KALAMAZOO — A powerful series of articles on gun violence has raised community awareness, prompted collaboration and earned a reporter a prestigious journalism award nomination.
UWSCMI is one of six community organizations that nominated journalist Kristie May of NowKalamazoo for the Hillman Prize for Journalism. May’s year-long series, “Beyond Bullets,” explored the root causes, consequences and solutions to gun violence in Kalamazoo from the perspective of the people and neighborhoods most affected.
You can read the series here.
“We took a journalistic approach to understanding the root causes of gun violence, the solutions to ending it, and the impact on survivors,” said May.
“Traditional coverage of gun violence in our community has focused on the incident itself as the issue. We see an act of gun violence as the consequence of unaddressed issues. And we see the moment of gun violence as the incident that changes a family’s and community’s life forever,” she added.
Andrea Meinema-Macklin, UWSCMI Director of Community Impact—Investments and Community Partnerships, led the effort to nominate May on behalf of the Coordinating Council for the Kalamazoo Blueprint for Peace.
“We believe that the work of the ‘Beyond Bullets’ series has gone beyond the role of informative journalism to create concrete impact in Kalamazoo as it galvanizes collaboration, encourages public investment, and highlights the continued need for action,” Meinema-Macklin said in the nomination letter.
Adding enthusiastic letters of support were the City of Kalamazoo, Bent Not Broken, Gryphon Place, Kalamazoo Moms Demand Action, and the Michigan Transformation Collective.
“In a world where our media seems plagued with click-bait and fear mongering, ‘Beyond Bullets’ demonstrates the power of storytelling that can ignite a movement and provide us with new perspectives,” wrote Laura Lam, Chief Operating Officer for the City of Kalamazoo. “Ms. May’s work has helped shine a light on the crisis we face, but more importantly, it provides us with hope that change is possible and inspires people to act.”
Presented by the Sidney Hillman Foundation, the Hillman Prize for Journalism honors journalists who pursue investigative reporting and deep storytelling in service of the common good. Winners will be announced later this spring.
