When 17-year-old Fanta Kaba was growing up, her family moved around a lot — until they finally found stability in public housing. But now, a controversial plan is changing the way the New York City Housing Authority operates. NYCHA, the largest public housing program in the country, is bringing private companies in to manage public housing units.
Five years after Michael Brown’s death at the hands of a police officer galvanized criminal justice reform activists in St. Louis, they’re gaining serious momentum to shut down the city’s notorious Workhouse jail. This episode received a 2020 Third Coast International Audio Festival Award.
What does it feel like when your neighborhood is starting to gentrify? Can “home” be a place you’ve never even visited? And why are private developers getting involved in New York City’s public housing projects? In this series, NYC teens explore these questions and more.
A look into the St. Louis Circuit Court’s relationship with EMASS — a private, for-profit monitoring company that collects fees from people awaiting trial and threatens to have them sent back to jail if they can’t pay.
Through a series of open and honest audio diaries, Folashade Olatunde shares a story about trauma and self-discovery as she invites listeners on her journey to rebuild her relationship with her dad, who’s been in prison since she was two years old. This segment received a 2022 Gracie Award for best radio documentary.
Mexican officials who oversee migrant shelters in Juárez, Mexico, said they’ve seen more Cubans arriving since late last year. Reported during a three-week International Women’s Media Foundation fellowship along the United States–Mexico border in 2019.
Additional work:
• Our Feelings Are Not Our Fault: How Science Can Explain Our Emotions – Guadalupe Ortega has always asked questions to understand the world around her. So when the pandemic caused fear and anxiety to overwhelm her mom, Guadalupe turned to science.
• An Asian immigrant teen confronts problem gambling in his community – A story that looks into the root causes of problem gambling and examines gambling addiction as a public health issue. This story received an award from the Asian American Journalists Association’s Journalism Excellence Awards.
• ‘Herre’ and ‘Thurr’: How St. Louisans celebrate identity and accents on 314 Day — A look at how the St. Louis accent was shaped by geography, migration and segregation. Through the framing of a fun online trend piece, this story looks at culture and sociolinguistics.