Led by City Bureau engagement reporter Jerrel Floyd, four emerging reporters are looking into how Chicagoans ages 18-24 transition into adult living. Focusing on two core needs — housing and work — they will explore how well our city and communities meet the needs of our youngest adults. Check back here to see what we find.
Who Are We?
City Bureau Civic Reporting Fellows spend 16 weeks improving their journalism skills and immersing themselves in community reporting. (Staff photos by Grace Del Vecchio/City Bureau)
Jasmine Barnes
by Alonso Vidal
Jasmine Barnes, a natural storyteller, always knew she wanted to be a writer. Now, she is using her gift to tell the stories of her neighbors and the people who matter most to her.
Raised in Detroit, Barnes moved to Houston at an early age, later attending the University of Texas at Austin. Although she initially planned to study journalism, the uncertainty of a rapidly changing media landscape led her to pursue a degree in sociology instead.
After graduating, Barnes worked at an education nonprofit for almost five years. There, she learned how to be a better listener and communicator — skills she now uses as a journalist — by working with adult educators and community members.
Barnes moved to Chicago in 2018 and eventually settled on the South Side, drawn by a desire to be within nature and in a predominantly Black community. Living in Woodlawn, she felt a hunger for writing and storytelling which led her back to journalism.
Barnes worked as a contributor, writer and photographer for South Side Weekly because of the publication’s interest in education and community journalism on the South Side. There, she explored the type of journalism she now wants to do, hyperlocal reporting, where she is able to hear her neighbors’ voices: “I want to understand their emotion, their story,” she said.
“When I look beyond my block, my neighborhood, my city, I start to feel hopeless. I feel afraid. But when I look at my neighbor or my community, I feel extremely hopeful,” Barnes said.
As a City Bureau Civic Reporting Fellow, Barnes is eager to deepen her connections with neighborhoods and sharpen her journalism skills to honor the people she writes about.
“If I'm going to be telling the stories of people in the community, I want to do it with excellence,” she said.
Outside of journalism, Barnes consults with organizations on diversity, equity and inclusion. In her free time, she enjoys exploring her artistic voice through her new passion: painting.
Alonso Vidal
by Jasmine Barnes
Alonso Vidal seeks to tell stories about the Latinx community that span from the beaches of his home town in Lima, Peru, to the shores of Lake Michigan. His childhood love for writing eventually led him to pursue a degree in film and television.
While studying at DePaul University, Vidal’s interest in storytelling expanded from the screen to the page. He joined the school’s Spanish-language newspaper La DePaulia in his final year, where he fell in love with community journalism. Writing and reporting in his native language opened unique opportunities for connection to other Spanish-speaking Chicagoans.
“I didn't know there was such a big Latinx community here,” Vidal said. “I think there's a lot of joy in finding all these little communities of immigrants that have come here: second generations, third generations [and] learning from other cultures and how they've translated their country here.”
Vidal lives in Logan Square and produces La Voz Del Paseo Boricua newspaper in Humboldt Park, delivering copies to local businesses. As a freelance journalist, he’s also reported stories for NBC Chicago, Telemundo, South Side Weekly, and Illinois Latino News.
While networking with photojournalists in the city, Vidal connected with former City Bureau fellow Sebastián Hidalgo who encouraged him to apply to the Civic Reporting Fellowship. Vidal hopes to embrace the opportunity as a chance to collaborate with other community journalists and to tell in-depth stories about the communities he cares about.
“I always wanted to be [a storyteller] from short stories to film, then documentary, screenwriting, journalism — but I think they all have the same objective: telling a story,” he said.
A lover of the vivacity and diversity of urban spaces, you can find Vidal walking the city streets— camera in hand — searching for music, food, and language that reminds him of home.
Amaris Edwards
by Mare Ralph
Amaris Edwards is a Chicago journalist proud to spotlight the city’s Black and Brown communities on the South and West Sides. Growing up in Chatham and Roseland, they began writing at a young age.
“I always knew I wanted writing to be my career path, I just didn’t know how,” they said.
In high school, Edwards performed as part of Louder Than a Bomb, Young Chicago Authors’ youth poetry slam.
“I learned a lot of elements of storytelling through that, creating a scene through your words and creating that visual, also evoking emotion through words,” they said.
An After School Matters program steered them towards journalism, and Edwards later minored in journalism at Columbia College Chicago.
Working as a freelance journalist, Edwards was excited to find City Bureau, an organization committed to coverage of the South and West Sides. They see this fellowship as an opportunity to share their unique perspective as a Black non-binary woman, and soak up the experiences of City Bureau staff, mentors and former fellows.
“I have education in traditional journalism, but sometimes I don’t feel like that it has aligned with me as a Black woman and non-binary person,” they said. “In more traditional newsrooms, you just see coverage of violence and destruction. I just want to commit to coverage that is also uplifting. There is so much community work that happens on the South Side and the West Side.”
In their free time, Edwards enjoys trying new foods and restaurants and reviewing them through their social media platform. They are also interested in podcasting — Bailey Sarian’s Dark History and Murder, Mystery, and Makeup are some of their favorites. Edwards has also returned to crocheting to make a blanket and ear warmers for their first child, due April 7th.
Mare Ralph
by Amaris Edwards
Mare Ralph first heard of City Bureau back in 2018, but it wasn’t until 2020 they got involved with the organization by becoming a Documenter. After taking Documenters assignments on the side, they decided to apply for the City Bureau Civic Reporting Fellowship.
“I’m someone who has always been a writer of some sort, but [I] have no training in journalism, so I thought that this would be a great opportunity to learn more formal journalism skills, while focusing on parts of the city of Chicago that I love,” Ralph said.
Born in Chicago, Ralph has been a songwriter, written poetry and enjoyed nonfiction writing throughout the years. Most recently, they have contributed to policy reports and scholarly articles related to urban planning and policy. They worked on a recently published report by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation pertaining to code enforcement and building inspections in rental housing. Ralph interviewed both code enforcement officers, landlords, renters and people who worked for different community housing organizations.
In their work, they have “a desire to hold powerful institutions accountable” and advocate for “more equitable systems,” they said.“ I feel like I’ve gotten great experience asking questions and affirmatively listening.”
Ralph thinks of the fellowship as an opportunity to “build up the muscle of being a journalist and writer.”
“I’m excited about the aspect of mentorship that comes with the fellowship, as well as being a part of a cohort with my fellow fellows,” they said. “Learning from each other and being able to stretch ourselves a little further to try new things.”
Outside of journalism, Ralph is a fan of architecture and likes to travel with their partner to places such as New York, Spring Green, Wisconsin, Columbus, Indiana, and Louisville, Kentucky. They also enjoy exploring new dog parks with their energetic 1-year-old dog Tinker.
Ralph also hopes to write a book relating to housing in Chicago.
Jerrel Floyd
by Sarah Conway
Jerrel Floyd feels his roots in small-town Alabama in Black Chicago from the way that people walk down the street to catching a family relaxing on the stoop. Sharing Black stories is exactly what brought him here – documenting living history through communities telling their own stories.
“People want to be storytellers about where they come from, how they feel about their lives. They want to tell their individual stories,” he said. Inquisitive, thoughtful and perceptive, Floyd creates space in his reporting for communities of color to explore memory and process how systems impact their daily lives.
Floyd found his footing in journalism as a reporter and editor as an undergraduate at Morehouse College’s student newspaper, The Maroon Tiger. He began his career at ProPublica Illinois as a reporting fellow where he explored the powerful histories of abandoned black cemeteries, an interest sparked during his graduate studies in investigative journalism at American University where he collaborated on projects with PBS Frontline and the Washington Post.
Before City Bureau, he was as a local government reporter with the Post and Courier in Charleston, South Carolina, covering a broad range of topics from growth and development to education and health. He brings eight years of reporting experience to his work as an engagement reporter covering affordable housing, development and food access, a beat he anchors in connecting communities with resources and ultimately building their own narratives.