Louisville Public Media’s nonprofit newsroom is expanding its coverage areas, with help from the national reporting initiative Report For America.

LPM announced Monday that both 89.3 WFPL News and the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting have been selected to host an RFA corps member beginning in June. The two reporters will cover critical subjects and areas: social services and southern Indiana communities.

Report for America is a highly competitive national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities. RFA will place 250 reporters in newsrooms across the country in 2020. The organization provides half the cost of a reporter’s annual salary; the other half comes from a local news organization and local donors.

The WFPL reporter will bring our audiences more and deeper reporting about southern Indiana. They’ll connect the dots between counties, localize state and regional politics, and identify trends. And they’ll bring critical news about the environment, health, development and government from these communities to Louisville and Kentucky listeners.

“Our audience in southern Indiana deserves more news about their communities — and our Louisville audience deserves more coverage of what’s going on across the river, too,” said WFPL Director of News and Programming Erica Peterson. “This RFA corps member will help us fill those gaps and strengthen the connections among everyone in our region.”

The KyCIR reporter will focus on social services and youth issues statewide, as well as hold the legislature accountable for its actions and proposals. With the addition of this RFA reporter, the KyCIR team will grow to five full-time investigative reporters and an editor.

“KyCIR is thrilled to become part of the Report for America program, and the new staffer will help us improve the frequency and scope of our coverage of critical issues facing Kentuckians,” said KyCIR managing editor Kate Howard.

The additional reporting positions are part of Louisville Public Media’s strategy to grow its civic news services.

“Civic news organizations should seek to illuminate the complex issues, hold power to account, protect the vulnerable and strive for justice in and for the communities we serve,” said LPM President Stephen George. “We’re grateful for the opportunity to work with Report for America to fill gaps in local reporting here in our community and grow our service in key coverage areas in our state.”

For more information about how to apply to be an RFA corps member, click here.