A focus on public-interest journalism

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Trip Jennings, left, and Heath Haussamen

Trip Jennings, left, and Heath Haussamen

The W. K. Kellogg Foundation has awarded $525,000 to New Mexico In Depth, a new organization whose goal is to foster, promote and publish journalism in the public interest.

Two veteran journalists – Trip Jennings and Heath Haussamen – will lead New Mexico In Depth as it produces its own investigative reports and forges partnerships with existing media outlets around New Mexico in a bid to nurture a culture of ambitious journalism that tackles big questions and complex issues. Our focuses will include education, poverty, health and politics.

Jennings will serve as executive director and Haussamen will serve as deputy director. The two-year funding commitment from the Kellogg Foundation means New Mexico In Depth will begin publishing later this year. New Mexico In Depth is also funded in part by the McCune Charitable Foundation.

Jennings is an award-winning veteran journalist who has worked at newspapers across the nation, including in California, Connecticut and Georgia. Besides working at the Albuquerque Journal and Santa Fe New Mexican, Jennings was part of a team that started the New Mexico Independent, an influential online newspaper.

Haussamen, a former award-winning newspaper reporter who worked with Jennings at the Independent, has been the editor and publisher of the political news website NMPolitics.net since 2006.

“We are inspired by Kellogg’s belief in the importance of probative journalism that ventures beyond the daily events to seek to explain what it all means to New Mexicans,” Jennings said.

“We’re excited by the potential New Mexico In Depth has to foster a stronger journalistic culture in our state,” Haussamen said. “We’re thrilled to be able to devote time and resources to building partnerships that make that a reality.”

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About the W.K. Kellogg Foundation: The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal pioneer Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life.

The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Mich., and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special emphasis is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, they are in Mexico and Haiti. For more information, visit wkkf.org.

About the McCune Charitable Foundation: The Marshall L. and Perrine D. McCune Charitable Foundation is dedicated to enriching the health, education, environment and cultural and spiritual life of New Mexicans. The foundation memorializes its benefactors through proactive grantmaking that seeks to foster positive social change. For more information, visit nmmccune.org.

For more information, contact:
Trip Jennings
(203) 577-9399; [email protected]
Heath Haussamen
(575) 644-5129; [email protected]
On Twitter @NMInDepth

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