This summer, the collaborative has published an increasing number of stories covering caregiving of older adults, particularly in southeast Michigan.
In June, we partnered with the Race and Justice Reporting Initiative from the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights at Wayne State University Law School, establishing a small cohort of emerging journalists to cover caregiving. Our goal is to strengthen the pipeline of reporters covering caregivers, a critical community long overlooked by mainstream media.
The COVID-19 pandemic illuminated the vulnerability of unpaid family caregivers and the paid care workforce, the majority of whom are Black, Indigenous and other women of color. The partnership supports reporters and photojournalists who will increase public awareness about the challenges, sacrifices and rewards caregivers experience.
The goal of the Race and Justice Reporting Initiative is to bolster the work of BIPOC independent journalists and support their work as critical components of the news media’s ecosystem. The collaborative has begun mentoring these journalists and publishing their work.
Since July, the reporters have covered a photographer who captures images of her caregivers, an internationally known artist and family caregiver whose mother was a muse for her work, the rise in ‘green burials,’ and halal food deliveries.
Meet the team:
Ethan Bakuli is an award-winning, Detroit-based writer. His work has appeared in Chalkbeat, Planet Detroit and USA Today, among other outlets.
LaToya Cross is an arts and culture writer and producer passionate about telling stories that center creatives using their platform to shift, shape, and analyze culture through an artistic lens. Follow her on Instagram: @ToizStory | work: latoyacross.contently.com
Randiah Camille Green is an award-winning, internationally published journalist, poet, and spirit having a human experience from Detroit. Her writing centers communities of color and women who teach us about the journey toward self-discovery. She has bylines in Detroit Metro Times, PBS, Planet Detroit, Belt Magazine and more. Follow her work here.
Erica Hobbs has worked on both sides of the communications fence, as a print, digital and broadcast reporter as well as a public relations professional working with a diverse range of companies around the world. Follow her work here.
Allie Jacobs is a freelance reporter and content creator based in metro Detroit. Her work has been published in Crain’s, Detroit Free Press, MindSite News, Outlier Media, the Detroit Jewish News and SEEN Magazine. Follow her work here.
Alejandro Ugalde Sandoval is a first-generation immigrant from Mexico City and freelance photographer. His work captures the intersection of communities, culture and social equity. Check out his photos here and here.
Martina Guzmán, mentor. Guzmán is an award-winning journalist and documentary filmmaker, who covers race, justice, and systemic inequality. Guzmán was a 2023 John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University and founder and director of the Race & Justice Reporting Initiative. Her work has appeared on NPR, The Guardian, Slate and PBS, among many other outlets.
The initiative is supported by the Solutions Journalism Network through a generous grant from the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation.
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