We have exciting news!

Hi folks,

I have an exciting announcement to make: We’ve just hired a new full-time education reporter, Anya Sczerzenie (pronounced “Sir-ZEE-nee).

Anya comes to us from Northern Virginia but has local ties as a 2021 graduate of VCU's Robertson School of Media and Culture. Her work has appeared in InsideNova.com, the Capital News Service and numerous publications throughout Virginia. She will help us continue our partnership with Report for America, a national journalism service project that helps place full-time reporters in critical and underserved beats nationwide.

Learn more about Anya – in her own words – here.

Last year, we began this partnership as just the second Virginia news organization accepted into the RFA program and hired our first full-time education reporter to cover the topic that you told us was most important to you. She produced more than 170 original articles to help inform our community.

Although she left unexpectedly in June for another job just after beginning the second year of her commitment, RFA graciously allowed us to fill her spot so that the education coverage you’ve come to expect can continue.

Now Anya is here to help us provide the best and most insightful coverage of education possible. Please reach out to her directly at anya@henricocitizen.com if you have ideas for coverage, thoughts, comments or questions.

And please consider making a tax-deductible contribution through RFA to help fund Anya’s position.

RFA will match every donation we receive this way – up to $25,000! So your donation of $50 is doubled to $100, for example.

Nearly 140 donors contributed more than $12,000 last year to help fund this position, and we’d like to surpass that in the coming months. We know education matters to you and to this community. Help us welcome Anya by making a tax-deductible contribution today.

All the best,

Tom Lappas
Owner/Publisher