On April 7, Facebook announced 400 grants to US and Canadian local news organizations in support of COVID-19 journalism coverage. I was one of those chosen – applying as a freelancer with an established relationship with NUVO – to receive the grant. The Indianapolis Recorder newspaper and Indiana Public Media were also winners.
This $5,000 grant will support my “Coronavirus Diary” series for NUVO, the Indianapolis-based alternative-weekly-turned-nonprofit-news-site.
In my coverage so far, I’ve reported on the closing down of the IUPUI campus in the wake of COVID-19 becoming a pandemic. I was on campus, at a meeting with the IUPUI Arts & Humanities Institute – where I’m a research assistant – when I heard the news that classes were to go online after spring break and campus would open again, if possible, on April 6. It soon became clear that this would not be possible. Classes for the rest of the semester at IUPUI, and most campuses across the country for that matter, will be online for the rest of the semester. It’s unclear, at this point, whether in-person classes will resume in the fall.
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