The Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting partnered with OpenNews and ProPublica for another year to offer the Data Institute at no cost to a group of deserving journalists. Like last year, the 2022 Data Institute was held virtually. The weeklong program included daily classes and Q&A sessions with well-respected journalists from various news organizations from July 18-22.
The Data Institute was co-founded in 2015 by journalists Sisi Wei and Lena Groeger and its mission is to address an equity gap and make high-quality training more accessible for all journalists who want to tell powerful stories.
This year’s class consisted of 12 fantastic journalists from all over the country representing a wide variety of beats and news organizations:
- Aala Abdullahi, innovation editor at Sahan Journal
- Julian Benbow, sportswriter at the Boston Globe
- Chabeli Carrazana, economy reporter for The 19th
- Sara Coello, investigative reporter for The Charlotte Observer
- Mel Fronczek, digital producer for the USA TODAY Network, South region
- Katy Golvala, investigative researcher with the CT Mirror
- Raisa Habersham, watchdog reporter with the Savannah Morning News
- Kenya Hunter, health reporter at Capital B Atlanta
- Lilian Manansala, video journalist at Insider on the News & Documentary Team
- Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco, environmental journalist at WNIJ Northern Public Radio
- Damaso Reyes, investigative editor of the New York Amsterdam News and the founding editor of the Blacklight investigative unit
- Mackenzie Wilkes, fellow at POLITICO and a multimedia journalist
The 2022 class attended sessions and worked on topics related to data journalism including sessions on analyzing data, coding, programming and data visualization taught by ProPublica journalists. In addition to these instructional sessions, there were speaker Q&A sessions at the end of each day. The speakers ranged from Data Institute alumni, ProPublica staff and journalists at small news organizations. During the first speaker Q&A session, Data Institute alumnus and Assistant Director of Audience for The Texas Tribune John Hernandez offered some advice to attendees: “Know your power and what you can control, build networks that can support you when you feel like you might fall, find opportunities and sign up for them, pay it forward to the new folks, remember what you didn’t know at the beginning of your career and convey that to others, find your allies and co-conspirators and dream big.”
Since its inception, the Data Institute has continued to focus offering a learning space for journalists to view data in a more approachable way and show them that it’s not something to be intimidated by. This year was no different. “It was so special to set time aside to learn and explore and hone my skills,” said Data Institute student Chabeli Carrazana. “I haven’t had an opportunity like this in a decade in journalism and I was so grateful to do it in a way that was thoughtfully planned and executed.”
The students ended the week by each giving a short presentation about what they learned and how they plan to use the knowledge and skills gained at the Data Institute in their current work. There were tears, laughs, and big plans to use data in the future. One common theme among the students was how much it meant to have the community and support that the Data Institute space has offered them. During the last session, Mel Fronczek shared just how impactful it was to have that space. “It’s been so great to find this community of people. I am excited to be a journalist and excited to be here. Thank you for giving the opportunity for us to bring so much of ourselves to every day of the Institute.”
