The National Press Foundation is pleased to welcome 20 journalists from across the country to its 2025 Widening the Pipeline Fellowship, designed to support journalists of color staying in – and leading – the newsrooms of tomorrow.
These talented journalists represent local, national and non-profit news outlets and bring with them a wealth of experiences from a variety of media.
Widening the Pipeline was established to address the ongoing challenge of diversifying American newsrooms. Journalists of color comprise less than 25% of newsroom staff, and their percentage in leadership roles is even smaller.
This cohort of Widening the Pipeline fellows will follow in the footsteps of the 2024 and 2022-2023 classes in traveling to Washington, D.C., for two in-person trainings and participating in monthly virtual sessions.
After online orientation in January, the new class of Widening the Pipeline fellows will travel to Washington, D.C., in February 2025 for in-person training and to attend the National Press Foundation’s Annual Awards Dinner. In monthly virtual sessions, the fellows will hear from a range of speakers who will provide insights and guidance about how to strengthen their skills, navigate their career paths and benefit from peer and mentoring support. The journalists will be matched with experienced journalism mentors who will serve as advisers during the year-long program.
If you would like to be a mentor to one of these incredible journalists, please contact program lead Rachel Jones rjones@nationalpress.org.
The 2025 Widening the Pipeline fellows are:
Nixson Benitez | Des Moines Register | California
Elisha Brown | States Newsroom | North Carolina
Gabriel Cortes | CNBC | California
Daniela Doncel | Connecticut Public | Connecticut
Mark Edwards | Washington Examiner | Washington, D.C.
Tamia Fowlkes | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | Wisconsin
Keerti Gopal | Inside Climate News | New York
Tre’Vaughn Howard | Bloomberg Industry Group | Washington, D.C.
Anjali Huynh | The Boston Globe | Massachusetts
Nicole Ki | MPR News | Minnesota
Leah Kincaid | WGXA News | Georgia
Chloe K. Li | Al Jazeera English | New York
Briah Lumpkins | The Charlotte Observer | North Carolina
Gabriella Nuñez | NBC Atlanta 11Alive News | Georgia
Jordan Parker | San Francisco Chronicle | California
Lionel Ramos | KOSU/NPR | Oklahoma
Richard Sima | The Washington Post | Maryland
Jessie Christopher Smith | The Oklahoman | Oklahoma
Monique Welch | Houston Landing | Texas
Johnny Wilian Perez-Gonzalez | WHYY Inc | Delaware
