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Fellows will choose a topic related to education and the innovation economy for their reporting project. The project may be in whatever medium the Fellow works—prose, audio, video, photo—so long as the piece is published by the end of the Fellowship period (August 2027).

Reporting projects should be place-based, examining how federal investments in emerging technologies, workforce development initiatives, or innovation economy programs are playing out in specific communities or regions. Projects should explore connections between educational institutions (K-12 or postsecondary), workforce development, economic development, and industrial policy.

Reporting projects should be a special in-depth article, package, or series of articles, or a similar long-form project for other media.

A “working journalist” is a person whose principal vocation is journalism, and who is employed in one or more news organizations—on a full-time, part-time basis, or freelance—as an editor, reporter, correspondent, multimedia journalist, podcaster, documentarian, photographer, or similar editorial role. It does not include persons employed solely for managerial or administrative roles.

“Early and mid-career” journalists include those with approximately 1-15 years of professional reporting experience (either freelance or with a home news organization). Selected applicants will have demonstrated an active interest in broadening and deepening their knowledge of how education, workforce development, and innovation economy investments intersect, and shown how their participation in this program will benefit their professional growth.

We’re interested in place-based reporting that examines how education connects to innovation economy investments and workforce development—and in particular, whether and how those investments drive economic mobility. Examples might include:

• A community college in upstate New York or Phoenix ramping up to train workers for the new semiconductor plants—who’s getting those jobs, and are they actually good jobs?
• What happens when a rural school district partners with a battery manufacturing facility: Are students from farming families actually landing careers in advanced manufacturing, or are companies importing talent?
• What happened after a Southern city won a major electric vehicle battery plant: Did the promised apprenticeships materialize, or are workers stuck in temporary staffing agency roles?
• Whether Black and Latino students in Columbus, Ohio, are accessing the AI and robotics careers blooming around them, or watching opportunity pass them by?

These are just examples, and we’re excited to hear your ideas. We welcome stories that bring a critical lens to these topics and that center the voices of students, workers, educators, community members, and employers.

The primary audiences are the public at large and, in particular, education leaders and staff (K-12 and postsecondary), state and local policymakers, and industry and economic development leaders in regions where education and innovation economy work is converging.

Yes, as long as your proposed reporting project is place-based—examining impacts in specific communities or regions rather than providing only a national overview. We have a strong preference for local and regional reporters who are embedded in the communities they cover, but national reporters doing place-based work are welcome to apply.

Fellows will receive coaching and editing from Work Shift editors, access to a virtual professional development workshop series organized by Â鶹¹û¶³´«Ã½, help with story development and source identification, guidance on data resources, and opportunities to connect with other fellows and with experts in education, workforce, and economic development policy.