Description
The Center for Health Journalism’s Child Welfare Symposium and Impact Reporting Fund supports ambitious investigative or explanatory projects on the child welfare and foster care systems, as well as the social and economic policies and conditions that can strengthen or weaken families and communities. We encourage trauma-informed reporting, with an eye toward exploring prevention strategies that can address systemic inequities. We also welcome explorations or profiles of initiatives that help keep families together.
Journalists who attend the virtual symposium are eligible to apply for our Impact Reporting Fund on Child Welfare, which provides reporting stipends of $2,000 to $10,000 and five months of one-on-one mentoring as reporters work on journalism projects for their outlets in partnership with the Center.
Grantees receive:
- Reporting grants of $2,000-$10,000
- Five months of professional mentorship from a veteran journalist
- Monthly virtual cohort meetings
Reporting themes we support
Projects should focus on the child welfare and foster care systems, as well as efforts to prevent kids from entering these systems in the first place. Projects could incorporate one or more of the following themes:
- The impacts of the child welfare and foster care systems on children and families
- Safety net programs, their effectiveness, and their impact on family stability
- The effectiveness of government reforms to improve the child welfare system and keep more children out of foster care
- New approaches to improving outcomes and to keeping families together
- The intersection of race/ethnicity and/or class in child welfare outcomes
Interested in applying? Applications for the 2025 program are closed. If you would like to apply for the next program, please fill out the contact form below and somebody from our Center will reach out to you.
Sign-up for our newsletter as well for updates and deadlines for future opportunities to apply.
Don’t see your question answered there? Reach out to us at chj@usc.edu.