The Economic Hardship Reporting Project, a nonprofit that supports independent journalists telling stories about systems that perpetuate economic inequity, announces that Max Maldonado is the winner of the inaugural Economic Hardship Reporting Project (EHRP)/Newmark J-School Reporting Grant.

EHRP has awarded a $5,000 grant to Maldonado, a recent graduate of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York, and has paired him with an experienced mentor, filmmaker Juanita Ceballos. She will help him develop a short documentary.

The purpose of the grant is to provide funding to an exceptional Newmark graduate to produce ambitious works of journalism about inequity. Grantees receive a reporting stipend, mentorship and connections to editors at news organizations. Grantees have access to Newmark J-School production equipment and facilities during the grant year, and to a reporting mentor, who also receives a stipend.

Read the entire press release in Yahoo! Finance.