Grants and other support will help journalists in 16 states produce groundbreaking investigative stories
WASHINGTON, DC, April 14, 2021 – The Fund for Investigative Journalism today announced that its board of directors awarded grants to reporters for 28 new investigative projects in its most recent round of funding. This is the organization’s largest group of grants in its 52-year history.
The new grantees are working on local, state and national investigative stories, and they are based in 16 states in every part of the U.S. In addition to receiving grants, the reporters will have the opportunity to be paired with seasoned journalists who serve as editorial mentors and they can request pro bono legal assistance through the Fund’s partnership with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
“The 28 new projects we’re supporting will have a big impact on a host of issues, including government and corporate accountability, criminal justice, civil rights and the environment,” said Eric Ferrero, executive director of the Fund for Investigative Journalism. “We’re proud to support these journalists and to continue expanding our work to get even more reporters the resources they need to uncover important stories.”
The Fund for Investigative Journalism does not disclose the nature of grantees’ investigations before they are published or broadcast. The reporters receiving new grants include:
- Tristan Ahtone, editor-in-chief at the Texas Observer in Austin, Texas
- Kimberlee Bassford, independent documentary filmmaker from Honolulu, Hawai‘i
- Callie Ferguson, staff reporter at Bangor Daily News in Bangor, Maine
- Michelle Garcia, independent journalist based in Texas and New York specializing in coverage of the U.S.-Mexico border, violence, and race, and Jason Buch.
- Tana Ganeva, criminal justice reporter from Brooklyn, New York
- Daniel Gediman, executive producer of Spotlight Media, and co-producer Loretta Williams
- Rebecca Grapevine, freelance healthcare reporter from Atlanta, Georgia
- Ruslan Gurzhiy, publisher and investigative writer for Slavic Sacramento from Northern California, and
- Elena Kuznetsova, proofreader and translator
- Lois Henry, longtime journalist in the San Joaquin Valley of California
- Marcel Honoré, staff reporter at Honolulu Civil Beat
- Jane Hu, freelance science journalist in Seattle
- Nigel Jaquiss, Pulitzer Prize winner and staff reporter at Willamette Week in Portland, Oregon
- Christopher Ketcham, freelance investigative reporter, environmental journalist and book author
- Lucy Komisar, freelance investigative reporter from New York
- Derek Kravitz, fellow working on FOIA and data journalism projects at Columbia University’s Brown Institute for Media Innovation in New York
- Danielle Mackey, former freelancer based in El Salvador for 12 years, former contributor to Contra Corriente, current fact-checker at The New Yorker, and Jennifer Avila, founder and editor-in-chief of Contra Corriente, an investigative Honduran outlet
- William Martin III, freelance investigative video journalist based in New York, focused on immigration
- Taylor Moore, freelance journalist in Chicago
- Jarrett Murphy, editor, reporter and journalism educator covering New York for 20 years
- Jonathan Oosting, Michigan politics and State Capitol reporter at Bridge Michigan, and Joel Kurth and David Zeman
Daniel Van Oudenaren and Ken Martin, journalists for The Austin Bulldog in Austin, Texas - Eric Peterson, reporter and founder of the Utah Investigative Journalism Project
- Joshua Phillips, investigative reporter, foreign correspondent, producer and author
Kelsey Rettke, editor of the Daily Chronicle in DeKalb County, Illinois, and Katie Finlon - Amy Silverman, independent journalist from Phoenix, Arizona
- Sara Sneath, freelance environmental reporter based in New Orleans
- Laura Trethewey, ocean journalist based in San Diego, California
- Chris Walker, freelance podcaster in Denver, Colorado
For an index of stories published in the last 12 months with grants and other support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism go to: https://fij.org/index-of-grantees-stories/.
For highlights of the impact stories published with grants from the Fund for Investigative Journalism have had, go to: https://fij.org/impact/.
The next deadline for grants on any topic is May 10. Expedited grants are also available of urgent stories. To learn more about how to apply for grants, go to: https://fij.org/apply-for-a-grant-from-fij/