Climate Ready Newsrooms Fellowship for Local Journalism

Ethan Brown (Training Program Coordinator) and Fara Warner (Executive Director) during a Climate Ready Newsrooms visit to Vermont Community Newspaper Group. (Photo by Gordon Miller).

Now accepting applications from local newsrooms in New England (deadline: July 31, 2026). Learn more about eligibility and how to apply here.

“Usually when I interview a scientist, it’s on deadline, and I don’t get to take the time to think deeply about their side of the encounter. Taking part in the Metcalf Newsroom Fellowship allowed me the time, space, and platform to talk to scientists about what they need from journalists, so they can be better prepared for our conversations, which ultimately results in a stronger story and happier scientific sources.”

Olivia Ebertz, Reporter at The Public’s Radio

Climate science is already part of nearly every local beat. Breaking news, housing, health, energy, food, sports, culture, and public policy stories increasingly intersect with today’s climate and environmental challenges. Yet many local newsrooms are being asked to cover these complex issues with smaller staffs, fewer resources, and little or no dedicated climate expertise.

Metcalf’s Climate Ready Newsrooms fellowship is designed to bolster newsrooms working under those constraints.

Your newsroom does not need an environment beat or a climate reporter to apply. Some past participants entered the fellowship with extensive experience. Others had rarely covered climate or environmental issues intentionally. Metcalf Institute partners with each newsroom to identify and support a realistic goal that builds capacity, confidence, or expertise on climate and environmental science within the organization.

Rather than training one journalist and expecting that person to transform the newsroom alone or be the only reporter covering these issues, Climate Ready Newsrooms brings editors, managers, and reporters together to build shared scientific knowledge, editorial priorities, source networks, and newsroom practices that support accurate, accountable, and consistent climate coverage over the long term.

Across two cohorts from 2025 to 2026, Metcalf Institute trained and coached 17 newsrooms across all six New England states. Participating newsrooms came from print, digital, radio, and television, and ranged from very small or volunteer-driven organizations to larger regional outlets.