Impact Stories

As part of her work as a 2024 HEAL Fellow, Morgan Watkins helped prompt critical discussions about deploying solutions journalism within her newsroom, Louisville Public Media (LPM). These discussions led to a new editorial plan launched in summer 2024, which has begun to be implemented. Watkins says: “Our newsroom has made a decision to focus the vast majority of our stories on three principles: solutions, accountability and community-generated story ideas. We’ve heard from our community that they want to know what others are doing — and what they can do — to address the challenges we face. We decided to be more intentional about solutions journalism, because we want to better serve our community. Our aim is to continue our work toward becoming a trusted source of local news for more people in our community by diversifying our offerings and by serving more residents of our community who have been traditionally sidelined in the media.” LPM has produced more than 10 solutions-centered stories since launching its new strategy.

As a result of a solutions journalism story about a program that teaches new parents and family members to handle issues such as domestic violence, neglect and drug use, the program received support from community leaders and saw an increase in attendance by people who had read the piece. The Rev. Kennedy Jacobs, who leads the African American Family Institute and runs sessions in three local churches, praised the benefits of the article, titled “Parent Cafe program gives residents guidance, chance to connect.” The piece was written by Jasmine Hall, a student in mass communications at Bethune-Cookman University, which participated in the Solutions Journalism HBCU Educator/Black Press Academy program, coordinated by SJN.

A solutions story on community health volunteers in Nairobi received more than double the number of usual views on Talk Africa’s website and over 20,000 impressions on X. This high audience engagement included a retweet by the Ministry of Health, Kenya and the CEO of Amref. Talk Africa published the story when the Kenyan government institutionalized community health volunteers nationwide and launched the Electronic Community Health Information System (eCHIS-Kenya), and the story’s headline and content reflected its timeliness and relevance to the Kenyan people. Daniel Otunge of Science Africa says: “Overall, it was the timing and packaging of the story using a SoJo approach. As demanded by the SoJo style, the story was compiled using data collected directly from the beneficiaries and the community health volunteers as its primary sources. This made the story authentic and appealing to the readers. Stakeholders, including the Ministry of Health and Amref, were keen on the story as it provided a means for them to receive feedback directly from the community. Community health volunteers and health facilities were eager to disseminate the message and showcase their success in service delivery.”

The Green Grove farm near the Ukrainian city of Dnipro provided shelter for animals during the early stages of Russia’s invasion. Rubryka, a Ukrainian digital publication, reported the story with a solutions focus, describing the work volunteers did to save animals from bombardments as people fled the area. Readers responded by sending donations, which provided vital support to the farm. According to Anastasia Rudenko, Rubryka’s editor-in-chief, “This story illustrates how solutions-focused journalism can directly benefit communities and contribute to social initiatives.” Similarly, in 2022, Rubryka published a solutions article about Ukrainian knitters produced clothing for soldiers on the battlefield, which led readers in America to knit a range of garments that they shipped to Ukraine as a donation in solidarity with the war torn country.

The audio department of Agence France-Presse partnered with The Conversation, a digital media publisher of journalism content written by academics and researchers, to produce “Sur la Terre,” an award-nominated podcast with increasing levels of audience engagement exploring solutions to overcome climate and ecological crises. One podcast episode focused on Caminando, a rural primary school southeast France’s Drôme region where children are taught a curriculum different from those of mainstream educational institutions that emphasizes human beings’ relation to the natural world. Taking stock of the story’s data showing the effectiveness of Caminando’s teaching methods, the principal of the area’s main high school, Gerald Bennetot-Deveria, reached out to develop a connection between the two institutions, including receiving training on nature-enhanced learning for its teachers. He also wrote to local officials of the Education Ministry to ensure the nature-focused school continued receiving financial support.

A coalition of funders have found value in the Great Salt Lake Collaborative's mission and solutions journalism focus, donating money to ensure it continues operating through 2024. Six large institutional donors, including two universities and local and environmental groups, are among the funders. Between March and May 2024, an individual donor fundraising campaign raised $10,000, which was matched by the local Audubon Society.