Puente News Collaborative is pleased to announce Francesca D’Annunzio as the first recipient for a named fellowship at Under the Volcano, a non-profit organization that hosts poets, fiction writers, essayists and journalists.

Francesca D’Annunzio is the U.S.-Mexico border and immigration reporter for the Texas Observer, a nonprofit news outlet and print magazine. She has reported on a variety of topics, including lithium mining, housing and zoning, anti-immigrant paramilitary groups, Christian nationalism, and misinformation. Over the next several months, D’Annunzio is working on a project, with the support of the Pulitzer Center’s AI Accountability Network, about surveillance in the Texas borderlands and beyond.

D’Annunzio, 27, received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin and is a graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University’s investigative journalism master’s program. She is a co-recipient of the 2024 Robert F. Kennedy journalism award for a monthslong project covering the United States after the end of Roe v. Wade.

“I’m honored to be the first recipient of this fellowship with Puente News Collaborative,” said D’Annunzio. “I’m excited to learn more about how to leverage open-source tools and methodologies in my reporting, as these skills are critical for journalists in the digital age—particularly in situations where powerful actors refuse to engage with the press.”

“Providing a forum to support skills and career development for local journalists is one of Puente News Collaborative’s major objectives,” said Alfredo Corchado, Puente’s Executive Editor and Correspondent. “Francesca D’Annunzio is a tremendous journalist who represents the promise of the next generation of reporters covering the U.S.-Mexico border.”

“We commend the El Paso Community Foundation for creating this opportunity for an esteemed border reporter to be part of our annual two-week residency in Tepoztlán, Mexico,” said Magda Bogin, founder and director of Under the Volcano. “This new fellowship recognizes the critical role of journalists in shaping the public narrative at a time when border communities are at the crux of policy decisions that affect the lives of millions on both sides of the divide.”

*In 2021 the El Paso Community Foundation initiated an effort that would become the Puente News Collaborative, to provide high-quality, fact-based news and information to local communities on both sides of the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez border. The Puente News Collaborative has developed into a successful network of newsrooms and journalists working as trusted high-quality, fact-based sources for stories, reports, and commentary. For more information visit: https://puentenews.org/