by Christine Larusso, Assistant Poetry Editor
Over or the past few months, I’ve noticed that a great majority of the powerful journalism coming through my Facebook feed (piling up as mental bookmarks) has been posted by Melissa Chadburn, a terrific writer with whom I was lucky enough to attend the Tin House Writer’s Workshop too many years ago. During the weeklong workshop, I didn’t get to know Melissa very well, unfortunately; but one thing I’ve learned in the time that’s passed, via those tiny, ubiquitous blue thumbs, is that she’s the Community Editor and Writer for the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, the organization responsible for the investigative pieces I’ve been admiring.
The Project was founded by legendary journalist Barbara Ehrenreich as means to further and broaden the work she initiated in her 1996 Nickel and Dimed. Under the directorship of poet, journalist, and critic Alissa Quart, the EHRP serves to “support immersive reporting on the working poor,” in a model inspired by New Deal-era reporting projects undertaken by the Farm Security Administration and the Works Progress Administration.
The EHRP develops, supports, and commissions investigative journalism, photo essays, and video projects that serve this mission. Its talented group of writers, photographers and editors work to raise awareness around income inequality, and get the work featured in major publications, such as the New York Times, Time, The Atlantic, TruthOut, Mother Jones, and more.
Follow the EHRP on Facebook and watch the riveting—and often sobering—articles roll in. This team works hard.
Start here:
“Resistance is Futile: How Well-Meaning Non-Profits Perpetuate Poverty”
by Melissa Chadburn
“Professor, Can You Spare a Dime?”
by Alissa Quart
“In America, Only the Rich Can Afford to Write About Poverty”
by Barbara Ehrenreich
“My Time in Motel Hell: Scenes from America’s Housing Crisis”
by Donnell Alexander
Photo via Quinn Dombrowski/Flickr (CC BY SA 2.0)