REPORTING

Noah Biesiada

Noah Biesiada is a reporter for Voice of OC, a digital news outlet in Orange County, California, one of the largest counties in the U.S. This new Report for America position allows him to continue working for this nonprofit publication. Biesiada covers the communities of south Orange County, reporting on city councils, municipal agencies, disasters and education. In his time at the Voice, Biesiada has won state and local awards for his coverage of local politics, failed disaster communication and education reporting, along with reporting an investigative series on misuses of taxpayer dollars. Holding a bachelor’s degree in communications from California State University, Fullerton, Biesiada worked at the college paper, the Daily Titan, and served as the lead news editor on several major breaking news events.

Santiago Ochoa

Santiago Ochoa is a bilingual journalist covering health care access at the Yakima Herald-Republic in Yakima, Washington. Before joining the Herald, Ochoa reported for Flint Beat in Flint, Michigan, covering the city’s Latino population—health care, education, community building and more, and winning top honors in the Michigan Press Association’s feature category. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan-Flint, where he was editor-in-chief of the school’s paper, The Michigan Times. When he’s not working, Ochoa enjoys cross-country trips on his motorcycle, going to the movies, reading and skiing.

Victoria Franco

Victoria Franco is a disabled bilingual reporter based in Stockton, California, covering the news around San Joaquin County for Bay City News Foundation and its Local News Matters, a nonprofit news site. She is a research fellow at the Starling Lab for Data Integrity, which was co-founded by Stanford University and the University of Southern California. A San Jose State University alumna, Franco served as the managing editor of her student paper, the Spartan Daily. She helped lead her staff to the California College Media Association Awards, earning first place in general excellence. In her spare time, Franco enjoys traveling to Europe with her mother.

Ashley Miznazi

Ashley Miznazi covers the Haitian community in the South Florida/Miami area for The Haitian Times, a news organization based in Brooklyn, New York. Previously, Miznazi was a multimedia fellow for The Texas Tribune, where she created short documentaries on Afghan resettlement and the foster care system. A graduate of The University of Texas at Austin, Miznazi worked in the photo and video departments at the student paper, The Daily Texan. She is the host of “Darkness,” a podcast about the 2018 Austin bombings.

Colleen Cronin

Colleen Cronin covers rural communities in Rhode Island for ecoRI News, a nonprofit newsroom that reports on environmental and social justice issues. Prior to joining ecoRI, Cronin worked as a digital producer and metro correspondent at The Boston Globe, writing education stories and breaking news overnight. She’s also worked on a year-long project investigating the opioid epidemic in Rhode Island, freelanced for The New York Times, and interned at People Magazine. Cronin is bilingual and received her bachelor’s degree in English from Brown in 2021, where she covered state and local politics, the college admissions scandal, and the university’s response to COVID-19 for The Brown Daily Herald. She eventually worked her way up to the role of editor-in-chief and president.

Gabriela Szymanowska

Gabriela Szymanowska reports on the judicial system for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Prior to this, she covered breaking news and public safety for the Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi. Born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee, she holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and electronic media from The University of Tennessee, where she was editor-in-chief of The Daily Beacon, the student paper. Szymanowska earned top honors for features/hard news photography at the 2020 Southeastern Journalism Conference on-site competition. As a fellow in the Carnegie-Knight News21 investigative program, Szymanowska, along with 34 other journalists, investigated juvenile justice in America in the multimedia reporting project, “Kids Imprisoned.” Their work won the 2021 Robert F. Kennedy College Journalism Award. Beyond reporting, she’s passionate about photography and capturing the everyday, ordinary moments of people’s lives.

Jason Harward

Jason Harward is a multimedia journalist reporting on the state legislature and the economy for the Mitchell Republic in Mitchell, South Dakota. A recent graduate of Northwestern University, he holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism with a minor in legal studies. Harward spent three months reporting on the U.S. Congress for Medill News Service, part of Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, focusing on infrastructure, antitrust and the early buildup to the midterm elections. As an intern at KSAT, the ABC affiliate in San Antonio, Texas, he assisted in the production of daily newscasts and reported for the news site. When he’s not working, Harward loves the outdoors, cooking and reading Gothic novels.

Katie Redefer

Katie Redefer is a reporter whose work is published in two newspapers, Maryland’s The Salisbury Independent and Delaware State News. Previously, she was a metro correspondent for The Boston Globe’s city desk, reporting on breaking news. Redefer holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Emerson College, where she served as the editor-in-chief of The Berkeley Beacon, the student paper. In her free time, she enjoys practicing creative fiction writing, or sitting on the beach with a good book.

Madeline Heim

Madeline Heim reports for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, where she covers Wisconsin’s environmental challenges as part of the Mississippi River Basin Project, a collaborative reporting network across the Basin. Previously, she was a health and science reporter for the Appleton Post-Crescent and the USA Today network in Wisconsin—her coverage of the pandemic earned top honors from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. Born and raised in the Badger State, she holds degrees in journalism and creative writing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was editor-in-chief of the The Daily Cardinal. Heim has interned at the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, and reported for the Winona Daily News in Winona, Minnesota, where she quickly fell in love with the Mississippi River region.

Peter Gill

Peter Gill reports on central Ohio’s immigrant and refugee communities for The Columbus Dispatch. From 2014-2021, Gill was based in Kathmandu, Nepal, where he covered politics, the environment, and human rights issues for the Nepali and international press. He has also reported on housing for two Bronx-based papers in New York City, and produced an episode for the “Queens Memory” podcast about Nepalis living in the Queens borough of New York. Gill was born to American parents living in Kathmandu, and grew up in Nepal. A graduate of Carleton College, Minnesota, with a bachelor’s in history, Gill served in the Peace Corps in Senegal, holds a master’s degree in forestry from the University of Washington and is working towards a master’s from the CUNY Newmark School of Journalism. Gill speaks English and Nepali fluently, and Spanish, Hindi, and Wolof at an intermediate level.