Deadline: December 10, 2023
Applications for the USC Annenberg California Health Equity Fellowship 2024 are now open. The California Fellowship is designed to support reporters in the Golden State pursuing ambitious, enterprising projects on overlooked health and health equity issues. You decide what stories need to be told in your community to improve health outcomes and they work to support you.
Fellows join for a busy week of in-person training and discussion on the USC Annenberg campus, where they learn from nationally renowned health experts, policy analysts and community health leaders, from top journalists in the field, and from each other. That’s followed by ongoing mentoring and virtual meetings to support Fellows across the finish line.
The program places strong emphasis on the ways in which environmental and community conditions can influence how long and how well we live. The program helps fellows craft projects that engage communities from the start and shares hard-won insights on how to land big projects that deliver maximum impact on the health and well-being of communities.
Benefits
Admitted Fellows receive:
- A $2,000-$10,000 grant to help with reporting costs
- A week of in-person intensive training
- Five months of professional mentorship
Fellows also are eligible to apply for five months of professional mentorship in engaged journalism and $1,000-$2,000 to support those creative efforts.
Eligibility
- Open to California-based professional journalists and national correspondents, including freelancers, with California-focused projects. They have accepted reporters in the past across all levels, from the smallest rural newspapers to national outlets.
- Freelancers are welcome to apply, but they must have a confirmed assignment with an outlet to be considered for acceptance. This includes a signed editor checklist and letter of recommendation. Freelancers (and editors at outlets) should know that the reporting stipends are not meant to substitute for regular freelance pay. Instead, those funds can be used for reporting expenditures such as travel, database acquisition and translation.
- Students are not eligible to apply.
Application
Applications should include:
- Personal Statement: Tell them about yourself and why you want to participate in the program.
- Project Proposal: Provide a description of the project you’re pursuing. Consider these questions: What is your long-term goal for this project? How would you like to see the community or policy benefit from this work? What makes this reporting new or important?
- Deliverables Statement: Number of stories you’ll be reporting, and tentative story themes or focus, including any multimedia elements you plan to incorporate (photos, video, audio, graphics, etc.).
- Proposed Budget: Please provide a grant amount requested and a rough breakdown of how you plan to use the funds.
- Three samples of your most recent work
- Editor reference letter and completed Editor Checklist form
- Resume
For more information, see FAQ and visit California Health Equity Fellowship.
