USC’s National Fellowship helps journalists and their newsrooms report deeply and authoritatively on the well-being of children, families and communities. The program prepares fellows to report a major enterprise health or social well-being reporting project in the months that follow an initial week of intensive learning in Los Angeles.

The competitive five-month program provides journalists with a chance to step away from breaking news to take a deep look together at pervasive inequities in the United States, including disparities rooted in geography, race, gender and income. The program places strong emphasis on the ways in which environmental and community conditions can influence how long and how well we live.

Here are a few broad reporting themes supported in fellowship proposals:

• Child, youth and family well-being
• The root causes of inequities
• The school-to-prison pipeline (including juvenile justice) as a health issue
• Maternal and infant health and intergenerational trauma
• The mental health of children and families
• How conditions in schools, communities and the environment shape health
• Systemic barriers tied to poverty, race and economic opportunity
• Healthcare and public health systems and design and inequitable outcomes