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. Every day we see the insidious and disproportionate impact the virus, racism, poverty and other structural inequities have wreaked on the health, safety and well-being of millions of Americans, particularly African Americans, communities of color, the poor and working-class, the unhoused, refugees and immigrants, the rural poor, the unemployed and the uninsured.
As a result, many are calling for an “American reckoning”—a radical re-examination of the foundations of our society and asking how we might emerge from this period of turmoil a fairer, more just and more equitable nation.
About the Equity & Health Reporting Initiative
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.
How to Apply for a Reporting Grant
We are currently soliciting proposals from Bay Area journalists and news organizations for ambitious, in-depth and community-centric health reporting projects that explore the intersections of equity and health. Grant sizes will range from $10,000 to $20,000, depending upon the scope, complexity and creativity of the project. The submission deadline for proposals is August 10, 2020.
To download the Request for Proposal, click this link: Equity & Health Reporting Initiative RFP
“The grants are intended to help journalists and their news organizations tackle a new and innovative project that they could not do otherwise, due to a lack of resources and capacity or time constraints,” said Valerie Bush, deputy director of Renaissance Journalism.
Once selected, grantees will be able to participate in a series of online networking meet-ups, as well as attend educational webinars featuring leading experts, journalists and community leaders on the topic of equity and health.
Renaissance Journalism is seeking reporting projects that provide context for the complex social justice issues related to equity and health. Proposed projects should, therefore, examine the policies, root causes, systemic drivers and historical factors that contribute to and impact an issue.
Health is defined in broad terms. The health ecosystem is vast and includes individual, family and community health; health at all stages of life—from newborns to seniors; mental health, public health, the social welfare system and health care access, among other issues and areas.
Additionally, Renaissance Journalism is seeking projects that include critical analysis of the short- and long-term remedies and reforms that are developed to address the systemic inequities in health and health care.
“We want journalists to ask the hard questions: Will these reforms result in significant and enduring systemic and positive social changes or are they ultimately just stop-gap measures to get us through the immediate crises?” said Bush.
Photo on homepage: Julian Wan
The “Equity and Health Reporting Initiative” was developed with support and funding from The California Endowment.