Stories from the Ethnic Media Collaborative

Loreen Pryor, Brandon Trowel, Fxxi Irvin and Carlos Simpson Sr. at the Sacramento Observer’s ‘It’s Ok Brotha Black Men’s Mental Health & Resource Fair,' which won first place for Audience/Community Engagement at the California Journalism Awards. (Photo via the Sacramento Observer)

The Ethnic Media Collaborative, an initiative of the USC Center for Health Journalism, celebrated an incredible year of journalism in 2024 with participating reporters, editors and newsrooms winning a raft of recognitions for their groundbreaking stories.

Genoa Barrow from Sacramento Observer received the 2024 Silver Heart award from the Society for Professional Journalists and two California Journalism awards from the California Newspapers Association for “Head Space,” a series of 33 stories she wrote on Black men’s mental health.

The Univision 19 Sacramento reporting duo Andrea Igliozzi and Rashel Cedeno de Abreu, along with news director Vladimir Araya, received a Gracie Award and several Emmy nominations for their work chronicling the hardscrabble lives of farmworkers in Central California.

The full list of award-winning journalism that the Collaborative produced in 2024 reflects the persistence, ambition and collaboration that drove many of these projects.

Over the last few months, the 2025 Ethnic Media Collaborative reporters have continued to work on stories that profile how California’s communities are responding to this moment of immigrant anxiety. You can find all the recent stories here.

Undocumented Chinese Immigrants Driven Further into Invisibility

By Jian Zhou

World Journal

Anxiety spreads across immigrant groups driving some communities into hiding. Fatty Ding Square in Monterey Park has long been a landing spot for migrants from China. These days, the square is much quieter with few people risking coming out in public. Read the full story here.

Beyond Policies: A Closer Look at Undocumented Asian Lives

By Jian Zhou

World Journal

As immigration enforcement tightens under the Trump administration, there are a growing number of undocumented Asian immigrants caught in legal limbo — unable to adjust their legal status, return home, or speak openly about their lives. Read the full story here.

From cold plunges to lotería, immigrant women are redefining mental health in S.F.

By Mariana Duran

El Tecolote

A project that started during the pandemic to provide people with free groceries eventually grew to become Somos Esenciales, a San Francisco Mission District participatory intervention project where community "researchers" are trained to be full-time mental health advocates to promote health equity and lasting change for Native, Latino and Black communities in San Francisco. Read the full story here.

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