Three reporters from Open Campus’s Local Network received Education Writers Association awards to report out stories on barriers Black men face in accessing higher education.

EWA provides each reporter with $10,000 to pursue their project. Twelve reporters were selected in total.

“This was one of the most competitive rounds of our fellowship program since its inception, reflecting our enthusiastic and ambitious journalist members,” Kathy Chow, EWA’s executive director, said in an announcement. “We look forward to supporting their vital work.”

The three Open Campus reporters selected work at Fort Worth Report, Mirror Indy, and WBEZ Chicago. Open Campus editors will coach the reporters through the development and writing of their projects, which will be published by Open Campus and their newsroom later this year.

Learn more about the reporters and their projects:

  • Claire Rafford, Open Campus’s reporter at Mirror Indy: Indiana is increasingly pitching apprenticeships as the key to improving the state’s skilled worker shortage and college-going rates that remain stagnant at generational lows. What are the barriers keeping more Black men from accessing these opportunities, and what would it take to improve both equity and completion rates?
  • Lisa Kurian Philip, our reporter at WBEZ Chicago: This project will feature the voices of students from Austin, a majority-Black neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side with one of the lowest college completion rates in the city. What challenges are they facing, and how is sustained mentorship, among other interventions, helping some of them overcome hurdles to higher education?
  • Shomial Ahmad, Open Campus’s reporter at Fort Worth Report: Latino and Black men are historically underrepresented in health care jobs, which often offer family sustaining wages. How can high schools and colleges buck this trend and improve the overall health of Fort Worth, one of the nation’s fastest-growing larger cities?

About Open Campus
Open Campus is a nonprofit news organization that ensures communities have the independent information they need about higher ed. By placing expert reporters in local newsrooms across the country, we help people understand and influence the institutions that shape their future opportunities.