-reported communities to discover report causes and roots of inequities, followed by solutions journalism.

Grant McLaughlin

Grant McLaughlin is an economic development/ workforce reporter for the Commercial Dispatch in Columbus, Mississippi. As an undergraduate at The University of Mississippi’s School of Journalism and New Media l, McLaughlin worked for The Daily Mississippian, Rebel Radio, and started his own literary arts/ news website and magazine, The Underground Poet. He also participated in the Journalism School’s in-depth reporting class, writing about Fannie Lou Hamer and her Freedom Farm Cooperative. McLaughlin has also been a photography intern for Invitation magazine, where he worked local events in Oxford, Mississippi. He has a passion for writing poetry and creative nonfiction and has been published in Quasar Arts Magazine and the Landshark Review.

Michael Goldberg

Michael Goldberg covers the Mississippi Legislature for The Associated Press, concentrating on poverty and inequality. Before joining the AP, Goldberg covered state government for the Washington State Wire news site, and health care policy for State of Reform, a site devoted to policy journalism. He has reported on the economic impacts of the pandemic, Medicaid expansion and the 2020 election cycle, and his work offered a window into the inner workings of political institutions through the stories of individuals, detailing the politics of public broadband implementation and economic dislocation in rural Washington. Goldberg holds a master’s degree in specialized journalism from the University of Southern California, where he reported on topics at the intersection of politics, culture and labor for Annenberg Media.

The Associated Press

The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate and unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. More than half the world’s population sees AP journalism every day.

The Commercial Dispatch

The Commercial Dispatch, a daily paper and a news site, has been owned by the same family for 100 years. The primary coverage area is Lowndes and Oktibbeha counties. Lowndes is home to a diverse economy. Oktibbeha's economy is largely fueled by Mississippi State University. This news organization tackles stories with down-the-middle reporting, but also believes a paper's editorial stances play an important role in a community. Its tagline is "Open eyes, open minds," a nod to its history of pushing aggressive watchdog journalism and a vibrant local opinion page.

Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting

The Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting is a nonprofit news organization founded in December 2018 by investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell that seeks to empower citizens in their communities by informing and educating the public. It provides free investigative reporting to news organizations in the state hit hard by layoffs.

Isabelle Taft

Isabelle Taft covers Vietnamese and African-American communities for the Sun-Herald in Biloxi, Mississippi. Before joining Report for America, Taft worked as a researcher on Washington Post journalists’ book projects on Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation battle and President Trump’s impeachment. Before that, she worked in Hanoi, Vietnam, as a copy editor at Viet Nam News and a freelance journalist, reporting for publications including Politico Magazine and the Christian Science Monitor. She has also reported for The Texas Tribune. Taft was born and raised in Atlanta and majored in history at Yale University, where she graduated magna cum laude and co-edited a magazine of narrative nonfiction, The New Journal. Her reporting on women and reentry from prison in New Haven won the National Council on Crime & Delinquency Youth Media award.