Alicia Patterson Foundation - Fellowships and grants to journalists

Awarding fellowships to journalists to pursue independent projects of significant interest and skepticism that will benefit the public.

Donald Baker, a longtime reporter and editor at Washington Post, examined the experience of schools since Brown v. Board of Education during his fellowship year. A journalist who wrote for newspapers in Indiana and Ohio, Baker served for years as the Post’s bureau chief in Richmond. He wrote a biography of L. Douglas Wilder, the country’s first black elected governor. Baker also did extensive research and writing on the educational disaster when Virginia’s Prince Edward County shut down schools rather than integrate. Baker died on Christmas day, 2022 at age 90.

Current Fellows  2024

Picture of Chandra Bozelko

Chandra Bozelko

“The Deadly Racial Impact of Prison Discipline”

Picture of Lee Hawkins

Lee Hawkins

“Unlocking the Gates: Investigating Real Estate Discrimination Against Black Families in America’s Suburbs”

Picture of David Kortava

David Kortava

“The Amazon’s Tipping Point: Humanity’s Last Chance to Save the World’s Largest Rainforest”

Picture of Roxanne Scott

Roxanne Scott

“After Decades of Disinvestment, Black Neighborhoods in NYC Feel the Brunt of the Climate Crisis”

Picture of Bill Spindle

Bill Spindle

“Energy Transition in a Warming World.”

Picture of Anna Louie Sussman

Anna Louie Sussman

“Worldwide Reproduction Problems”

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Urban Remedies: The International Search 

Rome, Italy   April 15, 1968   LJUBLJANA, YUGOSLAVIA – “As people live more together, they also depend more on each other. Mankind has built up a society in which man is carrier of all values, and on his life

Photograph: Kayla Reefer

How Robots Helped My Parents’ Dementia

How Robots Helped My Parents’ Dementia By Kat McGowan [This article first appeared in the January, 2024 edition of Wired. Her research was supported by an Alicia Patterson Foundation grant.] Forget the crappy caregiver bots and puppy-eyed seals. When my parents

In September 2023, the second xenotransplantation of a genetically-modified pig heart into a living human patient was performed by surgeons at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Due to the risks of xenotransplantation, researchers have become increasingly interested in testing the procedure in brain-dead subjects. Visual: University of Maryland School of Medicine

The Allure and Dangers of Experimenting With Brain-Dead Bodies

For scientists who perform medical research on the recently deceased, there are few regulatory or ethical guardrails. This article, written by Jyoti Madhusoodanan, is based on her 2023 Alicia Patterson Foundation fellowship research on human experiments and greater openness behind

Fadil Muqolli’s home, where 53 people, including his wife and children, were killed by grenades and bullets. (Diana Markosian for The Washington Post)

In Kosovo, War Survivors Turned Homes Into Their Own Museums

This article, by APF fellow Nina Strochlic, first appeared in the Washington Post on February 21, 2024. It was supported by her research for her APF fellowship. POKLEK, Kosovo — Fadil Muqolli has spent more than two decades trying to

Hargeysa, the capital city of Somaliland. (Mustafa Saeed/Noema Magazine)

A Country Shaped By Poetry

This article, by APF fellow Nina Strochlic, first appeared in the Noēma Magazine on February 21, 2024. It was supported by her research for her APF fellowship. Hargeysa, the capital city of Somaliland. (Mustafa Saeed/Noema Magazine) Somaliland’s poets have toppled

US push to turn farm manure into renewable energy draws concerns

AMES, IOWA – In a gathering that drew the attendance of both farmers and Wall Street financiers, US regulators joined with oil giant Chevron at a November conference here to promote what backers promise will be a monumental breakthrough –

Mary Klipp, a retired medical social worker in San Francisco, considers cleaning up God’s Earth a form of prayer. Photo credit: Josh Klipp

Pope’s Environmental Stand Splits Catholics

The ecological concern Pope Francis has sparked among Catholics –and resistance to it– reflect how the faithful are split over the climate emergency, the role of capitalism, and where 1.3 billion global Catholics should put their money and clout. Powerful