Child Welfare News Outlet The Chronicle of Social Change Expands into New York

NEW YORK - Feb. 7, 2018 - PRLog -- As part of an ambitious plan to produce in-depth journalism about child welfare nationwide, The Chronicle of Social Change announced the establishment of a New York office this week.

The development marks an important step in expanding the geographic scope of The Chronicle, a nonprofit news site focused on issues facing vulnerable children, youth and their families, particularly in regards to the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.

With staff placed in Washington D.C., Arizona, Wyoming and Los Angeles, the news organization has a long track record of producing award winning investigative, accountability and solution-oriented journalism at both the local and national level.

"We are already the dominant news outlet covering the largest child welfare system in the nation: Los Angeles," said Chronicle Publisher Daniel Heimpel. "We are looking forward to doing the same in New York, and through partnerships with other media outlets, elevating the overall discourse surrounding these issues."

This prong of The Chronicle's multi-region expansion will be led by Michael Fitzgerald, whose reporting on policy and politics for Pacific Standard, New Republic, and Outside Magazine has been widely cited in outlets including The New York Times, Politico and NPR. He previously worked as a senior editor for Pacific Standard, where he edited and wrote in print and online, and managed the magazine's research department, helping support a small team that won two National Magazine Awards in three years, among other accolades, and oversaw ten-fold growth in web traffic.

The Chronicle's New York expansion will cement the publication's position as the nation's pre-eminent public outlet for ideas about child welfare, at a time when many outlets have seen their consistent coverage of these issues eroded.

Over the past decade, accountability journalism about the child welfare system has been severely underfunded and understaffed at newspapers across the country. News outlets are drastically cutting the number of reporters tracking developments at the county and state levels where crucial funding and policy decisions are made, and attention has waned on the institutions that serve the most vulnerable children. The Chronicle's New York office aims to address this problem by shedding light on the policies, practices, and public and private agencies that support children in one of the most populous regions in the country.

The Chronicle will work with partner media outlets to co-publish stories when appropriate, and be a resource for local journalists hoping to better understand national context.

Expansion into New York is supported by grants from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and the Redlich Horwitz Foundation.

Learn more about The Chronicle of Social Change and read its latest stories on https://chronicleofsocialchange.org/.