Dear D&C Subscribers — Please join us in wishing an appreciative farewell to education reporter Justin Murphy, who is leaving the Democrat and Chronicle after a distinguished dozen years as a reporter. Justin has taken a position with Our Local History , a program of Coordinated Care Services Inc. (CCSI).
Justin will serve as research and communications coordinator, seeking out historical and archival material related to towns and cities across New York to help deepen students’ and community members’ understanding of their own particular past and present. Our Local History’s stated mission is “to support and empower students, teachers, and communities with the tools to engage with and own their local history of civil rights through inquiry, equity, and civic action.” The program provides free resources for educators and professional development offerings.It is also part of the Resistance Mapping Project Team , “(working) to support and empower students, teachers, and communities with the tools to engage with and own their local history of civil rights through inquiry, equity, and civic action.” Departments and individuals at RIT and UR are also part of this vital effort locally and in other areas of New York state.Justin’s passion for identifying oppression and its ongoing legacy has helped educate countless community members on the need to create a more equitable community and society. This has been at the heart of his journalism at the Democrat and Chronicle over the past dozen years. He has delivered revelatory reporting demonstrating time and again how Greater Rochester’s past informs an imperfect present filled with disproportionality and a lack of equity when it comes to wealth, housing, schooling, jobs and so much more.