Beena Raghavendran

Engagement Reporter, Local

Photo of Beena Raghavendran

Beena Raghavendran is an engagement reporter focused on local reporting at ProPublica. She joined ProPublica in 2018 and works to crowdsource stories with reporters around the country. She also runs the young professionals' network at the Asian American Journalists Association. Prior to ProPublica, she was an education reporter at the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Has Your School Had a COVID Outbreak? Is Your District Following CDC Guidelines? Help Us Report.

As the Delta variant spreads across the country, ProPublica is reporting on the health and safety of students. Tell ProPublica whether your school is following CDC guidelines and whether any students, faculty or staff have gotten sick.

Do You Live in the Kanehili or Kauluokahai Subdivisions? We Have Questions About the Quality of Your Homes.

We hope to talk to one person from each of the roughly 500 homes in the Kanehili and Kauluokahai subdivisions of Kapolei, Honolulu. Help us hold the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands accountable.

Are You Having Trouble Paying Electric Bills in Detroit? Please Share Your Story.

An energy provider based in Detroit shut off 80,606 electric accounts last year, even during the hottest and coldest months of the pandemic. Without electricity, people suffer. If you’re a customer of a Detroit-area electric provider, we want to hear from you.

Did You Attend the Milton Hershey School? We're Investigating It. Help Us.

Please help us by filling out the form below and sharing it with your fellow alumni. We’ve already heard from many of your classmates, but want to hear from as many of you as possible.

She Was Sued Over Rent She Didn’t Owe. It Took Seven Court Dates to Prove She Was Right.

In one of the country’s richest cities, the public housing authority aggressively sued its residents, filing complaints for amounts as little as $5. Some residents were sued over the authority’s own mistakes.

¿Son seguras las escuelas y las universidades en Estados Unidos? ¿Los alumnos realmente aprenden? Ayúdenos a saber más.

ProPublica está cubriendo la reapertura de escuelas, colegios superiores y universidades durante COVID-19 y necesitamos su ayuda. Cuéntenos acerca de la seguridad, el ámbito académico, las colegiaturas y el acceso al aprendizaje.

Community Storytelling Is Informing Our Coverage of Intellectual and Developmental Disability Services. Share Your Story.

Journalists have not always brought people with intellectual and developmental disabilities into the conversation. We’re trying to change that with our investigation into Arizona’s disability services. But we need your help.

What’s Your Experience With Intellectual and Developmental Disability Care in Arizona?

The Arizona Daily Star and ProPublica are investigating services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Here's how people with disabilities, their families, friends, caregivers, teachers and medical providers can help.

Arizonans: Share Your Story About Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities at our Virtual Event

The Arizona Daily Star and ProPublica want to hear about your experiences with intellectual and developmental disabilities services. Join storytelling coaches, journalists and the Detour Company Theatre on July 8 to get involved.

How Panic Buying Has Put an Incredible Strain on Food Banks Even As the Need for Them Explodes

Here’s the dismal equation for food banks: Panic shopping and hoarding have led to supply shortages. Volunteers frightened of the virus have stopped showing up. And a newly jobless population has sent demand soaring.

Aumentarán la violencia intrafamiliar y el abuso infantil durante las cuarentenas. También empeorará la negligencia contra las personas en riesgo, informan trabajadores sociales.

Diferentes departamentos de servicios sociales se están esforzando por enfrentar las consecuencias de las restricciones causadas por el coronavirus, y los trabajadores sociales informan que grandes cantidades de norteamericanos en riesgo, ancianos, enfermos y discapacitados están en peligro. “Vamos a tener muertes debido a esto”.

Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Will Rise During Quarantines. So Will Neglect of At-Risk People, Social Workers Say.

Patchwork social service departments are scrambling to address the fallout of coronavirus restrictions, and social workers say vast numbers of at-risk, elderly, sick and disabled Americans will be imperiled. “We are going to see some deaths.”

How to Navigate California County Jails: A Guide for Inmates and Their Loved Ones

ProPublica and The Sacramento Bee have been reporting on conditions in California county jails. We’ve heard from more than 100 people about their experiences inside and want to share what they know.

Our Journalists Stopped Calling People Hard-to-Reach and Listened to Them. Here’s What Worked.

We researched why people were reluctant to talk about medical debt, and designed an outreach strategy based on what we learned.

This Doctors Group Is Owned by a Private Equity Firm and Repeatedly Sued the Poor Until We Called Them

After the Blackstone Group acquired one of the nation’s largest physician staffing firms in 2017, low-income patients faced far more aggressive debt collection lawsuits. They only stopped after ProPublica and MLK50 asked about it.

Have You Been Sued by a Hospital, Doctor or Other Medical Institution? Tell Us About It.

ProPublica and MLK50 have been investigating Memphis institutions that profit from the poor. Now, we want to hear from people across the country who have been sued or arrested after unpaid medical bills.

Thousands of Poor Patients Face Lawsuits From Nonprofit Hospitals That Trap Them in Debt

Across the country, low-income patients are overcoming stigmas surrounding poverty to speak out about nonprofit hospitals that sue them. Federal officials are noticing. Help us keep the pressure on.

Have You Been Sued by a Hospital, Doctor or Other Memphis Institution? Tell Us About It.

ProPublica and MLK50 are spending the year investigating the institutions that profit from people who are poor in Memphis. Share your story with us.

Discussing Alaska’s Long History of Sexual Violence Is One Step Toward Seeking Solutions

Seventy people, including elders and Alaska public officials, gathered in Kotzebue for a public conversation on a well-known but rarely discussed statewide problem.

How I Learned to Let Communities Guide Our Local Reporting Projects

As an engagement reporter on ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network, I gave people avenues to participate in our reporting and learned lessons about respect, building networks and getting journalism to the people affected by it.

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