We’re hiring two full-time Reporting Residents—plus updates on our Reporting Fellowship and a new Managing Editor.

By City Bureau

Reporting Fellow Sierra Council interviews Woodlawn resident Aaron “Haroon” Garel during the Spring 2019 fellowship. (Photo: Max Herman)

Reporting Fellow Sierra Council interviews Woodlawn resident Aaron “Haroon” Garel during the Spring 2019 fellowship. (Photo: Max Herman)

At the end of 2019, after training more than 100 Civic Reporting Fellows, we took a break to reflect on nearly four years of programming.

Today we’re excited to relaunch our Civic Reporting Programs with a full-time Civic Reporting Residency. We will be selecting two Residents to work and learn with City Bureau for a full year, March 2020-March 2021.

These Residents will touch all three of City Bureau’s programs: creating a special project with Documenters, serving as team leaders for our Reporting Fellowship and hosting events as part of the Public Newsroom. As always, the focus of this Civic Reporting Program will be reporting with and for communities on Chicago’s South and West Sides, to fill vital information needs about issues that impact them directly. 

We invite all journalists who have experience building and covering news beats to apply. After a year at City Bureau, Residents will leave with a holistic understanding of our community-driven reporting processes, our approach to civic participation and the philosophies that guide the work we do.

You can read more about the Residency here. Apply by January 29.

For folks who are new to the journalism world, we will still have our 11-week Civic Reporting Fellowships: once in the summer, and once in the fall. This program will remain largely the same—12 hours a week, mostly on nights and weekends, and flexible enough for people with full-time jobs to join. Fellows will work in teams to produce editorial projects on issues impacting our South and West Side neighbors. They’ll learn the basics of reporting and writing in journalism, mentor high school students and get direct experience in the type of engaged, community-driven journalism that we are known for. Please keep an eye out for applications in May and August of this year, or sign up for our newsletter to be notified when they come out.

One more piece of exciting news: We are bringing Sarah Conway onto our team as Managing Editor of our Civic Reporting Programs. Many of you already know Sarah, who first joined us as a Fellow in 2016, before becoming a Team Leader, then a Civic Reporting Resident, and most recently as a part-time Fellowship Manager. She’s also been a Documenter and a Public Newsroom host—in other words, she’s hit for the cycle at City Bureau. Over the years Sarah has been an invaluable member of our community, with her sharp reporting instincts and selfless leadership. We feel so honored to have her on board.

We’re excited to work with you in 2020.


Support City Bureau’s civic reporting programs by becoming a City Bureau Press Club member today.

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