N&O selected for ‘Report for America’ program to enhance post-hurricane coverage

The Raleigh News & Observer has been selected as one of about two dozen newspapers nationwide to participate in Report for America, a nonprofit journalism and community service organization that assists newsrooms in helping to cover topics significant to their regions.

The program will place a reporter in The N&O newsroom for a year to assist in covering post-Hurricane Florence recovery efforts statewide.

Report for America’s efforts began in 2017 when they announced a plan to train young journalists and place them in newsrooms for a year to help cover underserved rural regions or important local issues. Currently, there are 13 reporters in Georgia, Mississippi, Kentucky, New Mexico, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Texas, and West Virginia.

The reporters, who have an average of three to six years of experience, receive training from RFA. The reporters often return to their home states, according to RFA.

Report for America is an initiative of the GroundTruth Project, a non-profit news organization that supports young journalists worldwide.

The program receives funding from organizations including Facebook, the Google News Initiative, the Knight Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation, Dirk and Natasha Ziff, Galloway Family Foundation, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, The Tow Foundation, Select Equity Group Foundation, the Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, The Joyce Foundation, The Steans Family Foundation, Henry M. Kimelman Family Foundation and the Duo Collective.