Devna Bose

Devna has worked as a multimedia journalist for newspapers across Mississippi. She interned at the Neshoba Democrat, Jackson Free Press, Meridian Star, and Oxford Eagle. She has covered city government, mental health, the LGBTQ+ community and other issues. She attended University of Mississippi, where she served as Managing Editor of the student-run publication, The Daily Mississippian. She has won several awards for her feature writing, photography, and design from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Mississippi Press Association. Public schools in Newark, N.J. Devna is expanding Chalkbeat’s Newark bureau and works closely with the bureau chief to report on critical education news in the area. She helps the Newark team build a loyal base of readership among local education stakeholders: parents, educators, nonprofit leaders and policymakers. Embracing Chalkbeat’s local-first approach, Devna attends school board meetings, press conferences and community events in Newark. Additionally, she helps plan and organize community engagement events, such as office hours and listening tours, to draw in traditionally harder-to-reach readers. Devna’s engagement work creates ongoing opportunities to exchange ideas with partners to understand how Chalkbeat’s content is serving its audiences, allowing the news organization to continually improve its approach.

Chalkbeat

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization covering one of America’s most important stories: the effort to improve schools for all children, especially those who have historically lacked access to a quality education. Chalkbeat is mission-driven, believing that every child deserves an excellent education and that a strong press is vital to making that happen. Through unbiased reporting, Chalkbeat helps the public examine how schools are operating, scrutinize key policy and legislative developments that often happen behind closed doors, and gain access to important data and context that would not otherwise be made transparent. The news organization practices local-first reporting, with the majority of reporters living in the communities they cover.