Position/Title: New York State Youth Justice Reporter
Location: Buffalo or Rochester, New York
Compensation: $48,000 per year. This is a one-year contract position with potential for extension.
Fostering Media Connections, a national nonprofit journalism organization and publisher of The Imprint and Fostering Families Today, is looking for an upstate journalist to join our New York bureau. Your reporting will focus on the juvenile justice system, primarily in New York state.
Too often, the juvenile justice system is overlooked in the media, despite its critical importance to public safety and young people’s trajectories and prospects in life. In New York, this is especially true outside of the New York City metro area, where downsizing has strained the ability of newsrooms to cover this critical part of government.
We are looking for a tenacious journalist to join our New York staff and help us continue to put great stories about youth justice front and center in the Empire State, and raise the overall level of discussion about youth and family services in America.
The Imprint’s watchdog reporting on the beat in upstate New York has highlighted stories unseen elsewhere, on issues from the nearly $1 million annual cost to house children in prison, to DNA tracking and efforts to strike the word “incorrigible” from legal codes. The bureau produces regular content for our national audience and also co-publishes, most recently with local and national news outlets including Vice, Washington Monthly and The Crime Report.
Our new statewide reporter will focus on juvenile justice coverage in upstate and western New York. The ideal candidate will be able to obtain, monitor and review public records. They will be comfortable interviewing sources ranging from youth in secure facilities and their families to politicians and advocates. The candidate must have experience listening and accurately describing issues critical to vulnerable groups from diverse racial, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.
This position’s primary responsibilities will include:
- Weekly reporting for The Imprint.
- Assisting the rest of the team on long-term projects.
- Helping plan several online forums and events about youth justice.
We are seeking someone with at least one to three years of journalism experience. Candidates are encouraged to apply from anywhere, but they will be required to reside in Buffalo or Rochester. An entrepreneurial attitude, and an interest in the growing field of nonprofit news, are also a plus. Above all, we are looking for candidates who are creative, curious, and eager, and interested in finding untold stories.
Fostering Media Connections is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a diverse newsroom that strengthens the quality of our journalism and our workplace. We strongly encourage applications from qualified applicants of all races, ethnicities, gender and sexual orientations, physical abilities, socioeconomic backgrounds and national origins. Candidates of all ages are encouraged to apply.
How to Apply
Please submit the following by email to [email protected]:
- A résumé, and a cover letter
- Three-to-five writing clips, two story ideas, three references
This position will remain open until filled.