Center for Health Journalism Data Fellowship (United States)

Equipped with the tools to find original sources of information and perform data analysis, Fellows graduate from this hands-on training program prepared to produce in the five months that follow either a major investigative or explanatory health reporting project or a series of individual data-driven health stories that focus on issues important to their communities.

This program offers training on data acquisition, cleaning, analysis and visualization led by some of the most skilled data reporters and journalism practitioners in the nation. They teach journalists how to “bulletproof” their data, ensuring accuracy in reporting. Following the training week, Senior Fellows mentor reporters as they pair original data analysis with compelling narratives on underlooked health issues.

They embrace a broad view of health, which doesn’t just happen at doctors’ offices and hospitals. Health is shaped by the environment — the schools, the neighborhoods and the communities. They strive to admit Fellows whose work and interests for their collaboration with us reflect that. And woven through the work is a focus on how systemic inequities can shape life outcomes and child and family well-being. As participants in the program, journalists also learn how the model of impact reporting can lead to narrative and policy change.

With the Data Fellowship, they support different reporting themes for projects and stories for National applicants (outside of California) and California applicants.

Themes

• National proposals should focus on child health and well-being, incorporating one or more of the following themes:
  • The impact of systems on children and families, including foster care and child protective services
  • Economic and social forces and policies that strengthen or weaken families and communities
  • Housing insecurity for children and families
  • Safety net programs, their effectiveness and their impact on family stability
  • The impact of chronic stress, poverty, multi-generational and childhood trauma on child development
  • Health care policies and access to care for children and families
  • Unmet mental health needs of children or parents and lack of services
  • The intersection between partner violence and child abuse
  • Approaches to improving outcomes for vulnerable children and families
  • The impact of chronic stress, poverty and childhood trauma on child development
  • The intersection of race/ethnicity and/or class in child and family outcomes
• California proposals should focus on how community conditions influence health and well-being, including the following themes:
  • Racial, ethnic, economic and geographic health disparities
  • Health-related environmental justice issues
  • The impact of community violence on health and well-being
  • The performance of California’s safety net
  • Health and mental health challenges for immigrants
  • The school environment and the emotional health of children
  • Public policies — or failings of public policies — to address the high cost of housing, transportation challenges, air pollution and neighborhood safety
  • Innovative solutions to the state’s public health and health care challenges

Funding Information

• A $2,000 stipend to defray reporting costs
• One week of extensive, hands-on training in beginner, intermediate or advanced Excel or R-Studio
• Five months of professional mentorship
• Fellows also are eligible to apply for professional mentorship in engaged journalism and $1,000-$2,000 to support those creative efforts.

Eligibility Criteria

• The Fellowships are open to U.S.-based professional journalists writing for U.S. media outlets. Students are not eligible to apply.
• Freelancers are welcome to apply, but they must have a confirmed assignment with an outlet to be considered for acceptance. This includes a signed editor checklist and letter of recommendation. Freelancers (and editors at outlets) should know that the reporting stipends are not meant to substitute for regular freelance pay. Instead, those funds can be used for reporting expenditures such as travel, database acquisition and translation.
• For most Fellowships, they prefer for candidates to have a minimum of three years of professional experience. However, the programs are not only designed to aid the professional development of young journalists. Many seasoned reporters with decades of experience and major journalism awards on their resumes have taken part in the Fellowships and tell them they find them invaluable. The programs allow reporters at different stages in their career to step away from their newsrooms to hone their health reporting skills and think big. The individualized mentoring is tailored to the skill level of each reporter.

For more information, visit Center for Health Journalism.