New Jersey

Curtis Brodner

Curtis Brodner covers housing and affordability for The Jersey Vindicator. Prior to joining the Vindicator, Brodner worked as a freelancer. His coverage included a months-long investigation into prison disability accommodations for Prism. As a Columbia Journalism Investigations fellow, he worked on a four-part series about wrongful convictions for New York Focus. At 1010 WINS, he reported on housing and homelessness. During the 2020 protests against police abuses, he co-founded a reporting project in which a team of about 30 volunteers produced live coverage of demonstrations. Brodner holds a master's degree in journalism from Columbia Journalism School and a bachelor's degree in journalism from SUNY Purchase.

Sydney Salomon

Sydney Salomon is a housing and community affairs reporter covering homelessness, housing affordability, and local policy. She previously reported for New Mexico In Depth, where she produced a feature on LGBTQ+ youth homelessness that was republished as a cover story by the Santa Fe Reporter and reached the New Mexico Statehouse. She also worked as a reporter for NYU’s graduate publication, The Click, covering housing and education issues across Union County. Salomon holds a master’s degree in journalism from New York University and a bachelor’s degree in English from Saint Elizabeth University, where she graduated cum laude. In addition to reporting, she is an independent poet and the author of 7 books. She has received awards for two of her poems, separate from her published book work, The Lunchroom (2023) and The Ballads of Tragedy: America’s School Shooting Saga (2024). A New Jersey native, she enjoys creative writing and community-focused storytelling.

New Jersey Urban News

New Jersey Urban News is a BIPOC-led digital newsroom dedicated to informing and empowering Black and Brown communities across New Jersey. We deliver culturally grounded, community-centered reporting on environmental advocacy, government, health, education, business, civic engagement, and local issues often overlooked by traditional media. Through trustworthy journalism, strong community partnerships, and a mobile-first approach, we provide residents with the information they need to make informed decisions and stay connected to the issues that shape their lives.

The Jersey Vindicator

The Jersey Vindicator is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to shining light on how power works in New Jersey. Through investigative, accountability, solutions, and service journalism, we uncover the stories others overlook and give residents the information they need to take action. We exist to empower New Jerseyans, elevate community voices, and help build a stronger, more transparent Garden State.

Hannah Gross

Hannah Gross covers education and child welfare in New Jersey for NJ Spotlight News, a nonprofit news organization. Previously, Gross reported for NBC10 Philadelphia and Telemundo 62, where she covered gun violence prevention efforts in Philadelphia, a chemical spill in the Delaware River and other local issues in English and Spanish. She has also held education reporting internships at the National Education Association and Forbes. Gross graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in May 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Hispanic Studies. She spent most of her college career reporting for NBC10 Philadelphia, Telemundo 62 and her school newspaper, The Daily Pennsylvanian. Gross hails from South Orange, NJ where she got her start as a journalist working for The Columbian, the student-run newspaper at Columbia High School in Maplewood. There, she reported on school segregation, mental health and student drug use. Gross is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. She enjoys baking, reading and making jewelry.

NJ Spotlight News

NJ Spotlight News is a pioneering partnership between NJ Spotlight’s digital newsroom and NJ PBS, New Jersey's public television network. As the largest nonprofit newsroom dedicated to the state of New Jersey, NJ Spotlight News covers important issues in education, health care, public policy, politics and the environment on multiple platforms: traditional broadcast, digital reporting, social media content and live journalism roundtables.

Bobby Brier

Bobby Brier covers mental health issues, especially issues affecting rural New Jerseyans, for NJ Spotlight News, a nonprofit news organization. Previously, Brier reported for New Mexico In Depth, covering the housing crisis across New Mexico and tracking bills in the state Legislature aimed at addressing the problem. His stories on the economic impact of a new professional soccer stadium in Albuquerque, and the financial contributions of land developers to political action committees in the lead- up to the city’s mayoral election earned an award for political news coverage from the Society of Professional Journalists. Hailing from Scranton, Pennsylvania, Brier has reported on arts and culture for The Scranton Times-Tribune. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, and a master’s degree in journalism from New York University.

NJ Spotlight News

NJ Spotlight News is a pioneering partnership between NJ Spotlight’s digital newsroom and NJ PBS, New Jersey's public television network. As the largest nonprofit newsroom dedicated to the state of New Jersey, NJ Spotlight News covers important issues in education, health care, public policy, politics and the environment on multiple platforms: traditional broadcast, digital reporting, social media content and live journalism roundtables.

Kayla Canne

Kayla Canne reports on poverty and the low-income housing shortage for the Asbury Park Press in Neptune, New Jersey. As a freelancer, Canne wrote for her hometown daily newspaper, the Democrat & Chronicle in Rochester, New York, and for The Sun Chronicle, a publication in Attleboro, Massachusetts. She is a proud CODA (child of deaf adults) and was a deaf education volunteer with the Peace Corps in Ghana for nearly two years until the pandemic forced her evacuation in March 2020. Prior to that, she was the lead enterprise reporter and assignment editor at The Sun Chronicle in Attleboro, where she cultivated a passion for narrative, human-first storytelling, and helped editors launch a new weekend edition as they shifted to a six-day paper. Canne's work earned her two awards from the New England Newspaper & Press Association. She is a journalism graduate of Boston University's College of Communication.

Asbury Park Press

The Asbury Park Press has a national reputation for strong investigative reporting, serving the community since 1879 and covering Monmouth and Ocean counties in NJ. Our 1.2 million population has about 20 percent communities of color, with some towns as high as 60%. The area is contrasted with extreme wealth and deep poverty. We have 57 writers, photogs, editors and producers.