About this reporting project

New Mexico Child Welfare: Late afternoon in the Red Rocks area of Northern New Mexico featuring amazing colors and rock formations
Late afternoon in the Red Rocks area of Northern New Mexico featuring amazing colors and rock formations that over 1,000 feet into the desert sky. (Dean Fikar/Shutterstock)

The Center for Sustainable Journalism pursues investigative and solutions-oriented reporting on child welfare in New Mexico to inform the public and policymakers about issues impacting young people in the state. Through this work, we aim to shine a light on gaps in care and highlight the efforts of those on the ground who are making a positive difference in the lives of New Mexico’s most vulnerable youth.

Project reporters, photographers and videographers

Brian Rinker

Rinker is a San Francisco-based freelance writer and journalist. He covers public health, child welfare, digital health, startups and venture capital. His work has been published by Kaiser Health News, Health Affairs, The Atlantic, Men’s Health, and San Francisco Business Times. Brian received master’s degrees in journalism and public health from the University of California, Berkeley.
@BizRinker — LinkedIn — Muck Rack — Website: Brian Rinker Reporting

Reporter headshot: Cedar Attanasio black & white photo of man with dark, wavy hair wearing dark shirt

Cedar Attanasio

Attanasio is a freelance journalist and photographer based in New York City. His work as a reporter for the Associated Press/Report for America corps included immigration breaking news in El Paso, Texas, with multimedia coverage of refugees, economic migrants, Border Patrol agents, and the communities of West Texas, Southern New Mexico, and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. Attanasio is fluent in English, Portuguese and Spanish. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and geography from Middlebury College, Vermont.
@viaCedar — LinkedIn — Muck Rack

Gabriela Campos

Campos is a staff photojournalist for the Santa Fe New Mexican. Her work has also been featured in The Guardian, High Country News, Al Jazeera, VICE, The Daily Beast and numerous local publications.
@gabriela.e.campos — Website: Gabriela Campos Photography

New Mexico child welfare: Reporter Hannah Hunter headshot young woman with long dark hair wearing a white shirt smiles looking into camera

Hannah Hunter

Hunter is a print and broadcast journalist based in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Currently she is a reporter for Kokopelli News and a news anchor/sportscaster with KRWG News 22. Hunter is a senior at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, studying for a bachelor’s degree in communication and journalism.
LinkedIn

New Mexico child welfare: Reporter Javier Gallegos headshot man with dark hair pulled back and mustache looks intently intently into camera with river and trees in the background

Javier Gallegos

Gallegos is a journalist and photographer based in New Mexico. He is currently a fellow with the New Mexico Local News Fellowship Program, working at the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper. Gallegos holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from New Mexico State University.
Photography portfolio 

New Mexico child welfare: Reporter Jo Lutz headshot young woman with long curly dark hair wearing wire-rim glasses smiles looking into camera

Jo Lutz

Lutz is a freelance journalist based in Silver City, New Mexico. She covers immigration and regional history for publications including Youth Today. Her work has also appeared in The Silver City Daily Press, The Silver City Independent, The Middletown Press and the Old Saybrook Gazette. Lutz is a graduate of Oberlin College, Ohio, with a major in English and a minor in politics. 

New Mexico child welfare: Reporter Julia Sclafani headshot young woman wit long, curly. dark brown hair wearing white and black print blouse smiles into camera.

Julia Sclafani

Sclafani is a reporter and editor based in New Mexico. Her reporting focuses on health disparities facing communities across the Southwest. 
@julia_sclafani — LinkedIn — Muck Rack

New Mexico child welfare: Reporter Kaelyn Lynch headshot young woman with long blonde hair smiles looking into camera

Kaelyn Lynch

Kaelyn Lynch is a multimedia journalist and filmmaker. After graduating from the University of Miami, she spent four years living and working in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, beginning her journalism career reporting on the Burmese refugee crisis on the Thai-Myanmar border. She is a former editor at Outside and 5280 magazines.
@kaelyn_lynch — LinkedIn — Muck Rack

New Mexico child welfare: Reporter Karen Coates headshot of woman with long light brown hair wearing a white top smiling broadly into the camera

Karen Coates

Coates is a freelance investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker based in New Mexico. She was a finalist for a 2020 James Beard Foundation award in investigative reporting, and a Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism, Senior Fellow, 2011-2018. She is the author of four books, a contributing editor for Archaeology Magazine and a fellow at the International Women’s Media Foundation. Coates holds a master’s degree from the University of Oregon and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Montana, with majors in journalism and anthropology.
@RamblingSpoon — LinkedIn — Instagram — Website: Karen Coates

New Mexico child welfare: Reporter Kristi Eaton headshot young woman with long hair wearing a dark top smiles looking into camera with water and low hills in the background..

Kristi Eaton

Eaton is a freelance journalist whose work has been published by the Associated Press, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Los Angeles Times, the Miami Herald, BuzzFeed, Conde Nast Traveler, Marie Claire, Ms. Magazine, NBC News, Next City, Poynter, Travel Weekly, and other publications. Eaton holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Arizona State University.
@KristiEaton — LinkedIn — Website: Kristi Eaton

New Mexico child welfare: Maura Fox headshot young woman with bangs and shoulder-length hair wearing a striped blouse smiles looking into camera.

Maura Fox

Fox is a freelance journalist based in San Diego, California. She has written for outlets across Southern California reporting on local breaking news and U.S.-Mexico border issues. Most recently she was an editor at Outside Magazine in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Fox holds a dual bachelor’s degree in English and in global studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
@Maura__Fox — LinkedIn — Muck Rack

New Mexico child welfare: Menachem Weckler headshot man with short dark hair wearing a dark outdoor coat with hood thrown back and black-framed glasses looking straight into camera

Menachem Wecker

Wecker is a freelance journalist based in the Washington, D.C. area. A former education reporter at U.S. News & World Report, he covers arts and culture, religion, politics, chess and other subjects for Washington Post Magazine and a variety of other print and online magazines and newspapers.
@mwecker — LinkedIn — Website: Menachem Wecker

Michael Gerstein

Gerstein is an award-winning freelance journalist based in Chicago. He’s written for the Associated Press, WBEZ (Chicago’s NPR station), The Detroit News, the Santa Fe New Mexican and other news outlets. Gerstein holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Michigan State University.
@MikeGerstein — LinkedIn — MuckRack — Website: Michael Gerstein Pressfolio

New Mexico child welfare: Murat Oztaskin headshot man with shory dark hair wearing a white t-shirt with velour-collared outdoor coat against a cloudy lakeside sky looks straight into camera

Murat Oztaskin

Oztaskin is a writer based in Santa Fe and a member of The New Yorker’s editorial staff. His work has also appeared in Outside, PBS Frontline and other outlets.
@Murat Oztaskin — Muck Rack

New Mexico child welfare: Reporter Paul Ratji headshot man with short beard wearing baseball cap and winter coat looks into camera

Paul Ratje

Ratje is a freelance photojournalist and videographer based on the U.S.-Mexico border around El Paso, Texas, and southern New Mexico. Ratje’s work has appeared in Agence France-Presse, Reuters, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and other publications.
@paulratje — LinkedIn — Instagram — Website: Paul Ratje

New Mexico child welfare: Reporter Ramsay de Give headshot man with curly, windblown, light brown hair looks intently intently into camera with trees in the background

Ramsay de Give

De Give is a freelance photographer and videographer based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He began his career as a photojournalist at the Santa Fe New Mexican before moving to Baltimore and later New York City, where he worked for the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. He returned to Santa Fe to pursue projects in his home state. De Give studied photojournalism at the Brooks Institute in California.
@rdegive — Instagram — Website: Ramsay de Give

New Mexico child welfare: Reporter Samuel Gilbert headshot of man with short, curly, light brown hair wearing a dark jacket smiling broadly and looking into the camera

Samuel Gilbert

Born and raised in New Mexico, Gilbert graduated from the University of New Mexico with degrees in anthropology and American studies before starting his journalism career at a small newspaper in Ramallah, Palestine. Since returning to the United States in 2015, his work has been published by The Daily Beast, Al Jazeera, Vice, The Guardian The Washington Post, The Santa Fe New Mexican and other publications.
@samuelgilbert1 — MuckRack — Website: Samuel Gilbert

New Mexico child welfare: Steve Jansen headshot brown-haired man wearing knit hat and sweater stares into camera.

Steve Jansen

Jansen is an award-winning freelance investigative reporter based in New Mexico. In 2013, his investigation into two crumbling dams in Houston was awarded first place for Best Print News/Feature Story in the Texas statewide Lone Star Awards competition. Jansen is a former staff writer for the Phoenix New Times and Houston Press, and currently reports on child welfare in New Mexico for the Center for Sustainable Journalism. Jansen holds a bachelor’s degree in business finance and marketing from the University of Arizona, and is pursuing a dual bachelor’s degree in Native American studies and American studies from the University of New Mexico.
@stevegjansen — LinkedIn

New Mexico child welfare: Reporter Tamara Rosenberg headshot of woman with long blonde hair wearing a dark top smiling broadly into the camera

Tamara Rosenberg

Rosenberg is the founder of Columbus New Mexico News covering Luna County, New Mexico. She collaborates with national publications to highlight issues within underserved communities.
LinkedIn — Website: CNM News

Project team

Learn more about the project team and Youth Today. Contact the project team and our executive director, Gary Green.

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