Community
Reporting
Project
The Institute for Journalism & Natural Resources announces the launch of its Community Reporting Project, a two-year pilot designed to support journalists from marginalized communities who wish to pursue a career in environment and natural resources journalism. The pilot will be centered in the Great Lakes region.
The Community Reporting Project aims to expand equity and inclusion in environment journalism, train and build a representative pool of storytellers, and foster more and better reporting about underreported urban, rural and Indigenous communities in the United States.
The project will take place over 2026 and 2027 in partnership with the Uproot Project and Dr. Danielle Brown, the 1855 Community and Urban Journalism Professor at Michigan State University’s School of Journalism. The Community Reporting Project will consist of five elements each year:
IJNR training programs focused on environment-related issues that disproportionately affect communities of color or have been under-discussed in the current media ecosystem.
Equity, awareness and allyship training for newsrooms, editors, and journalists interested in improving sensitivity and accuracy of coverage.
Grants for reporting projects led by POC journalists and assisted by POC early career or student journalists in a mentee role.
A community-building Speaker Series, designed to help participants engage with professional journalists.
Separate, paid, eight-week Fellowships for two CRP participants to work alongside professional editors and reporters at Michigan Public Radio and the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel each fall. Additional newsrooms may be added as the project grows.
Up to 20 Uproot members will be selected to participate in the Community Reporting Project, and the selected cohort will be eligible to apply for the subsequent reporting grants and fellowships.
The pilot Community Reporting Project is supported by generous grants from the Erb Family Foundation and the Joyce Foundation.