The fellowship has allowed me to show my work in front of some of the top photo editors in the industry, many of whom had never opened their doors to me before this project.
– Eileen Truax, 2016 Bringing Home the World Fellow
The Bringing Home the World Fellowship sent U.S. minority journalists overseas to cover stories that resonate with their local communities. Through this fellowship, we aimed to support diverse new voices and fresh perspectives on underreported global issues, and advance minority journalists’ careers.
The program was founded on the belief that if you change the storyteller you change the story.
Since the program began in 2011, fellows have produced hundreds of stories that have propelled their careers and enriched their audiences.
- The fellowship increased the diversity of voices reporting internationally, supporting 100 fellows in 49 countries.
- One-third of participants attributed their career advancement to the fellowship.
- Nearly one-quarter of the reporters have won awards for their stories produced through the program.
- Many fellows came from small- and medium-size news outlets, which often do not have the resources to send reporters overseas for stories that affect their communities.
Their hard-hitting reports focused on such topics as human trafficking, women’s rights, displaced children, and environmental degradation. Fellows uncovered abuses and corruption, as well as documented the extraordinary lives of ordinary people.
The most recent fellowship was sponsored by the Scripps Howard Foundation and the Brooks and Joan Fortune Family Foundation. Previous fellowships have been sponsored by Ford Foundation and United Airlines.
About the Fellowship
The program provided support for fellows to report in-country for up to two weeks, including costs for travel, lodging, and interpreters.
ICFJ brought the selected fellows to Washington, D.C., for a comprehensive orientation that included story workshopping, safety training, multimedia storytelling, and advice on how to work with fixers/interpreters. We offered a mentor with knowledge of the country to be visited, who could connect fellows with sources on the ground.
Fellows had to complete their stories by a given date and publish or air them in U.S. media outlets as well as in ICFJ’s online compendium of fellowship stories. ICFJ also assisted freelance fellows to place their stories in major news outlets.
We exposed corruption and human rights abuses working in a cross-border network supported by ICFJ.
— Lisseth Boon, Venezuela