Chicago at the Center of Local News Innovation

Kayce Ataiyero is the chief external affairs officer at the Joyce Foundation, where she oversees the Foundation's strategic communications, the Journalism Program and the Lend A Hand community grants fund. She is also a member of the Foundation's leadership team. She previously served as director of external affairs for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, and led communications for U.S. Congresswoman Robin Kelly, the Illinois Governor’s Office, and the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office. Kayce previously worked as a staff writer for the Chicago Tribune, The Raleigh News and Observer, Philadelphia Inquirer and Washington Post. She is a Leadership Greater Chicago Daniel Burnham Fellow, a Notable Black Leader and Executive by Crain’s Chicago Business and one of Chicago’s most influential Black leaders by the Chicago Tribune. 

Tracy Baim is executive director of Press Forward Chicago, a pooled fund for community journalism based at The Chicago Community Trust. Baim is co-founder and owner of Windy City Times. She is former publisher of the Chicago Reader. Baim has received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Chicago Headline Club and the Chicago Journalists Association. In 2014, she was inducted into the NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists Hall of Fame. She is also in the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame. She has won numerous LGBTQ community and journalism honors, including the Public Narrative Studs Terkel Award in 2005 and the Lambda Legal Bon Foster Award in 2023. Baim has written and/or edited 14 books, her newest is Liberating Healthcare, a biography of Howard Brown Health. 

Tracy Brown is chief partnership officer at Chicago Public Media, where she has strategic oversight in building key partnerships with corporate and community organizations, local and national newsrooms and media organizations. She also leads innovative initiatives at CPM focused on sustainability and the news ecosystem. Tracy joined Chicago Public Media in 2019 as managing editor at WBEZ. In 2021, she became chief content officer, overseeing newsrooms at WBEZ and The Chicago Sun-Times, along with broadcast programming, talk shows, podcasts, community. engagement/events, audience development and Vocalo. 

Becky Vevea is the Chicago bureau chief for Chalkbeat, a nonprofit newsroom covering education in America. She edits and manages a team of reporters, directs local editorial strategy, and leads collaborations and partnerships. Before Chalkbeat, Becky spent a decade at WBEZ, reporting on city politics and schools, as well as filling in as anchor and host. She is an award-winning journalist whose work has also appeared in The New York Times, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and USA Today. 

Colin Boyle is the director of photography at Block Club Chicago. A lifelong resident of the North Side, Colin has worked with Block Club since 2020. In 2025, Boyle was promoted from photographer and reporter to his current position, where he now oversees freelance photojournalism assignments and visual coverage at Block Club, while continuing to document news in his hometown daily. He also teaches a graduate school-level photojournalism class at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, which he has done for the past five years.