This post is part of a series on the recipients of Press Forward’s Open Call on Closing Local Coverage Gaps. Read the series here.

When Trip Jennings moved to New Mexico in 2005 to cover then-Governor Bill Richardson, the State House press room was a bustling place that often exceeded the maximum number of reporters allowed. “Now it’s like a ghost town,” Jennings said. Even though the two largest newspapers staff a reporter at the Capitol, the smaller publications in this rural state can’t, meaning less coverage about how the state government works and serves the people.

You have to spend a lot of time around there to understand things as they are, not as they appear,” Jennings said.

“You have to understand the relationships. You have to understand the mechanisms by which money is released, the policy discussions, which can get quite detailed.”

Jennings and colleagues started the nonprofit newsroom New Mexico In Depth to fill the need for accountability reporting.

One of the newsroom’s notable investigations focused on discipline in New Mexico schools. Part of a year-long reporting partnership with Pro Publica, the series found that Indigenous students were expelled far more often than other students in the state, mostly due to the policies of one school district in western New Mexico. The reporting prompted an investigation by the state’s attorney general.

With Press Forward support, Jennings hopes to boost the outlet’s investigative efforts and support their mentoring of other local newsrooms. “We are thinking about hiring another investigative journalist, maybe also hiring someone who might be able to work with local entities. New outlets are popping up digitally. Can we serve as mentors? Can we help them? Can we collaborate?”

Read New Mexico In Depth’s reporting.