We are pleased to begin announcing this year’s grantee partners for our Southern Movement Media Fund!

Since 2020, our fund has resourced and built the capacity of Southern movement journalism projects across the U.S. South. In response to several members of our Movement Journalism Network naming lack of funding as an obstacle to their reporting work, we dedicated our latest round of funding to them. Our new grantee partner, Tonya Abari, will be reporting on how Southern watermelon farmers are confronting climate change. 🍉 Tonya (she/her) is a Nashville-based independent journalist, author, and memory keeper. As seen in Essence, Offrange, Prism, Economic Hardship Reporting Project, The Bump, USA Today, and many more, Abari's work lives at the intersection of care, culture, and community. From Black maternal health to food, environment, and everyday life in the South, Tonya brings a deeply relational approach to journalism—one that centers trust, lived experience, and the voices most impacted. You can find out more by following her on Instagram @iamtabari. [Image description: Headshot photo of a brown-skinned woman with glasses, earrings, two-strand twists, and a purple sweater.]