What’s new at Report for America for the 2021–2022 service year

By Kim Kleman, National Director, Report for America

Newsrooms and journalists, you asked — and we heard you. We’re trying to improve our program all the time, so thanks to your insightful feedback we’ve made the following changes as we kick off this year’s newsroom application process:

We’re offering a third year in the program. Up to now, Report for America has been a two-year program. But we’re adding an optional third year for corps members and their newsrooms, which will afford corps members an even deeper community connection and a focus on building leadership skills. (During the first year, we pay 50 percent of the journalist’s salary; in the second year, 33 percent and in the third year, 20 percent.)

We’ve upped our contribution. Our 50-percent salary contribution was previously capped at $20,000. But we’ve raised it to $25,000, to give you more leeway. There is no cap for the second and third years.

We’re piloting an “experienced corps.” Some newsrooms, with big ambitions but relatively few staffers, have told us they’d like to be able to hire journalists with 10 or more years experience, who can dive in on meaty accountability stories from the get-go. We’ll pay half their salary up to $30,000 their first year (with the same funding formula as above for subsequent years). If you’re interested in this option, let us know on your application.

Please apply! If you submit your application by Aug. 31, we’ll read it early and will give you advice on strengthening it, if need be. The regular deadline is Sept. 30. We’ll announce our host newsrooms in early December. Your corps member will begin in early June. For more information, check this out.

About Report for America: Report for America is a national service program that places talented emerging journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered topics and communities. Launched in 2017 and donor-financed, Report for America is creating a new, sustainable system that provides Americans with the information they need to improve their communities, hold powerful institutions accountable, and rebuild trust in the media. Report for America is an initiative of The GroundTruth Project, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. GroundTruth is an award-winning nonprofit media organization with an established track record of training and supporting teams of emerging journalists around the world and in the U.S.