M.L. Schultze, WKSU News Director

WKSU-FM, Kent State University’s award-winning NPR station, 90.3 WCPN ideastream® and WOSU Public Media are collaborating with NPR to pilot StateImpact, an ambitious local-national journalism initiative to report on government actions and their impact on citizens and communities. Eight state-based projects were selected to pilot with NPR on the StateImpact launch and will participate in a two-year pilot phase.

“This is a great opportunity for 89.7 WKSU to contribute to the conversation surrounding the future of education – regionally, statewide and nationally,” says WKSU-FM Executive Director Al Bartholet.

StateImpact Ohio: Eye on Education, is managed by the three partner stations, with WKSU-FM, WOSU and lead station 90.3 WCPN sharing editorial management, resources and fundraising responsibilities. Two journalists have been hired for the project: Ida Lieszkovszky will concentrate on creating reports for broadcast on radio, while Molly Bloom will serve as the Ohio project’s web journalist, creating original reports, curating content and building a place for conversation. The website, http://stateimpact.npr.org/ohio, also links to a central hub at stateimpact.npr.org. The first radio news report for StateImpact Ohio aired on July 6, and the Ohio website is in a “soft-launch” stage, with additional content being added daily.

Reporting produced by StateImpact Ohio will appear on every available media platform to reach the widest audience – including other public radio stations throughout Ohio, station websites, blogs and mobile services and occasionally NPR and its website. Listeners can become more involved by following @StateImpactOH on Twitter and signing up for email updates.

The StateImpact network builds upon the best of local and state reporting at NPR member stations across the nation by focusing on how governmental decisions affect citizens in such areas as education, healthcare and business, the environment, energy and jobs.

In addition to Ohio, other pilots are occurring in Florida, Idaho, Indiana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Texas. NPR will invite applications from additional stations and states to join the project this fall. The goal is to provide editorial resources and reporters in all 50 states, adding more than 100 journalists to serve public radio’s growing audience of 34 million listeners, and tens of millions more online and on mobile.