ST. LOUIS, MO & NEW YORK, NY — Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) and The Marshall Project are collaborating to establish The Marshall Project - St. Louis, a new nonprofit newsroom dedicated to providing in-depth reporting on Missouri’s legal system. In addressing various social determinants of health and the significant impact the justice system has on health outcomes for marginalized communities — including worsening disparities — the Foundation recognizes the value in such a partnership as it continues to advance health equity.
With the decline of local news nationwide, many communities lack thriving newsrooms focused on critical issues impacting the health and well-being of people and communities. This void in reliable, contextual reporting leaves communities ripe for misinformation and leaves residents without trusted, factual knowledge needed to improve their environments.
“Journalism has the unique ability to connect the dots between policies, systems, laws, and their relation to the social conditions impacting health, such as employment, income, education, and housing, to name a few,” said Dr. Dwayne Proctor, MFH President and CEO. “It’s a powerful tool that can drive change. The Marshall Project has a reputation of amplifying the stories that unravel the complexities of the health and justice systems, something we believe will help us achieve health equity in Missouri.”
The newsroom, based in St. Louis, includes three reporters and a partnership manager dedicated to co-publication arrangements with media across Missouri. Read more about the team here. The Marshall Project - St. Louis will partner with a full range of Missouri media, sharing expertise and resources to assist other newsrooms with coverage. The Marshall Project co-publishes its journalism, making it available to several different media outlets at the same time. All journalism produced by The Marshall Project - St. Louis will be made available for publication to media outlets throughout the region, published on themarshallproject.org, and distributed through its social media platforms.
“The future of our industry is collaboration,” said Carroll Bogert, President of The Marshall Project. “We look forward to collaborating with media outlets in Missouri to bring better accountability to the legal justice system in the state.”
The Marshall Project does not publish daily news, but focuses on data-driven and investigative journalism, as well as explanatory stories that help citizens understand how the criminal justice system works. The Marshall Project has a deep commitment to reaching audiences who have been personally impacted by the justice system. With support from MFH, The Marshall Project - St. Louis will examine the death penalty, juvenile justice, health issues, re-entry to society from prison and conditions in prisons and jails. The Marshall Project’s local newsroom will also focus on community engagement reporting, reaching out to see what ordinary citizens need to know about the criminal justice system. St. Louis will be The Marshall Project’s third local newsroom, after Cleveland, Ohio, and Jackson, Mississippi.
The Marshall Project’s local news teams have had success in holding institutions accountable and influencing change. On Dec. 18, 2024, the Ohio state legislature passed legislation making it much easier for people to get their driver's licenses back after they've been suspended for failing to pay astronomical court fines and fees. The Marshall Project - Cleveland first wrote about this in 2023. That story prompted this change.
The Marshall Project’s national newsroom has frequently written about the criminal justice system in Missouri, including:
- This five-part series on how St. Louis police failed to solve over a thousand murders in the past decade. The investigation was recently honored with an EPPY award, celebrating excellence in digital journalism.
- This story about a death penalty case in Missouri, highlighting the harm caused by paying death penalty lawyers a flat rate no matter how long they work on a case.
- This story focuses on how the St. Francois County Jail, similar to the other 3,000 county jails in America usually run by elected sheriffs, faces far less scrutiny than state and federal prisons.
- This reporting focuses on how Independence, a city outside Kansas City, spent Covid relief money from the American Rescue Plan Act on rifles, helmets and police bonuses. The federal government provided little guidance or rules on how the money should have been spent.
The Marshall Project’s national newsroom won the Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in journalism in 2022, as well as two Pulitzer prizes over its 10-year history, and a host of other top journalism awards. Media organizations interested in working with The Marshall Project should contact Editorial Director Ruth Baldwin at rbaldwin@themarshallproject.org. Those interested in joining efforts and amplifying Missouri Foundation of Health's support of The Marshall Project can contact Chief Development Officer Chavon Carroll at ccarroll@themarshallproject.org. For more on the Foundation, visit mffh.org or on The Marshall Project at https://www.themarshallproject.org
Contacts
Missouri Foundation for Health
Courtney Z. McCall
(314) 345-5505
cmccall@mffh.org
The Marshall Project
Ebony Reed
(816) 643-3323
ereed@themarshallproject.org
About Missouri Foundation for Health
Missouri Foundation for Health is building a more equitable future through collaboration, convening, knowledge sharing, and strategic investment. Working in partnership with communities and nonprofits, MFH is transforming systems to eliminate inequities within all aspects of health and addressing the social and economic factors that shape health outcomes. To learn more please visit mffh.org.
About The Marshall Project
The Marshall Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system. We have an impact on the system through journalism, rendering it more fair, effective, transparent and humane. To learn more please visit www.themarshallproject.org
