In spring 2024, Grist hosted its first Community Reporting Fellowship as part of our project with WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, or PSC, the small but powerful elected board that makes critical decisions about energy and electricity and has been mired in a lawsuit over voting rights.
Four Georgia residents spent six weeks learning journalism skills. Grist reporters, editors, and other staff led workshops on journalism ethics, writing, multimedia, fact-checking, and more. Fellows then created projects that inform their communities about energy and electricity issues and the PSC.
The fellows and projects
Tia Lockhart lives in Macon, Georgia, and has a passion for creating inclusive spaces where Black voices are heard, valued, and celebrated. She is a marketing specialist and is currently involved in several community projects, including co-creating a justice-based community development initiative targeted redlining and disinvestment in Macon, as well as creating curricula for a youth mentoring program.
Lockhart created a newsletter series with the Macon-Middle Georgia Black Pages on the PSC and energy issues to inform the Black community in Macon. (We’ll update with links here as they publish.)
Cassandra Loftlin lives in Augusta and is a lifelong Georgian. Formerly a chef and food writer, she has most recently been a fellow for Vital Village Network and Black Culinary Alliance Global, where she developed programs to address food insecurity and empower BIack and Indigenous people, and other people of color within the food system. She is also an advocate of environmental stewardship through work with organizations including Savannah Riverkeeper, Growing Augusta, Sustainable CSRA, and Healthy Communities-Augusta.
Loftlin started an oral history project about Plant Vogtle, interviewing former and current workers, an activist, and a politician.
Clarence Thomas is based in Macon. He is a father of three and the recreation center supervisor for Macon-Bibb County Recreation Department. He has worked as a television news videographer and freelance journalist, writing for Georgia Trend Magazine, Macon Magazine, and the Middle Georgia Informer. In addition to his professional expertise, he is a concerned citizen who exercises his interest in improving the community through outreach organizations focused on educational, cultural, and civic empowerment.
In fall 2024, Thomas is appearing on Middle Georgia Spotlight, a YouTube show hosted by former Macon Mayor C. Jack Ellis, to discuss the PSC and energy justice issues over several episodes. (We’ll post the link when it goes live.)
Courtney Camp is a Georgia native whose work is rooted in research and advocacy at the intersection of environmental and climate justice and Black spatialities and geographies. Previously an ecologist for the Georgia Department of Transportation, she now works as an environmental educator and consultant in her Atlanta community. She runs Spirited Earth, which provides natural resource education and consultations with landowners to learn more about their land, in order to support sustainable and equitable communities.
The fellows also shared a brochure with information about the PSC in their communities. You can download the brochure here:
