Provide names of other journalists involved.
Colleen Shaddox, a freelance reporter, produced the pod casts for this project.
List date(s) this work was published or aired.
Jan. 24, 2012
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
Teen births are down nationally and in Connecticut. But what Magaly found through data and interviews was that an intergenerational cycle of children-bearing-children puts Hispanic girls in Connecticut at risk of giving birth once — even twice — before their 20s. Also, that among all teen births in CT, Hispanic teens account for close to one-half of all births.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
Data from the Connecticut Department of Public Health on all births. Data from the U.S. Census. Reports from agencies and think tanks were used to supplement the reporting.
Explain types of human sources used.
Magaly worked for several months on this project — talking to community people — who work directly with teens. Her efforts paid off in helping her find a teen Yahish Claudio, 15 of Hartford. Candida Flores, director of Family Life Education and a teen mom herself, provided very interesting perspective for this story in the Spanish and English pod casts. Flores spoke of the struggles of being a teen mom and how hard she worked to keep her family together and have a career. Other community people provided interesting context to the piece.
Results:
What the story did is spotlight the community most at-risk for teen pregnancies. Mainstream media has continually reported on the overall numbers going down, but never looked behind the numbers.
Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
None
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Get the story behind the numbers. Community people are your best sources and will provide the most help in getting you the information and key people for your work.