A grant by the Rockefeller Foundation will allow the Guardian to cover the story of growing wealth inequality and the future of jobs in America through commissioning local reporters and partnering with local media.
The series will feature:
• The new Outclassed column, which will tackle the hidden impact of inequality on lives, as well as the unexpected and compelling ways in which social class expresses itself in America.
• New vertical On The Ground: exploring all corners of America, will aim to further burst media bubbles and reach areas of America that are underreported. Guardian US will collaborate with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project on this series, which will include partnership with local newsrooms across the country.
• Guardian US will also appoint its first Rust Belt correspondent, Drew Philp, who will write long form reports throughout the summer from the states he calls home. Philp has just been awarded the prestigious Kresge artist prize.
• A focus on wealth inequality across America by the Guardian’s staff and freelance writers.
Guardian US features editor Jessica Reed will lead this project with executive editor of the EHRP and Guardian columnist Alissa Quart.
Guardian US editor Lee Glendinning said: “There is a critical need to be focused on the kind of journalism that brings attention to underreported regions across the country and to shed light on stories that have immense impact on a larger political and economic scale. With the grant from Rockefeller Foundation, Guardian US will now be able to continue an even deeper offering in a unique mix of long form writing and reporting, columns and essays that will give platform to local communities in America that are rarely represented in the national conversation.”
