Race and Equity

Michael LaForgia wrote this story for the Tampa Bay Times as part of a 2015 National Health Journalism Fellowship....

Children who experience abuse or neglect–or even the stress of poverty—can have serious health problems later in life. That’s one of many challenges for children in Rhode Island’s child welfare system.

When LA Times reporter Soumya Karlamangla started looking into health care policies affecting immigrants, she had no idea how fast the California policy landscape was about to change. Reflecting on her reporting journey over the past year, Karlamangla offers key tips for staying ahead of the story.

African American men in North Carolina suffer from some of the world’s highest rates of prostate cancer, but it's not exactly clear why. That tip was enough to launch News & Observer reporter Jay Price on a long reporting journey that would take him to churches, barber shops and community meetings.

Five of the worst schools in Florida are clustered in a 15-square-mile area in Pinellas County’s black neighborhoods. Behavior problems are rampant. Teacher turnover is constant. Michael LaForgia of the Tampa Bay Times investigates how and why these schools are failing kids.

For many contemporary Native American communities, accessing healthy food in any form is a challenge. While the federal government offers some assistance, it's often not enough. For my fellowship project, I'll investigate what resources tribes are using – or not – to address food insecurity.

Last year, more than 50,000 unaccompanied minors from Central America crossed the Mexico-U.S. border looking for their parents or better opportunities. But the journey north can entail serious trauma and suffering. What are the long-term mental health issues such children face?

Twenty-one journalists from around the nation will receive reporting grants from the new Fund for Journalism on Child Well-Being, the Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism and the National Health Journalism Fellowship.

Less than a decade ago, Native Hawaiians represented about a third of the children in Hawaii’s foster care system. Today, they comprise half the state’s foster population of 2,200. Why is that? And what initiatives show the most promise in helping reduce the disparity? A new series will investigate.

Every day as I drive to my office at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, I pass homes with yard signs stating “Black Lives Matter and “I heart Ferguson,” but also, “We must stop killing each other,” a nod to the constant human stress, trauma and, ultimately, shortened life expectancy in these communities.