Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, a national nonprofit newsroom in the San Francisco Bay Area, today announced the recipients of the organization’s first-ever fellowship for journalists of color. The yearlong fellowship, made possible with generous support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, stands to strengthen a field in which diversity of background and perspective is more crucial than in any other corner of media, and produce vital investigations on a wide variety of topics for the journalists’ home outlets and for Reveal.

Following are the five Reveal Investigative Fellows, their news outlets and the questions their projects will seek to answer:

• Yoohyun Jung, Arizona Daily Star, Tucson, Arizona – How did a small Tucson charter school rapidly become one of the biggest, most renowned school networks in the U.S.?
• Sierra Mannie, The Hechinger Report, Jackson, Mississippi – How is the Civil Rights Movement being taught in Mississippi schools? Is it part of mandatory curriculum?
• Collier Meyerson, Fusion, Brooklyn, New York – How do New York City social services agencies decide which children to remove from their families?
• Laura Morel, Tampa Bay Times, Tampa, Florida – What are the unknown repercussions of the proliferation of gun sales in Florida?
• Alain Stephens, KUT 90.5, Austin, Texas – Why do Texas police departments sell their used guns? Who ends up with that equipment?

As part of the fellowship, the awardees will be provided with investigative reporting training and mentorship, ongoing coaching, travel reimbursement and a $10,000 stipend to support their ambitious projects, all of which will be published or aired in 2017.

“We are thrilled to be working with such a talented group of journalists,” said Martin G. Reynolds, Director of Reveal Investigative Fellowships. “What makes this fellowship special is that these reporters will conduct investigations into issues happening in their communities. At its core, investigative journalism is about impact. We look forward to helping this group make an impact where they live and work.”

“In the wake of an election that brought the country’s sharp racial divides into clear focus, fostering investigative journalism talent among diverse voices is more critical than ever,” said Amy Pyle, Editor in Chief of CIR and Reveal. “It is even more vital to partner with these journalists and their outlets to produce bold and fearless reporting on issues that matter and help them spark conversation and change.”

The Reveal Investigative Fellowship grew from a staff diversity initiative undertaken last year, which underscored that even though our newsroom is among the most diverse in the nation, it does not yet mirror the country’s demographics. Attaining staff racial, ethnic and gender diversity always has been a particular struggle in investigative journalism. We are committed to putting in the extra effort to responsibly reflect the world on which it reports.

This fellowship, which will continue for three years, is one of three primary strategies the organization is undertaking, alongside hiring and retention policies that favor a diverse workforce and regular assessment of our editorial content, to ensure it reflects our national diversity.

To learn more about the fellowships, please contact Reynolds at mreynolds@revealnews.org.