Health Equity
Indigenous-led and -serving newsrooms are covering health issues through a solutions lens. This project is a partnership with the Indigenous Journalists Association.
The Health Equity Initiative supports Indigenous-led and -serving newsrooms in incorporating solutions journalism into their coverage of health issues. Participating newsrooms receive professional development from the Solutions Journalism Network and the Indigenous Journalists Association and a grant (some of which is earmarked for travel to the 2024 Indigenous Media Conference in Oklahoma City). In monthly meetings and coaching calls, newsrooms learn the basics of solutions journalism, and how to find and cover meaningful solutions stories related to health care.
Four newsrooms and one collaborative are participating in the 2024-25 Health Equity Initiative cohort:
- Cherokee Phoenix
- Four Points Press
- Sho-Ban News
- Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate
- Journalism collaborative including Koahnic Broadcast Corporation, Native Public Media and the Mountain West News Bureau
To learn more, reach out to Melissa Cassutt, SJN’s rural media manager, or Christine Trudeau, president of the Indigenous Journalists Association.
Blueprint for Better Births: Alabama’s Midwives and Solutions to the Maternal Health Crisis
In one of the most dangerous regions in the nation to have a baby, there's an opportunity to build a better, more equitable maternal health system. Reckon highlights the critical difference that integrated midwifery care has made as a pathway to improved health outcomes in Alabama.
How the LA Times Covered Mental Health Equity in Communities of Color
Through a yearlong mental health initiative, For Your Mind, three Los Angeles Times journalists wrote pieces that explored how mental health stigma plays out in different communities of color, including how some in those communities are effectively responding to that stigma. In addressing mental health in diverse communities, the team introduced solutions journalism concepts as a pathway to stronger reporting that deepens audience engagement and builds community trust.
The Emancipator Reimagined Health News with Neighborhood Tours and Solutions Circles
In a collaboration between The Boston Globe and Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research, The Emancipator explored health solutions that center underrepresented communities.
