Sarah Blesener and Jennifer Jacklin-Stratton, 2025 RJI Fellows, created Enter/Exit: Trauma-Informed Praxis for Visual Journalism. It is designed to equip independent journalists and local newsrooms with tools and frameworks for ethical reporting on trauma’s aftermath and visually representing witness testimony with dignity, care, and collaboration. This resource centers survivors’ voices, promotes collaborative storytelling, and prioritizes … Continued

Jennifer Jacklin-Stratton and Sarah Blesener, 2025 RJI Fellows, created Enter/Exit: Trauma-Informed Praxis for Visual Journalism. It is designed to equip independent journalists and local newsrooms with tools and frameworks for ethical reporting on trauma’s aftermath and visually representing witness testimony with dignity, care, and collaboration. This resource centers survivors’ voices, promotes collaborative storytelling, and prioritizes … Continued

Cara Kuhlman, 2025 RJI Fellow, built A Tour Guide for journalists to help journalists and newsrooms engage in walking tours as a medium for local journalism. It includes a framework to help local publishers assess if tours are a good fit, the basics for getting started, and models for how to leverage tours for funding, … Continued

Nicole Lewis and Lam Vo, 2025 RJI Fellows, built Audacity Media Lab, a resource to help local journalists boost civic engagement by developing and implementing a theory of change for their work. Through a theory of change, journalists will be better equipped to make decisions about who they most need to reach and how, in … Continued

Rebecca Ritzel will develop a slate of online resources, including a state-by-state arts grant list, ethical guidance and a template for soliciting philanthropic arts funding. She will build these resources in conjunction with launching a nonprofit that will award grant funding to subsidize arts journalism projects. As a residential fellow, she will work onsite at … Continued

Susan Stellin, 2025 RJI Fellow, built the Covering Drugs media resource guide to strengthen reporting on these topics as coverage shifts from a drug war framing to a more health-centered approach grounded in research and evidence. This toolkit includes key surveys, reports, data sets, studies, research hubs, email newsletters, and other resources organized by category—such … Continued

Lam Vo and Nicole Lewis, 2025 RJI Fellows, built Audacity Media Lab, a resource to help local journalists boost civic engagement by developing and implementing a theory of change for their work. Through a theory of change, journalists will be better equipped to make decisions about who they most need to reach and how, in … Continued

Monica Williams, 2025 RJI Fellow, built Grants for Journalists, a one-stop platform that helps U.S. newsrooms and journalists find money for reporting and journalism projects. The platform includes reporting funding opportunities for staff and freelance journalists, fellowships and retreats that give them space and time to boost their work, foundation grants for newsrooms and journalists, … Continued

Claudia Yaujar-Amaro, 2025 RJI Fellow, created Covering Immigration, a resource that provides journalists with ready-made materials for immediate use. These include story templates (how to structure an immigration story, best angles), infographics and explainer visuals (for use in news reports, digital media), ethical reporting checklists (before, during, and after covering immigration stories), interview guides (how … Continued