My summer in Rochester ended as it began. Me, my jam-packed sedan, and an ice-cold vanilla latte, rolling down 490 toward whatever was next.
I’m Christina Chkarboul, and I spent 12 weeks as a summer intern at the Democrat and Chronicle, where I spent most of my time covering housing quality on the corporate and community reporting teams. I spent my days meeting with renters, landlords, advocates, lawyers and social workers to understand how codes are enforced in Rochester and who gets hit hardest when they aren’t.
I came to Rochester to get a feel for how things work in a professional newsroom, to fill a gap in D&C’s coverage of housing, and to hone my skills as a writer and reporter. I drove out of town Sunday morning, grateful for the support I received from my editors, D&C reporters, and Rochester residents, and proud of the reporting I was able to produce with their help.
More: 20% of all rental properties in Rochester do not have the required permits
I started at D&C in May, completely unfamiliar with Rochester and the area I was covering. I spent my first few weeks talking to as many people as I could who were affected by housing issues in the city, while trying to get my bearings and decide what stories I wanted to tell.
Over time, that coverage translated into stories about run-down rental properties, tenants who don’t pay their rent, frustrated landlords, burned-out social workers and city officials who say they’re doing the best they can. I wrote about proposed solutions, from “good cause eviction” laws to occupancy certificates, from those who support them and those who oppose them.
More: Why is Rochester’s proposed “good cause eviction” protection weaker than that of other cities?
What touched me most were the conversations with the tenants who kindly let me into their homes and lives. Among them were families in dire straits, enduring substandard housing and feeling trapped or living with the threat of eviction and homelessness. The tenants in Rochester I spoke to know very well how the system works, and they see that it is not working for them.
Beyond what I learned while being an active reporter, the staff at D&C taught me a valuable lesson about community engagement in journalism.
Throughout the summer, the paper has been at festivals across the city to connect with readers and potential readers and find out what they want to see in D&C. I’m proud to have been part of a news organization that listens to and values the communities it chooses to cover.
It was also incredibly inspiring to work with a passionate group of D&C’s youngest journalists – Madison Scott, Genae Shields, Justice Marbury and Marili Vaca – who all bring so much care and insight to their work. They were my closest role models in terms of age this summer and I’m so glad I got to work with and learn from them. I believe wholeheartedly that the voices and skills of Gen Z in journalism are critical to its success and I appreciate that D&C understands and embraces that.
Now I’m looking forward to my final year of university – half of which I’ll spend abroad in historic, picturesque Edinburgh – and my experience at D&C has made me even more convinced of the value of local journalism and the role that young reporters like me can play in its future.
Thanks, Rochester, and see you next time!
— Christina Chkarboul was a summer 2024 intern at the Democrat and Chronicle and is a journalism student at the University of Southern California, where she is studying geoscience, global studies and journalism. We wish her the best in her next chapter. Contact us at [email protected] and [email protected] with story tips on building codes, housing and renters.
