One of Tamica Jean-Charles’ final reporting series for Charlottesville Tomorrow has been nominated for the 2024 National Awards for Education Reporting by the Education Writers Association (EWA). Jean-Charles is among 51 finalists honored for outstanding education journalism, selected from a pool of nearly 350 entries.
EWA recognized Jean-Charles for her reporting on the 2024 closure of Head Start and Early Head Start programs in central Virginia. Due to major violations of federal guidelines, the Monticello Area Community Action Agency (MACAA) was forced to close its Head Start and Early Head Start centers. MACAA operated nine Head Start locations across the region that provided free child care and school readiness services to low-income families. The Department of Health and Human Services, the federal entity that funds Head Start, issued two violations for inappropriate discipline methods as well as one for noncompliance with child supervision guidelines. When the Charlottesville area Head Start programs shuttered, 200 local families were suddenly left without child care.
The judges noted both the human storytelling and the extensive investigative work to get information and data. “You can feel how much reporting [went] into these stories,” one judge wrote. “From laying out timelines, to explaining federal and state requirements, violations and funding mechanisms, to contacting former teachers and parents, Tamica meticulously wove together a narrative of poor performance and its impact on children and parents. I think it’s a shining example of the importance of journalism in service of a community.”
“I want to shout out my editors at Charlottesville Tomorrow for being there with me along the way,” Jean-Charles said. “Stories like this remind me why journalism is not only important but impactful.”
These reports, made over four months, were edited by Jessie Higgins with photographs by Kori Price.
The coverage also resonated with our readers. A local social worker wrote in: “Your reporting on this story has given me insight into the situation which I haven’t been able to get anywhere else”. Another reader shared, “The story on the closing Head Start really pulled me in. I can’t imagine the position those families have been placed in with inadequate, unstable and now nonexistent care.”
Previously, the EWA honored Jean-Charles as a 2023 Reporting Fellow to support her work reporting on Charlottesville City Schools. Earlier this month, Jean-Charles departed Charlottesville Tomorrow after four years reporting from our newsroom.
Charlottesville Tomorrow is nominated in the News: Small Newsroom award category. The other finalists are the Oklahoma Voice for its reporting on the rigor of state testing and The Emancipator & Northeastern University Media Innovation Studio for reporting on the impact of the end of affirmative action.Award winners will be announced at the 2025 EWA National Seminar in late May. You can read more about all finalists in this announcement from EWA. Here is more about how you can support Charlottesville Tomorrow’s industry-leading journalism.
