Name: Medill Solutions Journalism Summer Summit
Start: 2026-06-26T11:00:00-05:00
End: 2026-06-26T17:00:00-05:00
Location: 303 E Wacker Dr

Medill Solutions Journalism Summer Summit

Using Data and Framing to Surface Responses to Systemic Harm
About this Event

This one‑day solutions journalism summit brings together researchers and data journalists to help the news media move from merely documenting harm to rigorously covering responses to systemic injustice. Using Dr. Andre M. Perry’s work on valuation, power, and racial cooperation as a foundation, participants will learn how to interpret data, reframe narratives, and confront newsroom resistance to change.

Registration is free but required.

Agenda
Knowing the Price: Covering Power, Not Just Pain
Host: Dr. Andre M. Perry

Info: Through his work exploring structural inequity through books such as "Black Power Scorecard: Measuring the Racial Gap and What We Can Do to Close It" and "Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America's Black Cities," in addition to creating the Black Progress Index, Dr. Andre M. Perry, senior fellow and director of the Center for Community Uplift at the Brookings Institution, will introduce three lenses journalists can apply across beats — valuation, power, and cooperation. Journalists and storytellers will understand how to transform problem‑framed stories into rigorous solutions journalism.

Finding Responses in the Data
Host: Prof. Matt Kiefer

Info: Matt Kiefer, Medill clinical assistant professor and data journalist will lead a hands‑on exploration of datasets to locate both systemic patterns of harm and potential responses that are often hidden in the tables, footnotes and outliers. By the end of this session, participants will be able to: identify variables that reveal structural inequities.
search datasets systematically for evidence of responses (pilot programs, policy changes, local innovations) and distinguish them from anecdotes; and recognize common pitfalls when interpreting data on marginalized communities and adjust reporting accordingly.

Why Are We Like This? A Solutions-Focused Dialogue on Better Framing
Host: Cheryl Dahle

Info: Cheryl Dahle, founder of Flip Labs, will lead candid, workshop‑driven conversation about why media workers struggle to adopt accurate, power‑aware framing in crisis situations, including immigration enforcement and U.S.‑led war. Participants will interrogate professional norms (objectivity, urgency, sourcing routines) that keep newsrooms stuck in deficit and conflict frames.