Richmondside recently welcomed two summer reporting interns to the newsroom: Charlotte Hahm, who will be a sophomore at Scripps College, and Thomas Lyons, a rising senior at Wesleyan University.
Part of Richmondside’s mission is to build a more sustainable model for local nonprofit newsrooms, and to be successful it’s important to nurture the next generation of journalists. Our very democracy depends on it.
Hahm, an Oakland native, is a political science/English major. She’s been covering news and features for her college’s student newspaper. She has hit the ground running during her first week in Richmond, attending the first Point Richmond summer concert for an upcoming story and covering Saturday’s No Kings rally in El Sobrante.
“I was drawn to journalism for its unique ability to connect communities and highlight overlooked voices through investigative storytelling,” Hahm said. “I am so excited to join the Richmondside team and continue to learn from and about the diverse people in the city.”
Lyons, who is from Deerfield, MA, is pursuing a multidisciplinary degree focused on history, government, political theory and economics. He was features editor of his student newspaper and this fall will be co-editor-in-chief.
He said he’s interested in journalism because he’s excited, “by the idea that you could inform a community and hold those in power accountable in creative, engaged ways.”
“Those shared interests have continued to fuel my work in newsrooms, and I’ve come to Richmond with an earnest desire to celebrate this place while helping to shed light on the structural powers in the city,” Lyons said.
He also has stepped into his internship role quickly. His third day in Richmond he went to Concord to report on the Concord Immigration Court following a recent ICE raid there. Lyons also covered the No Kings rallies last weekend.
The duo, who will cover a variety of general topics, are part of a cohort of five interns, including UC Berkeley student Skylla Mumana. Mumana is writing for our Nosh section as a fellow with the 11th Hour food and farming journalism program established at UC Berkeley by Michael Pollan.
Mumana said she’s intrigued to explore Richmond neighborhoods on foot to find an assortment of delicious foods to try.
Hahm and Lyons will be mentored by Richmondside Editor-in-Chief Kari Hulac and staff reporters Jana Kadah, our recently hired education and youth issues reporter, and Joel Umanzor, our city government reporter, who has been with Richmondside since it launched a year ago.
Rounding out Richmondside’s team are a number of freelance writers and photojournalists, whose contributions are crucial in helping us cover more stories that Richmond and west Contra Costa County readers have told us they are interested in.
If you’d like to get in touch with the newsroom to tell us what’s happening in Richmond, please use our tips form. You can also email the newsroom at hello@richmondside.org.
You can reach Lyons at thomas@richmondside.org and Hahm at charlotte@richmondside.org.
