Impact Stories

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.

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.

News Ambassadors, an initiative that facilitates collaboration between journalism schools and public radio newsrooms, was awarded $10,000 in microgrants from Listening Post Collective to support engagement with KBIA in the 2024-25 school year. As News Ambassadors works to train participating new-academic partnerships in democracy-focused solutions reporting, the microgrants will cover community listening in order to improve their solutions reporting. News Ambassadors was also awarded a $30,000 grant from Scripps Howard Journalism Fund to support journalism students receiving mentorship from trained journalists, many of whom are accredited SoJo trainers and/or Complicating the Narratives Fellows. The mentorship aims to increase the likelihood of the stories’ being strong enough to air on partners’ newsroom stations at the end of the semester, and the grant will support efforts to match mentees with journalists in parts of the United States for enriched, similar learning experiences.

Colleen Hagerty has found success and inspired confidence while reporting on wildfires, their consequences, and what can be done about them. One of the solutions articles she wrote, “The Government Set a Fire in New Mexico. It Burned 341,735 Acres,” garnered a tip from someone working in prescribed fires who she said “was only comfortable doing [it] since he could see my deep understanding of the subject and desire to show the complexities of it.” Another source said the piece “sparked a positive conversation with his neighbors about sharing details of what has gone right, not just what has gone wrong, in the fire recovery process in their community.” She also did a Q&A to respond to interest from the audience for her newsletter “My World’s on Fire.” This reporting also led to a collaboration with the HotHouse newsletter to create a practical guide for people who want to engage with the process of prescribed fire in their neighborhoods.