MEET THE 2026 FOIA FEST BOOT CAMP COHORT
The Chicago Headline Club, the nation’s largest chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Investigative Project on Race and Equity are proud to announce its 2026 FOIA Fest Boot Camp cohort.
The FOIA Fest Boot Camp is a training program for Chicago-based reporters from marginalized communities to help them navigate accountability journalism — from story-idea to publishing.
Meet the cohort
Jose Abonce
Jose Abonce is an independent immigration reporter and investigative journalist. He currently holds an apprenticeship at the Investigative Project on Race and Equity. As a freelance writer, his work regularly appears in South Side Weekly, recently sharing the 2025 Sarah Brown Boyden Award in the Immigration Reporting category. Jose seeks to reveal facts through authentic storytelling that preserves memories and creates emotional engagement without sacrificing the truth.
Sara Cooper
Sara Cooper is an investigative journalist at The Chicago Reporter where her work focuses on social and criminal justice. Her published work includes a short documentary on lead contamination in Chicago, an embedded reporting trip to the Central African Republic with WWF researchers and long-form investigative work into the Illinois Department of Corrections. Her work has appeared in WTTW, Chicago Health Magazine and Caregiving Magazine. She holds a master’s degree from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications.
Doménica Enríquez
Doménica Enríquez is an Ecuadorian journalist who has found her second home in Chicago. She has worked as a newspaper reporter and data journalist for media outlets in Ecuador as well as for the Spanish news agency EFE. Her experience reporting on public issues has strengthened her interest in accountability journalism and stories that help people better understand the systems that shape everyday life. Her work is driven by curiosity, empathy, and a deep commitment to human-centered storytelling.
Taryn Galbreath
Taryn Galbreath is a broadcast journalist and multimedia reporter whose work focuses on accountability. With experience as a news anchor, traffic anchor, and reporter, she is committed to journalism that informs the public, exposes overlooked issues and helps audiences better understand the institutions that shape their lives. Her reporting has been published by USA Today, the Chicago Sun-Times, Military Times, Pioneer Press and won a White House Correspondents’ Association Award. She holds a master’s degree from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications.
Leona Towner
Leona Towner is an award-winning multimedia freelance journalist in Chicago who has worked for Fox News Network, WZZM-13 and NewsNation. As a City Bureau Spring 2025 Fellow, she reported on youth-led organizations creating third spaces for Generation Z. She is currently earning her Master of Education at DePaul University and serves on the board of the National Association of Black Journalists Chicago Chapter.
Meet the Mentors
Coming soon.