Empowering HBCU Student Journalists: 2025 Du Bois Data Lab Spring Intensive

The Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, in partnership with the Center for Journalism & Democracy (CJD), is excited to announce it will host another iteration of the Du Bois Data Lab at Howard University this spring. The intensive data-training program immerses students in the essential skills needed for careers in investigative journalism.

After launching in 2024, the program will enter its second year with the generous support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The inaugural cohort included fifteen undergraduate students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The program was led by professional journalists of color, including Professor Sandeep Junnarkar, director of data journalism at the Newmark J-School.

“We’re thrilled to join forces with the Center for Journalism & Democracy again to offer this unique opportunity,” said Junnarkar. “We provide students with the same advanced data journalism training we deliver to our graduate students at Newmark, giving them unparalleled access to industry expertise and tools.”

The program has been successful in attracting highly motivated students eager to develop critical data journalism skills. Students from HBCUs from as far as Florida and Texas participated in the first cohort. One of their key takeaways from the program was that the training demystified data journalism, giving students the confidence to dig into numbers to find relevant and impactful story ideas.

The Lab is named after W.E.B. Du Bois, who used empirical and data-driven research as early as the 1890’s to study and report on Black communities. 

The next 10-day summer intensive begins on May 27 and ends on June 5, 2025. The Du Bois Data Lab is a free program. The Center for Journalism & Democracy covers students’ travel to and from Washington, D.C.; meals; and housing at Howard University. 

Accepted students will learn a number of data strategies and techniques including: 

• Building a strategy to find data in stories

• Find public datasets for use in journalism

• Use scraping techniques to access data locked in PDFs and documents

• Identify inequities and disparities within datasets

• Clean and analyze data in spreadsheets

• Use basic math and statistics to extract stories from data

•  Use numbers effectively in writing 
• Create data visualizations like charts, graphs and maps to clarify information

Eligibility Requirements:

• Must be an enrolled undergraduate student at an HBCU 
• Must be a journalism major
• Must be able to attend the full program, May 27-June 5, in person at Howard University
• Local students are expected to stay in dorm housing with the full cohort
• Previous data experience is not required.

Applicants must submit an unofficial transcript and two letters of reference. The deadline is February 10, 2025. More information about the program and application process can be found here. Questions can be directed to Leslie-Anne Frank, CJD Associate Director of Student Support & Engagement: [email protected].