grace s. deng
hello! i'm grace (she/they), a statehouse reporter with the washington state standard, a non-profit publication under states newsroom that launched may 2023. i cover how race and equity, public health and k-12 education issues intersect with state policy and politics.i see journalism as a way to uplift the stories, work and voices of people most impacted by oppressive systems and structures.i'm local to washington, born and raised in snohomish county. i have previous experience covering statehouses for the minnesota reformer and the usa today ohio network, which includes the columbus dispatch, the cincinnati enquirer and the akron-beacon journal.
a few stories i'm proud of:lobbying the legislature from behind barsfamilies with transgender children seek refuge in minnesotaimmunocompromised minnesotans struggle with mental toll of isolation three years into the pandemicannual march for missing and murdered indigenous relatives draw hundreds'we've been desensitized:' at HBCUs, life goes on amid bomb threatsimmigrants and refugees are spending decades in prison only to be released into ice custodyafghan refugees, grappling with grief and trauma, face barriers to mental health care