River City Journalism Fund

06/14/2024

Our story about efforts to memorialize the notorious slave prisons in downtown St. Louis will be on the front page of the Post-Dispatch Sunday -- but you can read it here first. No paywall, thanks to our generous donors!

Thousands of people were once held in underground slave prisons in St. Louis, where Busch Stadium and Ballpark Village now stand.

05/09/2024

This Give STL Day, we hope you'll support our summer fellowship. This year, we'll have a young journalist on a paid, nine-week fellowship to report on immigrants and refugees in St. Louis.

Please support our paid summer fellowship for an aspiring journalist in St. Louis.

04/17/2024

New today: The Cardinals are gearing up for a big ask in public funds. Writer Eric Berger digs into stadium math that doesn't always add up.

Team leaders claimed the 2006 stadium expenditure would revitalize downtown — yet the neighborhood has struggled

02/29/2024

RCJF Is 'What's Right with the Region'

This week we got word that FOCUS St. Louis is honoring the River City Journalism Fund with a "What's Right with the Region" award under the category of "demonstrating innovative solutions."

Wowser. We feel so honored to receive this recognition from FOCUS, which has been citing do-gooder organizations for more than a quarter of a century.

Nominations come from members of the public and are selected by a committee of local leaders.

This year, 20 individuals, organizations, and individuals will be recognized for making a positive difference in our region. We'd like to invite our friends and supporters to the celebration, which will be held May 9, 2024, at the Sheldon. See comment below for details.

We are humbled by this honor but also proud of our achievements. RCJF addresses a growing void in news coverage concerning social-justice issues in our region. We have recruited a stellar and diverse cast of reporters, photographers, and data and presentation specialists to tackle revelatory stories and then share their work with local media, as well as readers curious to better understand St. Louis, at no cost.

Our media partners have included KTRS, Nine PBS, Riverfront Times, St. Louis American, St. Louis Magazine, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis Public Radio, and Health Progress, the Journal of the Catholic Health Association, which is headquartered in St. Louis.

And we have made a mark. Our work has been cited by the Associated Press and CNN and discussed on nearly every local talk show. Our stories have won numerous awards and have been attached to briefs filed with the Missouri Supreme Court.

We thank those who have supported our work through RCJF.org. Your contributions fund meaningful journalism in our times and in our town.

Investing in local journalism for a greater St. Louis Donate Now For a Greater St. Louis The St. Louis region has big challenges, but that also means big opportunities. In order to stay informed and connected, we need local journalism. A civic information and journalism crisis both around the world....

01/10/2024

We are honored to bring you local high school student Bella Nguyen's commentary in the Post-Dispatch this week. We can all learn so much from her experience!

Perhaps you have heard about people like me as debate and discussion roils concerning immigrant families. But may I have a word?

12/13/2023

We were proud to commission an op-ed that ran in the Post today by Wash U student Precious Barry. Read and enjoy:

As I applied to colleges and sought scholarships, many friends and advisers told me the heavier my story, the more scholarships I would find.

11/16/2023

We're so excited to see the Heartland Fellowship we partnered with Wash U on promoted in the St. Louis American.

A number of departments and centers at Washington University in St. Louis have partnered with the River City Journalism Fund, which nurtures minority journalists, to found the Heartland Journalism Fellowships

10/05/2023

Did you catch our inaugural fellow Julian Trejo's audio essay on St. Louis on the Air today? If not, you can stream it here:

Washington University sophomore Julian Trejo was 15 years old when his mother helped him change his surname. He was ashamed to be the son of a felon but now feels free.

09/20/2023

We at River City Journalism Fund (RCJF) were PROUD to present our inaugural fellow, Julian Trejo, to a group of amazing supporters of journalists and civic leaders at a ceremony last night to highlight Julian's work with RCJF! While Julian is our first fellow, we are looking for more! RCJF provides *PAID* opportunities to young people of color who have a gift for writing and journalism. If you know a young journalist/writer/storyteller who's looking for an avenue for exposure, please connect us! We would love to provide that platform.

09/14/2023

We're proud of our inaugural fellow Julian Trejo, a Wash U sophomore wise beyond his years who shares his remarkable life story in this week's Riverfront Times.

I was ashamed to be the son of a felon, but now I'm free

09/05/2023

The Army sprayed zinc cadmium sulfide on the St. Louis housing project to study how chemical or biological weapons can spread in densely populated areas.

09/04/2023

Our latest story, on the front page of today's Post-Dispatch, examines Pruitt-Igoe residents whose homes were sprayed with a potential carcinogen -- and now wonder why they're being left behind.

The Army sprayed zinc cadmium sulfide on the St. Louis housing project to study how chemical or biological weapons can spread in densely populated areas.