Our Staff
Alejandra is a senior reporter at Injustice Watch. Most recently, she was City Bureau’s deputy editor where she led the editorial team and a fellowship program for emerging reporters. Previously, Alejandra was a senior investigative reporter at the Better Government Association, where she exposed systemic failures in local government and focused on the intersection of government and business. Earlier in her career, she covered economic development and labor at the Chicago Tribune. Her work has been recognized with local and national journalism awards.
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Amanda is the director of development and operations at Injustice Watch, where she is responsible for fundraising, strategic initiatives, and the day-to-day operations of the organization. Born and raised in Rockford, Ill., Amanda moved to Chicago in 2009, and has lived here ever since. Prior to joining Injustice Watch in 2017, Amanda worked for several Chicago-based nonprofit organizations and has more than ten years of experience in nonprofit management and fundraising.
Carlos is a reporter at Injustice Watch covering police, politics, and immigrant communities. Previously, he worked at the Chicago Sun-Times and Newsweek. Carlos was born in Chicago and lives in the city’s Lower West Side. He also lived in Mexico for a while. Carlos graduated from Claremont McKenna College in southern California with a bachelor’s degree in history. Only time will tell if he ends up going back to school.
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Charles is the community engagement manager at Injustice Watch. Before joining the organization in April 2019, Charles got his start in media as a reporting fellow at City Bureau, covering city council and mental health in Chicago. His writing has been featured in the Chicago Defender, Chicago Magazine, and In These Times. He was born in Redondo Beach, California, but has been living on the South Side of Chicago since the age of four. Charles graduated from Chicago State University with a bachelor’s degree in African-American studies after leading a student campaign to prevent the university from closure. He is a 2018 and 2020 ArtsMatter grantee for hosting #ChurchOnThe9, a street-based open mic for the Chatham community.
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Dan Hinkel is an investigative reporter with decades of experience covering law enforcement, the courts, politics and government. He spent 11 years with the Chicago Tribune, where he exposed wrongful convictions, police abuse and other failures of justice. After leaving the Tribune in 2021, he reported on Kyle Rittenhouse’s criminal trial for the New York Times. Most recently, he reported for the Illinois Answers Project on the shortcomings of Chicago City Hall’s anti-violence efforts. He is a native of Janesville, Wis. and lives in Chicago.
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David leads major projects and watchdog journalism as Injustice Watch’s investigations editor. An Illinois native, he has lived in Chicago since 2005, when he joined the Chicago Tribune as an investigative reporter. His 35-year journalism career also includes 15 years at the Miami Herald. His work as a reporter and editor exposed the largest bribery scheme in Chicago history and has been recognized with numerous regional and national honors, including the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting as investigations editor at the Better Government Association.
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David is a Pulitzer-winning investigative reporter whose work has focused on lifting the voices of neglected people amid life-threatening government failures. He was born and raised in Chicago and was an investigative reporter at the Chicago Tribune from 1991 to 2020, except for a year at The Washington Post, where he shared the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for public service for a series on residents shot by police. At the Tribune, four of his projects were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize, including an exposé of profit-making juvenile detention companies and a series on extradition failures, which prompted congressional hearings and reform efforts in the United States, Mexico, and elsewhere. He most recently was a senior investigative reporter at the Better Government Association.
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Grace is a reporter at Injustice Watch covering housing issues through an intersectional lens. She was born in Chicago and raised by Nigerian parents. Grace currently lives in the Bronzeville neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. She graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and has a master’s degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University. Before coming to Injustice Watch, she worked as a community engagement resident and breaking news reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times.
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Jonah is the managing editor at Injustice Watch, where his job is to help reporters do their best work. He also helps manage our award-winning judicial election guides and collaborations, like The Circuit. Previously, he worked at Pacific Standard (RIP), the Chicago Reporter, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. Jonah is originally from Minnesota, the grandson of Holocaust survivors, and part of a lineage of writers and storytellers. He fell in love with Chicago — with all its flaws — as a student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. He lives in Wicker Park with his wife, son, and their dog, who you’ve probably heard barking during a Zoom call.
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Juliet is the executive director of Injustice Watch. Previously, she was the director of the Bluhm Legal Clinic at Northwestern University’s law school, where she remains on the faculty and is associated with its Center for International Human Rights. From 2003 to 2010, Juliet was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago. Between college and law school, Juliet was a maternal and child health Peace Corps Volunteer in rural Morocco for two years. She graduated from Princeton University and Columbia Law School. Juliet and her husband moved to Chicago in 2003. They’ve since added three kids, two cats and a dog to their family. They all love the windy city.
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Kelly Garcia is a reporter at Injustice Watch. She previously worked at the Chicago Reader, where she wrote about news and politics. In 2022, the Chicago Journalists Association named her Chicago’s Emerging Journalist of the Year for her reporting on the private music festivals occupying Douglass Park. Kelly was an Injustice Watch summer reporting resident in 2021 and before that she was a civic reporting fellow for City Bureau. She’s also written for The TRiiBE, South Side Weekly, and The Daily Line. Kelly is originally from Orlando, Florida, and is the proud daughter of Peruvian, Mexican and Puerto Rican immigrants. She enjoys cooking, reading, and spending time with her cat, Luna.
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Maya is a senior reporter at Injustice Watch covering judges and the courts. Before joining the organization in 2021 she was a senior staff writer at the Chicago Reader, where she began working in 2016. Maya was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia and immigrated to the U.S. at the age of nine. She’s lived in Chicago since 2013. Her freelance writing has appeared in The Appeal, Places Journal, In These Times, Slate, and The Trace. Maya holds a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Rochester.
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Verónica is an illustrator and muralist based in Chicago. At Injustice Watch, she creates visual art to accompany our public service and investigative journalism. Her work on voting rights, police misconduct, education, and LGBTQ+ health has also appeared in the Chicago Reader, The Trace, and Cicero Independiente. In 2021, she received an award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts and Humanities from the Office of the Illinois State Treasurer. She continues to seek projects that allow her to tell visual stories through a social justice lens.