OUR history

Rooted in 50 years of experience

The Investigative Project on Race and Equity was created by a group of seasoned journalists and civic leaders who came together to preserve the distinctive brand of investigative journalism pioneered at The Chicago Reporter. For more than 50 years, IPRE’s founders have practiced a dispassionate style of fact-based, data-driven reporting over 50 years that, combined with powerful storytelling, helped to uncover systemic racial, economic and social disparities. By meticulously piecing together public and private records, they quantified racial disparities in access to everything from playground equipment at public parks to lifesaving medical equipment on ambulances.

Time and again, that work spurred federal, state and local reforms in criminal justice, lending, health care, public services, corporate governance and other arenas of civic life.

That same commitment to rigorous reporting, accountability and public impact now serves as the foundation of the Investigative Project on Race and Equity’s mission and work.

Founders