Annie Waldman

Reporter

Photo of Annie Waldman

Annie Waldman is a reporter at ProPublica covering health care. A piece she published with The New York Times on a New Jersey student debt agency prompted a new law and several new bills, aimed at increasing consumer protections for student borrowers and their families. Following her reporting on the largest accreditor of for-profit colleges, the U.S. Department of Education stripped the agency of its powers. Her reporting with Erica Green of The New York Times led to a federal civil rights investigation of discrimination against Native American students on a reservation in Montana.

In 2018, she contributed to the “Lost Mothers” series, which investigated the high rate of maternal mortality in the United States. This series won the 2018 Goldsmith Prize for investigative reporting, received a George Polk Award, a Peabody and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for explanatory reporting. Following her reporting on maternal mortality in New York, the city launched a $12.8 million initiative to reduce maternal deaths and complications among women of color.

She graduated with honors from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia, where she was the recipient of the Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship and the Brown Institute Computational Journalism Award. Her stories have been published in The New York Times, the Atlantic, Vice, BBC News, The Chronicle of Higher Education and Consumer Reports.

She has been a finalist twice and won two awards from the Education Writers Association for her education reporting. She has won an award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and was a finalist for the Loeb Awards for her reporting with Paul Kiel and Al Shaw on the racial disparity of wage garnishment.

Prior to joining ProPublica, she was a recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to Israel, where she reported on the plight of refugees from Darfur and Eritrea. She was also a recipient of a residency at Cité International des Arts in Paris, France. She had a documentary film in the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, on the lives of homeless high school students after Hurricane Katrina, which was later broadcast nationally on PBS. She produced "Phantom Cowboys," a documentary about male adolescence in small industry towns, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2018.

Her PGP Key ID is E8F41874.

A Fifth of American Adults Struggle to Read. Why Are We Failing to Teach Them?

The nation’s approach to adult education has so far neglected to connect the millions of people struggling to read with the programs set up to help them.

For Helping Voters Who Can’t Read, She’s Been Criminally Charged — Twice. That Hasn’t Stopped Her.

Olivia Coley-Pearson offered help to voters who struggle to read. For taking on one of America’s oldest forms of voter suppression, she got threats, a trip to jail and a reminder of the nation’s long legacy of weaponizing literacy.

New Voting Restrictions Could Make It Harder for 1 in 5 Americans to Vote

Across the country, from California to Georgia, people like Olivia Coley-Pearson and Faye Combs are working through stigma and increased restrictions as they help people who struggle to read exercise their right to vote.

The Fight Against an Age-Old Effort to Block Americans From Voting

As a new wave of restrictions makes voting harder for people who struggle to read — now 1 in 5 Americans — Olivia Coley-Pearson has taken up the fight, even if it makes her a target.

How We Analyzed Literacy and Voter Turnout

For decades, researchers have studied the factors that influence voter participation, including the impact of educational attainment on whether people vote. But literacy skills are less commonly examined. So we sought to understand the connection.

How to Fix America’s Confusing Voting System

Voting can be a convoluted obstacle course, especially for those who can’t read. Here are proven ways of fixing the system and enabling millions more voters to participate.

Louisiana Limits Solitary Confinement for Youth

The governor signed Louisiana’s first law restricting isolation for youth after two suicides and a ProPublica, NBC News and The Marshall Project investigation into harsh conditions in a new state juvenile facility.

One in Five Americans Struggles to Read. We Want to Understand Why.

This is not only an individual hardship but a societal crisis. We want to look at the root causes that make reading inaccessible for so many people.

Louisiana Lawmakers Could Limit Solitary Confinement for Teens Following Alarming Revelations

An investigation by ProPublica, NBC News and The Marshall Project found that youth in a Louisiana lockup were held in solitary around the clock for weeks.

Shackles and Solitary: Inside Louisiana’s Harshest Juvenile Lockup

Teens at Louisiana’s newest juvenile lockup, Acadiana Center for Youth at St. Martinville, were held in solitary confinement around the clock, shackled with leg irons and deprived of an education. “This is child abuse,” one expert said.

The Federal Government Gave Billions to America’s Schools for COVID-19 Relief. Where Did the Money Go?

The Education Department’s limited tracking of $190 billion in pandemic support funds sent to schools has left officials in the dark about how effective the aid has been in helping students.

Entergy Resisted Upgrading New Orleans’ Power Grid. When Ida Hit, Residents Paid the Price.

The power company failed to build a stronger system after hurricanes repeatedly pummeled Louisiana. Then Ida knocked out power for more than a week. “I don’t think it’s just Mother Nature,” said one resident. “This is neglect.”

A Boy With an Autoimmune Disease Was Ready to Learn in Person. Then His State Banned Mask Mandates.

High-risk students in states and districts that have made masks optional are staying home.

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.

Held Back: Inside a Lost School Year

Teacher Ashlee Thompson had a lot to worry about this year: A deadly virus. A poor district under threat by the state. And now, a new mandate for her students: Learn to read or flunk the third grade.

A student looks out of a school bus window.

Two School Districts Had Different Mask Policies. Only One Had a Teacher on a Ventilator.

Eleven states let school districts decide whether students and staff must wear masks. One Georgia middle school where masks were optional became the center of an outbreak.

A woman stands in her home.

The Hospital System Sent Patients With Coronavirus Home to Die. Louisiana Legislators Are Demanding an Investigation.

The Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus called the practice of sending infected coronavirus patients home to die “disturbing” after ProPublica found that one New Orleans hospital system had done so numerous times.

A man wearing a red shirt holding a photo of his mother.

Sent Home to Die

In New Orleans, hospitals sent patients infected with the coronavirus into hospice facilities or back to their families to die at home, in some cases discontinuing treatment even as relatives begged them to keep trying.

¿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.

COVID-19 Took Black Lives First. It Didn’t Have To.

In Chicago, 70 of the city’s 100 first recorded victims of COVID-19 were black. Their lives were rich, and their deaths cannot be dismissed as inevitable. Immediate factors could — and should — have been addressed.

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