Hi Reader,

You read ProPublica because you’re looking for stories that haven’t been told — investigations that go deeper than headlines and soundbites. We know it’s not always fun or easy to read our stories. They are often about injustice, wrongdoing, or even ineptitude by those in power. Our stories are also sometimes a good bit longer than the usual news article. But as a regular reader of ProPublica, you know that our only mission is ideally to spur change and to right the wrongs we uncover during our investigations.

A recent example is “The Lost Year: What the Pandemic Cost Teenagers.” In this eye-opening long-read, we learn about the heartbreaking, and at times tragic toll the pandemic has taken on teenagers. The failure to lead our country in a unified manner as we fought the pandemic last year resulted in fragmented responses by local health departments. In particular, reporter Alec MacGillis tells the stories of young people in a small town in New Mexico, where restrictions on schooling and sports were far stricter than that of neighboring Texas..

For teens like the ones we interviewed in New Mexico, the consequences of such unalleviated restrictions are becoming more visible as the pandemic stretches on: There is fall-off in student academic performance at schools that have shifted to virtual learning, which, evidence now shows, is exacerbating racial and class divides in achievement. That’s not all. Even before the pandemic there was growing concern over the mental health of our country’s teenagers. But now, the CDC reports emergency room visits from teens due to mental-health-related causes, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts were all up in 2020 from the same period in 2019. This sad story shines a necessary light on how our country’s piecemeal approach has made teens’ lives even harder in this year of so much struggle. We hope it also fosters change.

Investigations like this are time-consuming and expensive. We’re able to produce this kind of journalism because of readers like you. As a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on donations from individuals for the majority of our funding. Today, I’m asking you to join us for the first time as a new member with a donation in any amount.

We’re halfway through our spring member drive, and we’ve heard from hundreds of members so far. We still need to hear from you. Our members’ financial support gives us a dependable source of funding, and that matters for an organization like ours — sometimes our investigations can take months, or even years to fully report. We need folks like you to stand with us.

Join us today and stand up for powerful journalism that shines a light on stories that matter so much to us all.

Thanks so much,
Jill Shepherd
Proud ProPublican