The Herald selected by ‘Report for America,’ gets aid in boosting Chester County coverage

The Herald is one of 164 news organizations chosen nationwide to host a journalist through Report for America.

The journalist will be placed in The Herald newsroom for a year and will focus on coverage of Chester County, beginning next June. Chester is a core part of The Herald’s coverage area, which also includes York and Lancaster counties.

Report For America is a “national service program that places talented emerging journalists in local news organizations to report for one to two years on under-covered issues and communities. An initiative of The GroundTruth project, Report For America addresses an urgent need in journalism at a time when news deserts are widening across the country,” RFA said in an announcement Monday.

“The beats these journalists will cover reflect some of the biggest gaps in coverage in local news today, and some of the top priorities in society. They include stepped up reporting in remote rural areas and over-looked urban communities...,” the announcement says.

News organizations chosen most recently by Report for America span 46 states. Last year’s selections included 50 local news organizations across 28 states. Reporters can apply for the positions until Jan. 31, with placements announced in April, according to RFA.

The Report For America program is made possible by support from multiple philanthropies such as the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Facebook Journalism Project, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Google News Initiative and the Ford Foundation. Support for the RFA reporting corps positions in the Southeast comes from Galloway Family Foundation in Appalachia and the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation for investigative and enterprise reporting.