Do you have questions about what’s happening in your town government? Are you interested in reporting but lack journalism training? You could be a great candidate for our new community reporting fellowship, focused on Western and Downeast Maine.
The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting is joining Journalism New England’s Career Lab to recruit and train community journalists. The three-month local journalism program will provide hands-on training for aspiring community reporting fellows to contribute to The Maine Monitor’s Monitor Local coverage of government deliberations in Western and Downeast Maine.
This training program will teach participants the foundations of journalism, and give them an opportunity to work directly with an editor on reporting, interviewing, writing and story revisions. Fellows will cover town council meetings, school budget debates, zoning conversations, tax deliberations and more. Their work may be published by Monitor Local and Journalism New England during the training period, with the potential for continued paid contributions to Monitor Local, distributed each Saturday in the Downeast Monitor and Western Maine Monitor newsletters. We do not publish commentary, personal essays or op-eds.
Participants should expect to spend up to 10 hours per week on the program; this includes online classes as well as time spent attending and writing about public meetings. Each participant will receive a learning stipend of $300 per month from Journalism New England, as well as payment from the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting for any articles published by Monitor Local.
Applicants must live in Maine, preferably in Oxford, Franklin, Somerset or Washington counties.
We are looking for applicants who can cover local government objectively; individuals who hold elected office or who have contracts with a government entity will not be considered. Please identify potential conflicts of interest in your answer to why you’d like to be a community reporting fellow below.
Complete the application here. Please note: the February cohort is closed but other career lab cohorts are possible in 2026. If you are interested in being considered for future opportunities please apply.
Application should include:
- Resume;
- Three short pitches on important issues in your community; and
- A brief explanation about why you want to become a community reporting fellow (no more than 300 words).