Students help Post analyze decline of black wealth

By: Lynne Perri

Posted: Jan. 26, 2015 | Tags: journalism

Thanks to Workshop grad researchers Danielle DeCourcey, Pietro Lombardi, Mariam Baksh, Mel Jones; to AU grad students Miranda Strong and Moriah Balingit; and to Northwestern student and Workshop intern Cathaleen Chen. All contributed their time and talent to research and analyze the ongoing housing crisis in Prince George's County, Md. Their story is featured in today's Washington Post and co-published by the Investigative Reporting Workshop.

The three-part series focuses on the nation's highest-income majority black county, and the unequal recovery its thousands of residents have experienced since the housing crisis of 2008.

For the past year, these students have played a key role in the gathering and analysis of property and court records for the "Dashed Dreams" series running this week.

Students worked closely with Senior Editor John Sullivan and Post reporter Kimbriell Kelly, both of whom wrote and reported Part 2 of the series, "Broken by the Bubble." The students were instrumental in helping to create a complete analysis of the loans borrowers received in the Fairwood neighborhood in Prince George's County.