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Investigative reporting by Middle for Public Integrity journalists about scholar homelessness and the legacy of air pollution in communities of coloration was acknowledged among the many finest information journalism on the planet on Friday on the 2023 Sigma Awards.

Senior reporter Yvette Cabrera’s work on the poisonous legacy of lead contamination in American cities whereas a journalist at Grist was acknowledged with a Sigma Award as one of many 11 finest information journalism investigations on the planet, certainly one of solely 4 from the U.S. to make the checklist. The ultimate installment of that venture, options, will likely be printed by Public Integrity and Grist this month.

“Unhoused and Undercounted,” an investigation by Public Integrity information journalist Amy DiPierro and senior reporter Corey Mitchell in partnership with The Seattle Occasions, Avenue Sense Media and WAMU/DCist, made the Sigma Awards’ shortlist, among the many 60 finest information journalism investigations on the planet out of 638 entries. They used a ground-breaking comparability of federal schooling information to point out that native college districts undercounted greater than 300,000 homeless college students throughout the nation and failed to offer providers as required by federal legislation.

Unhoused and Undercounted

Federal legislation requires that public faculties help homeless college students to assist break what may develop into an inescapable cycle of hardship. However most of the college students who want that assist fall by way of the cracks.

“We’re excited for the popularity in an inspiring 12 months for information journalism,” mentioned Public Integrity editor Jamie Smith Hopkins, the lead editor on the Unhoused and Undercounted venture. “A robust information evaluation may help individuals repair issues, battle discrimination and stay higher lives.”

Cabrera’s collection, in collaboration with Grist senior information reporter Clayton Aldern, constructed on her years of meticulous testing for lead within the soils of Santa Ana, California.

“Soil lead contamination is a pervasive, harmful downside in city facilities all through the US, but as a result of lead particles are invisible, this menace is tough to pinpoint, notably the recent spots that endanger the well being of so many kids in low-income neighborhoods and communities of coloration,” Cabrera mentioned. “What’s most rewarding is how the neighborhood of Santa Ana has galvanized round this difficulty and pressed town for motion, leading to a 2022 basic plan replace that pledges to handle this poisonous menace.”

Public Integrity, a Pulitzer Prize-winning nonprofit information group that confronts inequality by way of investigative reporting, companions with a whole bunch of native information organizations throughout the nation. That features collaborative investigations, enhancing, coaching, mentorship and entry to information units and analyses that assist native journalists expose inequity and maintain highly effective pursuits accountable.

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Months earlier than publishing Unhoused and Undercounted, Public Integrity shared its information evaluation with native journalists throughout the nation and offered a reporting toolkit and workplace hours to assist them apply the investigation to points dealing with homeless college students of their areas.

Public Integrity journalists often share information about information journalism, investigative reporting and confronting inequality with business friends. Cabrera is president of the Nationwide Affiliation of Hispanic Journalists and has helped construct packages to extend the variety of reporters of coloration masking environmental points. 

Earlier this month, Public Integrity introduced that it had acquired and can develop The Accountability Venture, an progressive platform that permits journalists to look 1.8 billion public information and counting, in addition to manage ensuing information for evaluation in reporting. It has been utilized in award-winning and impactful accountability journalism throughout the nation.

Based in 1989, the Middle for Public Integrity is among the oldest nonprofit information organizations within the nation and is devoted to investigating programs and circumstances that contribute to inequality in the US.

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