Articles by Tiyen Simmons

February 25, 2022 | Chicago is experiencing an affordable housing crisis, exacerbated by the pandemic and rising rent prices. We’ll explain the history of Chicago’s housing segregation, the displacement of people of color from gentrifying communities and legal ways in which Black Chicagoans have been kept from neighborhoods. Panelists: Ben […]

February 25, 2022 | Turning document-heavy stories into compelling narratives for the ear is tough. It involves lots of planning (storyboarding!), and thinking creatively. The team behind the Somebody podcast breaks down how they turned 80+ FOIAs into a riveting award-winning podcast. Panelists: Alison Flowers, Sam Stecklow, Bill Healy, Shapearl […]

February 25, 2022 | Resources and leads for investigating algorithms in society. Panelists: Grace Lee, Daniel Trelli, Nick Diakopoulos, Amanda Vinicky (moderator)

February 25, 2022 | Sure, there’s a lot of public information about health care. Hospital rankings. Community vaccination rates. Patient demographics. But during the pandemic, some of the best kind of data and public records that would give the public a deeper look into what’s happening has been out of […]

February 25, 2022 | All aspects of the education systems across the country have been hard-hit by the pandemic. COVID exacerbated new and existing issues, unions and school board tensions have been at an all-time high, educators uncertain of their career plans and parents and students have been left to […]

February 25, 2022 | How to use FOIA to uncover environmental injustice. Panelists: Taylor Moore (moderator), Naveena Sadasivam, Monica Eng, Adam

February 25, 2022 | It’s FOIA 101! Whether you’re getting started or looking for a refresher, this session can equip you for your next Freedom of Information Act request. Join Better Government Association’s Olivia Obineme and learn along from a panel of experts who will touch on all the things: […]

February 25, 2022 | You got your FOIA back. Now what? Learn the basics of data analysis using the multi-tool of data journalism: spreadsheets. Data demos walk you through the technical steps of working with data. We’ll use browser-based tools and provide sample data so you can follow along at […]

February 24, 2022 | Marina Walker Guevara highlights trends of innovation and collaboration throughout Chicago and the broader journalism industry. Guevara managed two of the largest reporting collaborations in journalism history: The Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers. Her work has been recognized by more than four dozen international and […]

February 25, 2022 | From police to prosecutors, courts to prisons, the criminal legal system is a complex web of different agencies. Each stage of a criminal case creates records, but they’re all held by different public bodies. Reporters in this panel will discuss how they’ve used FOIA to understand […]