I'm a data and investigative journalist based out of Chicago, and you can usually find me trekking around the Midwest for business and pleasure.
📰 Right now, I'm a data reporter at Chicago Public Media, which publishes the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ, Chicago's NPR station. I cover everything under the sun that impacts people in and around Chicago, on air, on the web and in print. Some recent stories of mine include looking at the record number of 311 calls related to severe weather in Chicago and the increase of short-term rentals in the neighborhoods around the Obama Presidential Center. If you have ideas for a story, or something you want me to take a look at, you can reach me at crodriguez@wbez.org. 💌
🔎 Before that, I was a Local Investigations Fellow at the New York Times, covering the spread of warehouses across Illinois, and was part of a team of reporters across the country digging into issues impacting their local markets, from their local markets. (In this case, it meant I was working across the state of Illinois!)
📜 In the past, I've worked with teams at Chalkbeat, USATODAY, WTTW/Chicago PBS, MuckRock, South Side Weekly, Illinois Answers/The Better Government Association, Voice of San Diego, the Detroit Free Press, and others. I also was the managing editor at 14 East Magazine, the award-winning student magazine at DePaul University, where I studied journalism, geography and community-focused reporting. You might also see me around as a mentor for different programs (like the Dow Jones News Fund) or teaching, speaking and coaching at conferences, like those run by Investigative Reporters and Editors.
🖥️ On here, you can usually find me tooling around with spatial data, tinkering with random projects, or hitting dead ends. (Hey, everyone needs a sandbox!) Some of my favorite projects here are my graduate GIS project on Mexican tourism industry expansion, digitized and georeferenced Sanborn map data, and a 1950s demographic map brought to life in the present.
📟 Not on here, you can drop me a line at heycamrodriguez (at) gmail (dot) com, or catch me on Twitter (if it's not burned to a crisp) at @journo_cam, Bluesky at @camrodriguez, or LinkedIn here.