BridgeDetroit and Detroit Free Press journalist Nushrat Rahman has been chosen for the 2027 Chauncey Bailey Fellowship, a highly regarded investigative reporting program run by Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE). Only three journalists nationwide received the award, underscoring the fellowship’s prestige.
Fellowship focus: Detroit’s rental housing market
The fellowship will support Rahman’s year‑long investigation of conditions in Detroit’s rental housing market. The project targets a pressing concern for residents: the affordability, safety, and stability of rental homes, which directly affect families struggling with poverty and homelessness.
Rahman, a Detroit native, has built a reputation covering economic mobility and the barriers that keep low‑income families from achieving financial stability. Her reporting has highlighted homelessness, evictions, home‑repair challenges, water‑affordability issues, and other matters that shape daily life for Detroiters.
Training and resources
Through the fellowship, Rahman will attend IRE’s Data Journalism Bootcamp, participate in national investigative journalism conferences, and receive mentorship from seasoned investigative reporters. These resources are designed to help her deepen the data‑driven aspects of her housing investigation and bring new insights back to both the Free Press and BridgeDetroit.
“I’m honored to have been selected as one of three 2027 Chauncey Bailey Fellows,” Rahman said. “I look forward to carrying on Bailey’s legacy and delivering investigative work that serves Detroit’s residents.”
Past accolades and experience
Rahman’s career includes a 2024 National Press Foundation Widening the Pipeline fellowship and a data fellowship at the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, where she reported on Michigan’s Rx Kids cash‑assistance program for mothers and infants. She has earned first‑place honors from the Detroit chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists for feature writing, engagement‑driven reporting, and collaborative coverage.
She holds degrees from Wayne State University and Columbia Journalism School and entered the Detroit Free Press via a Report for America fellowship.
Other 2027 fellows
The 2027 class also includes Daisy Zavala Magaña of RANGE Media in Spokane, Washington, who will investigate farm‑worker exposure to toxic pesticides, and Miguel Torres of Caló News in Phoenix, Arizona, who will examine fraudulent immigration‑service providers.
The Chauncey Bailey Fellowship, established in 2019 and renamed in honor of the slain Oakland journalist in 2023, aims to strengthen investigative journalism by supporting journalists of color and expanding diverse perspectives in the field.
Original reporting: BridgeDetroit — read the source article.
