The Chestnut Hill Local will welcome a new journalist this July as one of 101 newsrooms across the country that has been chosen to partner with Report for America. The organization responds to challenges facing the growing crisis in local, independent news. 

Our Report for America corps member, Abigail (Abby) Weiss, was selected from a competitive pool of more than 1,300 applicants, ensuring top talent for the host newsrooms, chosen from an equally competitive process. Weiss will be covering environmental issues for the Local. 

Weiss is a 2022 graduate of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications with a minor in environmental studies, and has been working as a features reporter for Hearst Connecticut Media Group in Norwalk, Connecticut for almost three years. She has a primary interest in environmental issues and has experience reporting on topics related to climate change and its effects on communities.

“We are incredibly fortunate to have received this funding from Report for America,” Daralyse Lyons, publisher of the Chestnut Hill Local, said. “Having a dedicated environmental reporter will go a long way toward serving this community with relevant, actionable news. Northwest Philadelphia is home to a number of vibrant organizations, doing work in sustainability, conservation, education, and preservation. We can boast of numerous gardening clubs and greening initiatives. There’s so much to know about and so many ways our readers can get involved and make a meaningful difference — as long as they have essential information.”

Lyons shared that Weiss was the Local’s top choice for a dedicated environmental reporter because, “she infuses human interest into her reporting. Abby’s work is captivating and makes scientific information accessible. I think that, in order to report about the environment effectively, we owe it to our community to synthesize complicated concepts, data, science, and personal narratives. Abby has a dynamic and varied background. She’s reported on everything from the environment to entertainment and I feel confident she’ll hit the ground running. July can’t come soon enough.”

July 7 will be Weiss’ start date, a date set by Report for America and standardized for all incoming corps members.

Report for America is a national service program that places talented emerging journalists in local newsrooms to report on important, yet often underrepresented, topics and communities across the United States and its territories. By creating a new, sustainable model for journalism, Report for America provides people with the information they need to improve their communities, hold powerful institutions accountable, and restore trust in the media. Report for America launched in 2017 as an initiative of the GroundTruth Project, an award-winning nonprofit journalism organization dedicated to rebuilding journalism from the ground up.

“It’s a good day for journalism as we welcome 107 next-generation journalists into a compelling phase of their careers at a time when their energy, integrity, and skill are urgently needed,” said Kim Kleman, executive director at Report for America. “Our model of corps member recruitment and newsroom partnerships is a proven solution to today’s crisis in local news, bringing voice and coverage to undercovered communities and building back trust in media as a central pillar of our democracy.” 

Corps members will report on a range of communities and community-informed issues that, in many cases, have never received dedicated coverage. Beats range from faith and culture in Alabama, to missing and murdered Indigenous people in the Northern Plains, to Black Wall Street and economic mobility in Tulsa. In addition, through its evolving partnership with CatchLight, whose mission is to strengthen local news by reinvesting in visual journalism, Report for America is tripling its photography corps members — placing photographers where they are most needed and equipping newsrooms with the tools and support to produce impactful, community-centered storytelling. 

Across all 2025-26 corps members, more than one-third will focus on communities of color and/or immigrant communities, and close to a quarter will be covering rural communities. 

“We are pleased to partner with our host newsrooms to shed light on under-covered topics and communities, and the 2025 corps member cohort brings deep talent and diverse experiences to do just that,” said Earl Johnson, vice president of recruitment and alumni engagement at Report for America. “We intentionally invite journalists from diverse backgrounds to consider Report for America not only as their next professional opportunity, but for the chance to make a profound and lasting community impact.” 

With this incoming cohort, Report for America will have matched more than 750 journalists with local newspapers, public radio stations, digital platforms, and television outlets across the country since its launch in 2017.

The incoming journalists bring Report for America’s current, active reporter corps to 187, with 80 continuing their service into their second or third year. “That’s what makes our model unique and effective: We pay a good chunk of a corps member’s salary for up to three years, while our local news sustainability team works with newsrooms to raise matching and ongoing funding,” said Jason Blakeney, director of corps and newsroom excellence at Report for America. “Newsroom support combined with industry-leading corps member training and mentorship contributes to the fact that 82% of Report for America corps members stay in journalism, where their expertise and commitment are so urgently needed, after they graduate from the program.” 

The Local has begun securing contributions to support environmental reporting through this new position with a goal of raising $100,000 over the next three years to supplement the funds made available by Report for America.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Lyons said with a smile. “Our hope is that engaged community members will see the urgent need for environmental reporting and make a tax-deductible contribution so that we can strengthen our community and make a meaningful impact. I would encourage anyone interested in donating — no matter the amount — to reach out to me directly and, once Abby starts, to reach out to us with story tips and leads. As a community-centered paper, we can not do our work without an engaged and invested readership, and I trust that our work will get even better with the addition of Abby.”

To learn more about Report for America and its efforts to strengthen communities and democracy through public service journalism, visit www.reportforamerica.org.

To make a donation to support environmental journalism at the Chestnut Hill Local, contact Daralyse Lyons at daralyse@chestnuthilllocal.com.