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Center for Public Integrity

Investigating inequality

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Avatar photo

Author Archives: María Inés Zamudio

María Inés Zamudio is an award-winning investigative journalist. Prior to joining CPI, Zamudio was a radio reporter covering racial inequalities for WBEZ, the Chicago NPR station. Her coverage of the city’s water affordability crisis led to a moratorium on water shutoffs, the creation of a city-wide program to help low-income homeowners, and a state-funded $42 million water emergency assistance program for homeowners who can’t afford their water and sewer bills.
Zamudio has spent the last decade investigating racial inequalities and the policies behind them. Her coverage has received multiple awards, including the National Press Foundation’s Poverty and Inequality award, and multiple regional Edward R. Murrow Awards. In 2019, she was named the best radio reporter at the Peter Lisagor Awards held by the Chicago chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. And in 2022, her body of work and her commitment ensuring her reporting is accessible to the affected communities was recognized with the Studs Terkel Award, which recognizes excellent coverage of Chicago's diverse communities.
Earlier in her career, Zamudio and a team of reporters from NPR’s Latino USA received a Peabody National Award for their coverage of Central American migrants. Zamudio’s story was reported from the Mexico-Guatemala border and it focused on the danger women Central American women face while traveling through Mexico as they try to reach the United States.
Zamudio, who lives in Chicago, has also led efforts to increase the number of journalists of color in the industry. In 2020, Zamudio co-created a first-of-its-kind FOIA mentorship program to support Chicago journalists of color working on projects with public records.

MZamudio@publicintegrity.org
  • twitter
Posted inToxic Labor

Reporting on workers who rebuild after natural disasters

Avatar photo by María Inés Zamudio October 6, 2023October 5, 2023

I felt anxious asking disaster restoration workers to share their experiences with exposure to toxins such as asbestos, lead and mold on the job in New Orleans this past spring during a reporting trip.  The trip was at the heart of our project, Toxic Labor, which documents the hidden health impact workers face after prolonged […]

A view of cranes and construction machinery next to the Sanibel Causeway, which is being repaired.
Posted inToxic Labor

Florida’s anti-immigration law targets disaster relief workers

Avatar photo by María Inés Zamudio September 29, 2023September 28, 2023
Disaster restoration worker Jenny, dressed in a black shirt and jeans, and her sister Abigail, dressed in an orange shirt and black pants, can be seen through a teal doorway, painting a vacant apartment at the Mayfair Apartment Homes in New Orleans with rollers and brushes, facing away from the camera. The right side of Jenny’s body is covered in splotches of white paint.
Posted inToxic Labor

Inside an industry fueled by climate change

Avatar photo by María Inés Zamudio and Samantha McCabe September 29, 2023September 28, 2023
A worker with a wheelbarrow walk along a hurricane cleanup site. There is shadow of another person in the foreground.
Posted inToxic Labor

Toxic Labor

Avatar photo by Janelle Retka, Samantha McCabe, Jiahui Huang and María Inés Zamudio September 28, 2023October 3, 2023
Data chart on dark background.
Posted inToxic Labor

Toxic labor, by the numbers

Avatar photoJosé Luis Castillo wears glasses and a checkered shirt and blue blazer.Jovi Dai has short brown hair and is wearing a blue shirt. He stands in front of a green lawn and trees. by María Inés Zamudio, Janelle Retka, Jiahui Huang, Samantha McCabe, José Luis Castillo and Zhaozhou Dai September 28, 2023September 28, 2023
Un trabajador utiliza una pala para limpiar escombros, mientras que otro pasa caminando con una pala en la mano en un sitio de limpieza.
Posted inToxic Labor

Trabajo tóxico

Avatar photo by Janelle Retka, Samantha McCabe, Jiahui Huang and María Inés Zamudio September 28, 2023October 11, 2023
Posted inWatchdog newsletter

Memoir: The ER reveals “unvarnished truth” of broken system

Avatar photo by María Inés Zamudio July 21, 2023July 19, 2023
two nursing home residents play a board game at a table. they both wear blue paper face masks.
Posted inHealth

GAO report: nursing homes staffing is a priority to curb COVID spread

Avatar photo by María Inés Zamudio May 19, 2023May 19, 2023
Posted inDemocracy

Chicago’s FOIA Fest celebrates open government

Avatar photo by María Inés Zamudio March 17, 2023March 15, 2023
A package of plastic water bottles exchanges hands between two people.
Posted inNatural Resources

Study finds disparities in states’ distribution of federal funds for water systems 

Avatar photo by María Inés Zamudio January 20, 2023January 20, 2023
Posted inPublic Health

How racism and inequality created COVID-19’s ‘Viral Underclass’

Avatar photo by María Inés Zamudio October 14, 2022October 13, 2022

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