Are you a journalist looking to enhance your reporting skills and dive deep into data-driven investigations? The Center for Health Journalism is offering a unique Data Fellowship that could be the perfect opportunity to transform your approach to storytelling. This fellowship provides journalists with the training and mentorship needed to “interview the data” and uncover critical insights.

What the Data Fellowship Offers

This five-month program equips journalists with the tools to find, obtain, and analyze data, enabling them to produce impactful investigative reports. Here’s what you can expect:

• Comprehensive Training: Learn data acquisition, cleaning, analysis, and visualization from skilled data reporters and journalism practitioners. New components also focus on using AI in data journalism.
• Expert Mentorship: Receive one-on-one mentoring from Senior Fellows as you develop a major investigative health reporting project or a series of data-driven stories.
• Financial Support: A $2,000 stipend to help cover reporting costs.
• Hands-On Workshops: Participate in a multi-day, in-person training in beginner, intermediate, or advanced Spreadsheets or RStudio.
• Engaged Journalism Mentorship: Fellows can apply for additional mentorship in engaged journalism, with $1,000-$2,000 to support creative efforts.

Supported Reporting Themes

The fellowship embraces a broad view of health, considering the impact of environment, schools, neighborhoods, and communities. Special attention is given to systemic inequities and their effects on life outcomes and family well-being.

National Track Themes:

• Effectiveness of preventive approaches for vulnerable children and families.
• Impact of chronic stress, poverty, and childhood trauma on child development.
• Economic and social forces and government policies affecting families and communities.
• Food scarcity and the effectiveness of support programs.
• Impact of school discipline policies on at-risk children.
• Housing insecurity and support systems for families.
• Effectiveness of safety net programs.
• Healthcare policies and access for children and families.
• Unmet mental health needs and access to services.
• Intersection of partner violence and child abuse.
• Impact of race/ethnicity and class on family outcomes.
• Solutions-focused explorations of government systems’ impact on children and families.

California Track Themes:

• Impacts of federal and state health and social welfare policy for vulnerable children, families and communities.
• Performance and access to California’s safety net programs, including Medi-Cal.
• Efforts to reimagine public institutions and programs to better serve communities
• Racial, ethnic, economic and geographic disparities
• Health and mental health access challenges for vulnerable populations
• Addiction and mental health challenges and the effectiveness of health care systems and programs to address them
• Health impacts of income inequality and economic insecurity in historically disenfranchised communities
• Homelessness and interventions to alleviate it
• Maternal and infant health and efforts to address racial disparities in maternal and birth outcomes
• Immigrant health and well-being in an era of mass deportations
• Health-related environmental justice issues
• The school environment and the emotional health of children
• Public policies — or failings of public policies — to address the high cost of housing, transportation challenges, air pollution and neighborhood safety
• Innovative solutions to the state’s public health and health care challenges

How to Apply

Interested journalists are encouraged to discuss their proposal with a team member.

Applications are due July 22, 2026.

Don’t miss this chance to elevate your reporting skills and create impactful stories that matter. Apply for the Data Fellowship today!

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