The Center for Health Journalism at the USC Annenberg School of Journalism awarded $45,500 in reporting grants from its Impact Fund to help local and national journalists undertake ambitious explanatory or investigative reporting about domestic violence as a public health issue.
The Fund has awarded reporting grants to 10 journalists from mainstream news organizations, ethnic presses and collaborations of the two. Grantees received five months of mentoring from veteran journalists. Select grant recipients received additional funding and assistance to lead community-based organizations and their clients in first-person storytelling.
Francisco Castro worked with Excelsior, a Spanish-language outlet in Southern California, to report on the challenges faced by undocumented domestic violence victims resulting from lack of English, lack of know-how about resources and fear of immigration authorities – all of which were exacerbated by pandemic.
Elena Kuznetsova, working with Slavic Sacramento, an online media outlet that serves Russian-speaking immigrants in Northern California, reported on domestic violence in Slavic immigrant families, long considered a taboo subject.
Meera Kymal and Anjana Nagarajan-Butaney received reporting and community storytelling support on an endeavor for India Currents called “The Desi Project,” a culturally sensitive investigation of the dynamics of domestic abuse in South Asian families. Their project created awareness and empower survivors while offering safety net resources and expert advice pertinent to South Asian families.
Viji Sundaram reported for San Francisco Public Press on implementation of a new California law that defines “coercive control” as a form of domestic abuse and allows victims to seek redress in family court.
National Grantees (click on their names for links to their projects)
Cristina del Mar Quiles, working with the Puerto Rico-based publication she founded, Todas, as well as the Center for Investigative Journalism of Puerto Rico, reported on children as victims of domestic violence in a context of recurrent trauma in Puerto Rico. Her investigation explored the phenomenon of grandmothers raising children of mothers killed by their partners and the few resources available to them.
Anne Saker produced a series on intergenerational domestic violence and the effects on children for the Cincinnati Enquirer, tracking down grown children of domestic violence offenders and examining the results of a new policing approach to responding to 911 calls.
Ann Marie Cunningham wrote a story about the domestic violence court in Vicksburg, Mississippi, part of a coordinated citywide effort to combat domestic violence.
Pooja Garg, working with Khabar Magazine based in Georgia, explored domestic violence and intergenerational trauma in the Indian-American community with a focus on children, healing, and intervention initiatives to break the cycle. With a supplementary storytelling grant and mentoring, she conducted an essay-writing workshop with survivors to help them share their stories as an empowerment exercise.