Impact Stories

Solutions Now Africa (June 2022): Mpindi Abaas, a 2020 Solutions Journalism Network LEDE Fellow and longtime proponent of solutions journalism, launched Solutions Now Africa, a solutions-focused newsroom based in Uganda, run by seven alumni of the Media Challenge Fellowship Program. The newsroom is Africa’s first solutions journalism newsroom, producing stories on innovations, models and systems that are working around the continent. The newsroom also is using solutions stories to challenge negative narratives about Africa.

The New York Times (June 2022): A solutions story about how Houston moved an unprecedented number of people experiencing homelessness into their own homes was the most-read story of the day in The Times, and is now one of the most read ever. It generated more than 3,000 responses to an associated callout, and also has been shared from The Times’ Instagram account more than any other story. The story is part of The Times’ Headway project, and Headway staff members say that city leaders across the country also responded positively to the coverage.

New York & Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative (May 2022): A survey taken by members of the New York & Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative, which is focused on challenges facing caregivers of older adults, identified relationship-building, working together on coverage and content sharing as its biggest benefits. One respondent said that “bringing multiple news outlets together to work on one major project elevates the topic for our audiences and builds collaboration and creativity among reporters and editors.” Another stated that the collaborative “created something out of nothing! Things are happening, alliances have been created and content is being made and shared.”

Bulatlat (October 2021): Bicol Umalohokan (BU), a Facebook-based communication support group for Filipino seed-savers, tailored its social media content strategy for a climate action campaign to SJN's four pillars of solutions reporting. This strategy gained the support of Bulatlat, an alternative online publication in the Philippines, and led to organic engagement. Its collaboration with SJN-accredited trainer Portia Ladrido for a webinar series on solutions journalism piqued interest as well, with one student participant making solutions journalism her undergraduate thesis topic and another SJ trainer proposing BU's approach to a Southeast Asian NGO for a hybrid webinar as one of solutions journalism's digital strategy methods.

Hothouse (May 2022): A solutions story on quality carbon credits is among the most popular articles published to date by Hothouse, a newsletter that investigates climate solutions. The publication credits that story as a big factor in a recent gain of 1,000 new subscribers, helping more than double the audience of the one-year-old publication. It was syndicated in Popular Science and Scientific American. Hothouse was started as part of an SJN LEDE fellowship. Its mission is to produce original, investigative journalism on climate solutions.

Street Roots [May 2022] Street Roots, a weekly social justice newspaper in Portland, Oregon, was honored in the Society of Professional Journalists Northwest Excellence in Journalism Contest for "Foster Care Shuffle," a five-part series that examined places that are making progress in providing more stable placements for young people in foster care.