Marlon Chamberlain, Ending Permanent Punishment"I ended up serving 11 and half years, but what that did for me is, it taught me the importance of policy, and then it also taught me the importance of people like myself being in the room as policy is being created."
Our Stories
Season 4
Removing Barriers to Equity.
Identifying the barriers that prevent full citizenship and access to opportunities is the first step. Taking action to remove those barriers is the crucial second step. In season 4 of Change Agents, we focus on trailblazers opening roads and doors to Black and Brown families seeking homeownership and wealth building, and the formerly incarcerated - who've paid their debt to society, but still face permanent punishments.
Identifying the barriers that prevent full citizenship and access to opportunities is the first step. Taking action to remove those barriers is the crucial second step. In season 4 of Change Agents, we focus on trailblazers opening roads and doors to Black and Brown families seeking homeownership and wealth building, and the formerly incarcerated - who've paid their debt to society, but still face permanent punishments.
Our Voices
Justin Agrelo (he/him)
Justin Agrelo (he/him)
Chicago Community Engagement Reporter at The Trace
Justin Agrelo is a reporter from the Northwest Side of Chicago. He works as the Chicago community engagement reporter at The Trace, where he covers community-led responses to gun violence. In 2019, he earned his master’s from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. He’s also worked as an editorial fellow at Mother Jones magazine and a reporting resident at City Bureau. Jennifer Lopez once stopped her show to give Justin and his friends a hug.
Twitter @jstnagrlo, FB: Justin Agrelo, Insta: MellowAgrelo
Jane Carlson (she/her)
Jane Carlson (she/her)
In between stints in print journalism, Jane Carlson (she/her) has worked in grant writing, scholarly publishing, higher education fundraising, and non-profit management — but she always comes back to reporting. For the last year and a half, she’s been a broadcast journalist for NPR-affiliate Tri States Public Radio, covering the part of Illinois known as Forgottonia. Her work has appeared in print and on-air across the state and has won awards from the Illinois Press Association, Illinois News Broadcasters Association, and the Public Media Journalists Association. She also serves as faculty advisor to the student newspaper at Knox College and once saw President Barack Obama speak in a pumpkin patch.
Corli Jay (she/her)
Corli Jay (she/her)
General Assignment Reporter, Crain’s Chicago Business
Corli Jay is a general assignment reporter at Crain's Chicago Business, she also reports on the media beat. Jay reported for the Hyde Park Herald and as a freelancer covering a range of topics before she joined Crain's last year. She graduated from Chicago State University at the top of her class.
@Corli_jay twitter/IG
Citlali Perez (they/she)
Citlali Perez (they/she)
BA Journalism, DePaul University 2023
Citlali worked on a short documentary for WTTW's Firsthand: Life After Prison initiative titled "Breaking Down Re-Entry Barriers to Higher Education" through a class they took with Judith in the spring.
Twitter @citlaliwrite, Instagram @citlaquiles, Facebook @Citlali Perez Medel
Dilpreet Raju (he/him)
Dilpreet Raju (he/him)
Dilpreet Raju is a freelance journalist passionate about contextualized reporting on underserved communities. He received his master's of science in journalism at Northwestern Medill in June 2023, specializing in health, environmental and science reporting. Before producing more community-facing journalism, he gained interest in journalism through entertainment writing, where he interviewed celebrities like Bill Burr and Bo Burnham. You can follow him on Twitter at @DilpreetRaju or Instagram at @dilpreet.raju.
Daphne Watson (she/her)
Daphne Watson (she/her)
Daphne Watson is a second-year Digital Communication and Media Arts graduate student at DePaul University where she examines BIPOC representation in mass media while refining the skills and talents required to bring media to the masses. Daphne’s media analysis and research has a Black Feminists nexus and a drive toward equity, access, and belonging. As a producer and storyteller, Daphne has developed several narrative and nonfiction projects that center the diversity and fullness of BIPOC lives. Daphne’s desire to understand how the world works and where she fits into it has led her to spend her adult life working at all levels of education and asking questions. Compassion and curiosity are her superpowers.
Daphne loves spreadsheets and research as is known by her friends as “a walking encyclopedia.” She can also read Grade 1 Braille.
IG-@daph_mrsfixit; T/X: @mypassionspen; FB: Daphne.M.Watson
Our Community
The following grassroots organizations serving communities of color across Chicago-land partnered with Change Agents journalists generating authenticity, insight and trusted connections to tell our stories.
Behind the Scenes
Nicole Murayama Nir (she/her) is passionate about collective healing and liberation, permaculture ethics, and healing arts. Nicole is a tarot and psychic reader on the Sanctuary app. She has written about outer space as contested space, space exploration as an opportunity for healing, and ecological justice as social justice, as well as co-curated the Space Ethics Library (https://spaceethicslibrary.wordpress.com/).
Nicole holds a MA in Critical Ethnic Studies from DePaul University and was a Steans Graduate fellow and graduate assistant on a pilot program for Professional Development in Identity, Intersectionality, and Social Justice. She graduated from Loyola University in Chicago with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a focus on Human Services, and minors in Women and Gender Studies and Music.
Mary Hall is an award-winning reporter, producer and editor, with expertise in solutions, data and long-form journalism. She helped form the inaugural solutions journalism team at NewsNation; was previously a producer at WBEZ, an editor and reporter at the Daily Journal; and has collaborated on projects with NPR, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Illinois Answers Project, YES! Magazine and the Solutions Journalism Network. She is also Co-President of the Chicago Headline Club, the local chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Mary was born in St. Louis, grew up in Quito, Ecuador, and now lives in a 100-year-old bungalow on Chicago's Southwest Side. She still has strong opinions about South American food. Follow her @hall_marye.
Erisa Apantaku is a Black/biracial, queer audio producer and educator from the lands of the Three Fires Confederacy of the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi First Nations (Chicagoland). She produces podcasts like the recent You Didn't See Nothin for the Invisible Institute, short audio documentaries for outlets including BBC Radio, and serves as a freelance story editor for projects such as an upcoming untitled podcast on Alaskan settler myths. Her work asks questions about race, sexuality, and gender through a process that seeks to be vulnerable, accountable, and generative for all those involved. Her favorite bubble water is Waterloo Peach.
All platforms: @_erisja
Website: erisaja.com.
Funding provided by the Field Foundation and the Chicago Community Trust. City Bureau is our fiscal sponsor.
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If you have a story idea or know of activists organizations working to bring solutions to the needs of a Chicago-land community of color, please send us a message.
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