Issac Bailey examined the consequences of unaddressed trauma in youth through the lens of the Horry County Education Center, an alternative school for youth who have been expelled from mainstream schools in Myrtle Beach, SC because of behavior issues. Issac had once volunteered there as a mentor to Jerome Jenkins, who is on South Carolina’s death row after pleading guilty to murder and attempted murder a few years after leaving the school without graduating. In examining Jerome’s childhood, Issac found early indicators that his life path would not be smooth. Issac’s magazine- length story for the Myrtle Beach Times and MyHorryNews.com reviews the research on how adverse experiences in early childhood affect a child’s development and health over the life span, as well as interventions than can mitigate the damage, such as parenting classes, mentoring from a caring adult, interactions with positive peers and cognitive behavior therapy. “It’s best to deal with abnormal behavior that shows up in preschool,” Charles Nelson, a neuroscientist at Harvard University told Issac. “If we don’t invest early, we are going to pay later, and it’s going to be a lot more expensive.” Issac received a grant from the Dennis Hunt Fund for Health Journalism. In his “Lessons from the Field” essay, Issac discussed what he described as his hardest challenge in reporting on at-risk youth in the South: “trying to get people on the ground to understand the nuance of toxic stress and its effects, and dealing with the extra layer of complexity that comes with race and crime.”
Lynn Bonner’s series on North Carolina’s high mortality rate for African American infants ran in both the Raleigh News and Observer and the Charlotte Observer, which together provide statewide coverage. Her first story noted that despite improvements in the state’s death rate for white babies, the death rate for black babies continues to be more than twice as high statewide, though it varies among the state’s counties, with black babies in some counties four times more likely to die than white babies. Many factors are thought to be in play, she wrote, though recently more attention has focused on the effects of structural racism, which can lead to higher stress levels in pregnant black women. Her second story pointed to a missed opportunity as one of the contributing factors – North Carolina’s refusal to expand Medicaid, which research shows contributed to a decline in the deaths of African American babies in the states that did. Following publication, the paper’s Editorial Board called on Republicans in the state General Assembly to stop blocking Medicaid expansion there. “Otherwise, those lawmakers are turning a blind eye to what the state’s top health official rightly calls an atrocity,” the board wrote. Lynn later reported a follow-up to her Fellowship project. She checked in with Renee Schoolfield, a mother of two severely premature babies who had each died within hours of birth, nine months apart, whom she had previously profiled. This time, Renee had happy news: she had given birth one month before to a healthy daughter, Azlyn Briel. For this pregnancy, she had surgery to help prevent premature birth. In the recent piece, Lynn reviewed the many factors that are believed to be at play in this chronic racial disparity and efforts North Carolina has taken to address it. She discussed the reasons for North Carolina’s racial health disparities in her “Lessons from the Field” essay.
Kavitha Cardoza, then a freelance radio reporter, reported a five-part radio series for WAMU public radio in Washington, D.C., as well as text versions in DCist and the Hechinger Report. “Backpacks Full of Boulders” focused on how a school district in Prince George’s County, adjacent to Washington, D.C., provides a “trauma-informed” approach to education for the many immigrant children enrolled in its schools. Prince George’s County has the fourth highest number of unaccompanied immigrant children in the United States. Kavitha took part in a 25-minute segment of WAMU’s The Kojo Nnami Show to discuss her series, along with Dr. Karen Woodson, founder and CEO of Leading for School Improvement, and part of her series was published in Spanish in El Tiempo.
Cassie Chew reported three stories for The Crime Report, a daily online publication of the Center on Media, Crime and Justice at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. In her first piece, Aging in Prison: The Forgotten Plight of Women behind Bars, she examined the special challenges that imprisoned women face as they age. In her second piece, Released From Prison to a World Scarred by COVID, she described the barriers facing prisoners being released from custody during the COVID-19 crisis without access to many of the transition services that released inmates can usually count on. She explored the issue through the experience of Euka Wadlington, who was released from prison on a few hours’ notice after spending 21 years there. Besides being told to quarantine for 14 days, he received no other guidance about how to make it in the community. Fortunately, Illinois’ Medicaid expansion had opened enrollment to former inmates, and he was able to get treatment for the hypertension that had developed while he was imprisoned. In her final piece, How COVID-19 Worsens the Housing Crunch for Returning Citizens, she looked at how the shortage of transitional housing was affecting released inmates. Illinois’ transitional housing centers can accommodate just 1,000 prisoners a year – a fraction of the roughly 25,000 people who leave prison. Cassie’s story focused on the experience of Kilroy Watkins, who needed a place to stay after being released from prison after almost 30 years. With a criminal record and no credit or rental history, he had little hope of being able to find rental housing.
Teresa Cotsirilos, immigration reporter for KALW public radio in San Francisco, produced a three-part series that explored the health risks domestic workers and day labors faced when they cleaned up debris in burned-out homes leveled by wild fires. The Domestic Workers Coalition and other advocacy groups are pushing for enactment of a law that would eliminate Cal/OSHA's exclusion of domestic workers from mandated health and safety protections. Her final piece examined the financial burden that the COVID-19 epidemic was placing on low-wage domestic workers and day laborers who have lost their jobs, as well as the health risks to those who are still working because they can’t afford not to.. In. In her “Lessons from the Field” essay, she discussed the similarities between the health and safety risks that cleanup workers faced after the wildfires with those faced by essential workers today as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sarah Gantz of The Philadelphia Inquirer spent eight months looking into an underreported medical mystery – an unexpected disproportionately high increase in the diagnoses of Type 1 diabetes in African American and Latino children, who for decades had suffered from the potentially deadly disorder at lower rates than white children. Experts believe that both race and environmental factors are involved, Sarah reported. In a second piece, she looked at how unconscious racial bias by health care providers may delay the diagnosis of serious diseases in African American patients, which can contribute to them being sicker when they are finally diagnosed and also experiencing more complications and hospitalizations. Sarah received a grant from the Fund for Journalism on Child and Youth Well-being. In her “Lessons from the Field” essay, she reported about the importance of community engagement to get her stories. Sarah’s project received a national “Salute to Excellence” award from the National Association of Black Journalists.
Brianna Ehley of Politico journeyed to her home state, North Dakota, to report on the largely overlooked victims of one of the most addictive substances – alcohol. In her story, she described how fetal alcohol syndrome, an irreversible neurological condition caused by exposure to alcohol while in the womb, has steadily lost ground as a research priority for the federal government, despite affecting between one and five of every 100 children. A high proportion end up in foster care and, later, prison.
Allison Graham, a reporter for the Roanoke Times, reported “Social Services under Strain,” a series on structural problems in Virginia's child protection system, which is county-based, a rarity in the United States. The first story focused on agency missteps that led to the death in 2016 of a drug-affected infant, Charlee Marie Faith Ford, at the age of three months. Rockbridge County’s child protection agency failed to investigate her well-being despite a social worker’s finding that she was at high risk for abuse or neglect. Charlee’s death triggered three investigations — a quality management report, a special grand jury and a state board investigation — that all revealed a pattern of dysfunction at the county agency. In another piece, she reported on a county agency’s failure to facilitate required visits or even phone contacts between siblings who had been placed in different foster homes, as well as its disregard of rules requiring foster parents to be invited to a “family partnership meeting” when a change in placement of a foster child is contemplated. In another story, Allison reported on a “toxic work environment” in the Pittsylvania County Department of Social Services, which disgruntled employees said resulted in the county agency failing to satisfy state mandates, including placing foster children with relatives, whenever possible; facilitating visitation with family members; and completing trainings. In a video, Allison explained the background for the series and her findings. “Basically, what I’ve found is a system that is incredibly strained. There’s also a huge lack of responsibility and oversight,” she said. After completing her Fellowship project Allison continued reporting on the foster care system with a story about how the COVID-19 pandemic was affecting reports of suspected child abuse and neglect. Social workers told her that they worried that the additional financial stressors associated with the shutdown of local economies and the challenges of home schooling might push parents to the breaking point and trigger abuse.
Nada Hassanein, then of the Tallahassee Democrat, reported a multimedia project, The 32304 Divide, that investigated the reasons that children living in Tallahassee’s 32304 ZIP Code, one of the poorest in the state, have some of the worst health outcomes in the state. Nada combined compelling personal stories with an analysis of Census and hospital records to determine that about three times as many children in 32304 and three neighboring ZIP Codes with high poverty rates went to the emergency room for asthmatic symptoms, when compared to kids from affluent ZIP Code 32312, and more than 10 times as many from 32304 and one neighborhood ZIP Code went, compared with 32312. She also found that the median age of death in her county’s most affluent neighborhood is 88 – 23 years more than the median age of death in the city’s poorest neighborhood. But she noted that so little ZIP Code-specific data on health factors is available that the true impact of the disparities is impossible to determine. Nada received both a Gold Medal and a First Place award from the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors for her project, as well as a First Place award from the Southern region chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).
Jacqueline Howard, a health reporter for CNN.com, produced a compelling 4,000 word project that explored the reasons for the United States' high mortality rate for pregnant women -- the highest of all developed nations -- as well as improvement in California tied to a 14-year-old statewide effort led by physicians at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Jacqueline wove data and policy perspectives together with powerful personal narratives featuring women who both survived and succumbed to pregnancy complications. Despite overall progress in the state, the disproportionately high maternal and mortality rate for African American women hasn't budged, she reported, particularly in Los Angeles County. There's a growing consensus among experts that one of the reasons is high levels of stress experienced by African American women as a result of experiences with racism, since there's no biological reason for their higher rates of mortality. Among the new strategies mandated by California to reduce the disparity is a 2019 law requiring that perinatal health care providers undergo implicit bias training. And in Los Angeles County, the Department of Health has launched a two-year state-funded pilot project to determine whether free doula services can lower the risks to black women and their babies. In her “Lessons from the Field,” she wrote about her intentions to keep covering the issue.
Sara Israelsen-Hartley’s investigative report for the Deseret News on the risks of radon to residents of Utah, the state with the highest lung cancer rate, laid bare the facts around an unseen health threat that most state residents disregard because it generally takes decades for radon to cause a health problem. Sarah main article exposed the state’s weak effort to educate the public and its failure to require testing, even in schools. A companion piece advised families about steps they could take to safeguard their homes and minimize the risks. Another reviewed the scientific research on radon’s danger. Her second piece examined the controversy within the state about regulation, primarily because of opposition from homebuilders’ groups, as well as what other states do to help residents deal with radon. In addition, Doug Wilks, editor of the Deseret News, wrote a column urging readers to take Sara’s findings seriously, noting that he had to overcome his own complacency about the issue before he decided to devote the paper’s resources to the story. Sara also received a supplemental community engagement grant and specialized mentoring from the Center for Health Journalism, which the paper used to convene a roundtable event focused on building a consensus for steps Utah should take to protect residents. As a result of her reporting, the Utah Legislature authorized a year-long study of possible mitigative actions. In her “Lessons from the Field” essay, she discussed the serious impact of radon on Utah residents’ health and the need for government action. The Association of Health Care Journalists gave Sara a first place Award of Excellence in the public health category.
Will James produced a 10-part series, Outsiders, in partnership with the Seattle Times, that focused on the experiences of people living in encampments and on the streets in Washington’s capital city, Olympia, where the homeless population grew tenfold in just a few weeks in 2019. Olympia is attempting to be the nation’s first city to successfully manage a huge increase in the unsheltered, with mixed results so far, Will found. The outlets held a community forum, “Inside ‘Outsiders’: What one city can teach us about homelessness,” which featured excerpts from the podcast and presentations by Will and the Seattle Times’ Project Homeless team members.
Fatima Navarette, a reporter for the Univision station in Fresno, California, reported three stories on the growing use of marijuana by pregnant and breastfeeding women in central California, despite evidence that it can be harmful to infants. She found that marijuana dispensaries were recommending cannabis products to pregnant women for nausea and back pain. Her reporting featured two women entrepreneurs in Humboldt County who have are proponents of using marijuana for morning sickness. We worked closely with Fatima, who was good about adding details about the Surgeon General’s warning (and those of local public health officials) regarding such practices. In her “Lessons from the Field” essay, she wrote about the challenges she faced reporting on marijuana use by pregnant and breastfeeding women.
Eilis O’Neill, a freelance radio reporter, produced three radio shows on environmental health problems on Indian reservations. The first was a segment for WHYY’s The Pulse a nationally syndicated health – focused show, on the reasons for a high rate of asthma among Native American residents of reservations – 20 percent of the population, compared with about 10 percent of the general population. Eilis journeyed to the Navajo reservation to talk to residents about their experiences. Among the causes are poor housing on reservations, dust and other outdoor air pollution indoor air pollutants like wood-burning stoves, and according to some researchers, trauma-induced inflammation. Another story focused on the Navajo reservation ran on WBUR’s nationally syndicated show Here and Now. Her third story on innovative approaches to reducing the high rate of asthma the Yakima Reservation in Washington state ran on NPR’s Morning Edition show, which reaches 14.63 million listeners a week. This story reported on a university-run research project that enlisted some of the reservation’s high school students to set up low-cost air quality. In her “Lessons from the Field” essay, Eilis wrote about the logistical challenges of reporting on the Navajo nation, where cell phone service is spotty, roads are often impassible and addresses don’t exist.
Jessica Seaman of the Denver Post reported a series on youth suicide in Colorado, “Crisis Point,” which sought to answer how Colorado was fighting rising teen suicide rates — and whether its strategy was working. A major focus of her inquiry was Safe2Tell, an intervention set up in the wake of several tragic school shootings to identify youth who might be planning an attack at a school and more recently reframed as a vehicle for youth to report suicidal thoughts (their own or their friends’.) In a follow-up to her Fellowship project, Jessica reported on newly released data from the state’s Safe2Tell program that showed that more and more students were reaching out to report classmates at risk of suicide. The new data, which covered the 2019-20 school year, showed a 4 percent increase in calls about a student who might be suicidal (153 more than in the previous school year). The report also indicated for the first time what action was taken as a result of the tips; Jessica’s series had criticized the state for failing to report actions in previous years. Fifty-four percent of the suicidal ideation-related tips resulted in a “welfare check” by school officials or a call to a parent. Jessica received a separate community engagement grant and specialized mentoring, which she used to host a series of community conversations around the state on the high youth suicide rate. She published five articles and blogs about the process. To make sure that youth perspectives were captured, the paper also sponsored an essay contest about youths’ experience with mental health and suicide. Forty-three teens submitted essays or poems, and The Denver Post published the winning entries.
Chris Walljasper, then an investigative reporter for the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting, produced a magazine-length piece for the online outlet that chronicled the continuing trauma in the community of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, from a raid on a concrete plant by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) almost two years ago. Chris spent eight months reviewing health studies and government data and interviewing researchers, undocumented residents and community leaders and found that many of the men who were detained, as well as their families, still struggle with mental and physical health issues related to the trauma. In his “Lessons from the Field” essay, Chris wrote about the challenges that he faced building trust among immigrants in the community he was reporting on.