Less than a week before 2022 is in the books, we are closing out the year strong with news of two incredible partnerships that will strengthen our newsroom and grow good journalism in Mississippi.
This week ProPublica announced we’re one of their 2023 newsrooms giving us funds to support Nick Judin’s infrastructure work. Nick’s reporting exemplifies what we do best: listening deeply and telling stories beyond one-hit wonders and flashy headlines. Nick reported on the water crisis at the Jackson Free Press, whose journalism assets we acquired earlier this year, before it became a national story. He continued that work at the Mississippi Free Press, helping Mississippians understand the systemic causes that landed the capital city in this state.
More good news came earlier in December when we learned the Mississippi Free Press is a 2023 Report for America host newsroom. That means we’ll join an expanding network of 220 newsrooms focused on critical reporting around the nation. Report for America is a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. It is an initiative of The GroundTruth Project, a nonprofit media organization, and is structured to harness the skills of emerging journalists along with in-depth reporting from newsrooms like ours.
We can’t thank ProPublica and Report for America enough for helping expand journalism that makes a difference in the lives of often-ignored Mississippians. The funds from RFA will help launch our Education Equity Solutions Lab by summer 2023. This lab will focus on the systemic issues of Mississippi’s education systems and the communities that embedded inequities deeply affect. This lab continues our mission to listen deeply to Mississippians focusing on disparities, historic causes, context and solutions. Every story has a headline, but every headline isn’t the whole story.
This lab and the journalism it produces will help everyday Mississippians understand why our educational system is, quite frankly, a mess. Inequitable education is one of the reasons our families often leave Mississippi and vow never to come back. It is also why we can’t attract industry
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