Donna Zucchino

Donna Ladd (2019) is an editor and journalist from Philadelphia, Mississippi, focusing on the intersection of race, young people, gender and the criminal justice system. She is the editor-in-chief of Jackson Free Press Inc., which she co-founded in 2002. Donna also writes long-form features for The Guardian and is a Quattrone Center investigative reporting fellow, focusing on systemic breakdowns and race/gender disparities in the U.S. criminal justice system.

In recent years, Donna was a W.K. Kellogg Foundation fellow, which led to her founding of the Mississippi Youth Media Project, in which Jackson-area teenagers produce award-winning, rigorous, solutions-focused journalism on problems in their communities.

Donna is currently writing “Mississippi Turning,” a book-in-progress, as well as a series of Guardian and Jackson Free Press articles, about a diverse group of Mississippians working together across race and class lines to lower crime, increase understanding across racial lines and build unpredictable community.