community + partnerships
bridging the gaps and connecting for change.
“the circuit” stories campaign
The Circuit, a collaborative effort on understanding the Cook County court system between Injustice Watch, Better Government Association and the civic tech company DataMade, provided many opportunities to work with the court data colleagues obtained from the circuit court. But that data isn’t what makes the stories reported whole — people are. I ideated a postcard campaign to reach out to marginalized communities our newsrooms were not particularly fully connected with to seek their stories for follow-through from our reporters. We distributed 3,500 postcards to Chicago’s West Side.
Designed the postcard and project managed with my engagement counterpart at Injustice Watch to facilitate collaborative constructive feedback meetings with community organizations and community members for vital feedback
Delegated tasks to my engagement fellow that provided additional assistance in keeping the team on track with our postcard campaign timeline
Led engagement process in coordinating direct mail and printing needs for a timely and cost-effective postcard distribution
Led social marketing and engagement, providing social copy, graphics, and guidance for our marketing team
Created opportunities of communication accessibility for engaged community members to share their stories with us, i.e. QR code for quick mobile connect and SMS/Voice hotline through a relationship with Groundsource
reimagining “what the gov?”
Originally, What the Gov? is a play on the phrase “What the –––?” a common question of curiosity and seeking clarity or insight. It’s an effort to hear directly from readers that have questions about their local and state governments. The previous engagement editor Mia Sato used Hearken and its submission collector tool to receive questions and track down the answers, publishing a series of in-depth researched answers on election and government issues. In its reimagined state, What the Gov? answers questions and provides original civic reporting and resources based on the Chicago, Illinois, and national news cycle, primarily focused on political and governmental trends, conversations, and lawmakers’ policies.
This project included working with the web & graphics editor Cesar Calderon in building a “refreshed” homepage layout for the once RSS feed format; creating a brand guide for the marketing team and organization’s knowledge base; updating and creating opportunities of original civic journalism and resources for new and existing audiences; among others.
(Graphic: Cesar Calderon)
“failures before the fires” engagement
The Failures Before the Fires, a joint investigation between the Chicago Tribune and the Better Government Association, revealed scores of fire deaths in buildings Chicago’s City Hall had long known were fire traps. I led the engagement initiatives in partnership with our Tribune counterparts.
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To accompany the multi-part investigation, I worked with award-winning photographer and director Alex Garcia to produce a two-minute video previewing the grave and delicate investigation with the goal to provide a humane and empathetic tone that avoids the common media problem of “trauma porn.” This video is a 2021 Peter Lisagor Award finalist.
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I connected with numerous local and national organizations to coordinate a fires safety “cheat sheet” digitally accessible and printed for distribution. Additionally, provided digital and physical distribution of the stories of the investigation to community organizations, like the Metropolitan Tenants Organization and Bright Star Community Outreach.
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Eric Patton Smith is a South Side Chicago resident, housing safety advocate, and most importantly, a parent who lost his daughter in one of the many preventable fires in a building the city knew had fire hazards. Following the investigation, Mayor Lori Lightfoot decided to rework an ordinance — the very one Mr. Smith helped create and named after his late daughter Eri’ana and the stepchildren he lost in the fire. Lightfoot changed its name to the ‘Scofflaw List,’ unbeknownst to Smith, and revised the criteria of a ‘bad landlord’s criteria. With no comments from the mayor, I asked Mr. Smith if he would like to provide his own. He offered a moving op-ed which I had the honor of editing and producing with our partners.
“surviving the pandemic: black-owned businesses and the paycheck protection program”
Not seeing substantial narratives of how the Black-owned businesses were faring with the Paycheck Protection Program in their communities, I partnered with Austin Weekly News, which covers the West Side neighborhoods of Austin, North Lawndale and Garfield Park; Village Free Press, which covers nine of Chicago’s west suburbs; and CatchLight, a nonprofit news organization focused on visual journalism, to report on the experiences of Black business owners’ experiences in Chicago’s West suburbs.