The Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Center for Business Journalism provides experienced journalists with grants up to $15,000 and the editorial support needed to produce deeply reported enterprise and investigative stories that delve into critical economic, financial or business issues across a wide array of subjects. You don’t need to be a business reporter to apply; many of our previous Fellows have been generalists, or cover beats such as health care, education or the environment. Others have focused on issues such as economic inequality or corporate accountability.
We consider proposals from both freelance and staff journalists in all forms of media — text, audio, photo, and short-form video — and encourage those that combine formats to create a multimedia package. We look for projects that focus on important local or regional topics, as well as those that tackle compelling national or international stories or report on under-covered communities or issues. Journalists of color and those from diverse backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply.
We accept applications twice a year. The deadline to apply for Fall 2024 Fellowships is October 6, 2024. Applications for the Spring 2025 Fellowships will be due March 31, 2025. We will also consider time-sensitive projects on a case-by-case basis outside of the deadline periods. If you have a project that might qualify, please contact us at mcgrawcenter@journalism.cuny.edu.
What kind of stories do we support? Here are some examples of our previous Fellows’ work:
- Hazard NYC: Toxic Superfund Sites in the Age of Climate Change The CITY
- The Revolution That Died on Its Way to Dinner New York Times
- Across America, clean energy plants are banned faster than they’re being built USA Today
- Black Farmers and Ranchers. It’s a Dying Deal Center for Public Integrity
- ‘They Were Traumatized’: How a Private Equity-Associated Lender Helped Precipitate a Nursing-Home Implosion Politico
- The EminiFX trap: Inside the cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme that targeted the Haitian community The Haitian Times
- Private equity sold them a dream of home ownership. They got evicted instead. Insider.com
- Should hotels be held liable for human trafficking? NewYorker.com
- Who Killed Overtime Pay? Capital & Main
- The promise and perils of the new fertility entrepreneurs NewYorker.com
- Hurricane fallout creates financial ruin for Puerto Rico’s seniors with reverse mortgages USA Today and the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo
- Two Nations, One Aquifer: A series about water at the border Albuquerque Journal
You’ll find answers to many questions in our Frequently Asked Questions, as well as more information on our current Fellows and their projects here. The Fellowship Stories page contains links to all of the stories they have published. All our past Fellows can be found on the following pages: 2023 Fellows; 2022 Fellows; 2021 Fellows; 2020 Fellows; 2019 Fellows; 2018 Fellows; 2017 Fellows; 2016 Fellows; 2015 Fellows; 2014 Fellows.
If you have further questions, please contact us at mcgrawcenter@journalism.cuny.edu.
