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Meet our first citizen journalist team | J-Corps Audio Journal #1

illustration of citizen journalists with J-Corps logo

Full Community Voices audio:

Meet the first NPR Illinois community reporters and their editor.mp3

Press Forward Springfield is awarding its first project grants. NPR Illinois along with the Illinois Times and Capitol News Illinois will each receive funding to report on a different untold story in our community. The three reporting projects will be posted in May.

The Community Foundation for the Land of Lincoln in collaboration with the Field Foundation and the Illinois Department of Human Services are leading this project as part of the Healing program.

NPR Illinois is using the grant to test its vision for community reporting and journalism training — the Journalism Corps or "J-Corps."

In our LISTEN sessions last year, we asked for volunteers to continue to report on their communities. This grant gives us the opportunity to provide two of these aspiring community journalists with training and professional editing. It also helps us better understand our neighbors.

Follow along each Friday through May with this J-Corps Audio Journal.

Randy Eccles is thrilled to be talking with community members and joining them in becoming informed citizenry. Please reach out at randy.eccles@nprillinois.org.
Priyanka joined NPR Illinois in 2025 as a project editor and anchor.
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