News & Events

Renaissance Journalism is pleased to announce it has awarded $80,000 in reporting grants to four Bay Area news organizations as part of its Equity and Health Reporting Initiative.

Each organization will receive a $20,000 grant for an in-depth, ambitious reporting project that explores the disproportionate impact of systemic inequities—as exposed in bold relief by the pandemic and Black Lives Matter uprisings—on the health and well-being of our region’s most vulnerable communities. Projects will be completed by May 2021.

Renaissance Journalism is excited to announce the publication of “The LaunchPad Report,” our recent research inquiry into the myriad professional, personal and systemic challenges facing many young, entry-level journalists as they seek to find meaningful employment, pursue their reporting interests, and establish themselves within the news industry.

“Perhaps now more than ever, the news industry is at risk of losing one of its greatest assets: the next generation of journalists who are passionate about social justice and equity journalism,” said Jon Funabiki, executive director of Renaissance Journalism.

The twin crises of the pandemic and Black Lives Matter uprisings have laid bare deeply rooted systemic inequities and racial inequalities that have long plagued our nation. In light of this unprecedented inflection point, Renaissance Journalism is launching the Equity and Health Reporting Initiative. The project’s goal is to stimulate news media coverage, storytelling projects and/or community engagement activities in the San Francisco Bay Area that explore and investigate the impact of systemic inequities—exposed by the twin crises of 2020—on the health and well-being of our region’s most vulnerable communities. We are currently soliciting proposals from Bay Area journalists and news organizations for ambitious, in-depth and community-centric health reporting projects.