Hilton Foundation Grant Propels Chronicle of Social Change in New York, Nationally

NEW YORK - Aug. 28, 2019 - PRLog -- The Chronicle of Social Change, a national nonprofit newsroom focused on child welfare and juvenile justice, has received a $300,000 two-year-grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

The grant will allow the award-winning news site to increase coverage of New York City's foster care system, while also allowing for crosscutting stories focused on both NYC and The Chronicle's home base of Los Angeles.

"Increasing visibility of foster youth in the media has the power to change systems and offer innovative solutions so that young people in foster care can become self-sufficient and thriving adults," shared Jeannine Balfour, senior program officer at the Hilton Foundation. "We believe that the journalism practiced through The Chronicle of Social Change informs the broader field on the salient issues impacting foster youth, and that reporting on solutions is vital to shifting the narrative around the child welfare system."

Since it launched its national expansion strategy in 2017, The Chronicle has opened reporting hubs in New York, Wyoming, Arizona, Minnesota and Michigan. This expanded presence has increased accountability and spurred reforms within the systems that serve vulnerable children, youth and families.

"Our broader national expansion could not have been possible without support from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation," said Chronicle Publisher Daniel Heimpel. "The Foundation was an early investor in our New York reporting hub, opening the door to our substantive coverage there."

The Chronicle's work in New York has had an almost immediate impact on local policy. As a result of The Chronicle's (and NBC's) reporting in March about a foster youth intake center in Manhattan – where one teen languished in a broken wheelchair for over a year – the Administration for Children's Services announced it would add 95 new child care staff, social workers, and security personnel, and invest $1 million in new programming.

ABOUT Fostering Media Connections and The Chronicle of Social Change
Fostering Media Connections (FMC) is a non-profit news organization that uses a mix of investigative and accountability journalism to drive reform within the systems that serve vulnerable children, youth and their families.

FMC publishes The Chronicle of Social Change (chronicleofsocialchange.org) and Fostering Families Today magazine. Through its Youth Voice Program, FMC trains youth who have experienced the foster care or juvenile justice systems to produce top-flight journalism.

ABOUT The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation was created in 1944 by international business pioneer Conrad N. Hilton, who founded Hilton Hotels and left his fortune to help individuals throughout the world living in poverty and experiencing disadvantage. From its inception, the Foundation has awarded more than $1.8 billion in grants, distributing $112.5 million in the U.S. and around the world in 2018.