Author Archives: Justine88

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Women’s Leadership Academy, The Poynter Institute 2026

The Poynter Institute, the gold standard for professional journalism education, welcomes the newest cohort of journalists selected for its annual Leadership Academy for Women. I was selected as one of 35 women who made up the 2026 class.

The competitive program has transformed the careers of almost 700 people since 2015. Now in its 11th year, the program aims to bring together a class of journalists who reflect and represent today’s media landscape. This year’s participants include editorial and news directors, global investigation, visual, and audience engagement editors and producers from global news organizations, public media, and the local newspaper ecosystem.

Faculty carefully selected cohort members through multiple rounds of review to ensure diversity across race, ethnicity, geography, platform/medium, organization and organization size, and expertise. 

The selection process prioritizes a dynamic mix of experience for good reason — alumni join a global network that sustains these connections beyond the timespan of the training. Candid conversations at Poynter power the space for participants to take stock of their present and plan for their future.

Learn more about the class and the program here.

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Undocumented workers built Florida’s roads — and died in the process

It was a shameful secret in Florida: A state whose leaders demonized undocumented migrants had built countless miles of roadways and bridges on the backs of illegal immigrant laborers.

And with tragic consequences.

The Tampa Bay Times meticulously detailed how road-building giant Archer Western exploited these workers and put them at risk. The reporting culminated in a powerful story, exposing how the state of Florida repeatedly contracted with a company whose workers died at an alarming rate, even after officials learned of some deaths. 

The reporters hunted down thousands of pages of records from agencies throughout Florida and the country. They compared Archer Western’s safety record to industry peers — something no other news outlet had done. What they discovered was a spate of deaths that left construction safety experts aghast. 

When we published our story in October 2025, it challenged narratives about undocumented immigrants and their place in our society. 

Read the investigation.

Follow up coverage:

Tampa congresswoman calls for investigation into deadly Florida road company

Deadly Florida road company knew workers were undocumented, ex-employee alleges

Florida construction worker dies on site of company Times investigated

Florida eyes penalties for employers of undocumented migrants hurt on the job

Florida politicians call for action after Times report on deadly road contractor

Federal officials end investigation into deadly Florida contractor


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Spotlight Tampa Bay: Journalism In The Community

In the fall of 2024, I moderated two Tampa Bay Times “Spotlight Tampa Bay” community event series, in which I led panel discussions about important topics affecting local residents.

In September, the Tampa Bay Times partnered with the AARP to host a series about family caregiving. In Florida, 2.7 million families grapple with the cost related to caring for aging parents and adults or children with disabilities.

In December, the Tampa Bay Times partnered with TECO Energy to host a panel discussion about hurricane hardening. Florida and Tampa Bay endured a historic hurricane season in 2024, weathering landfalls from a trio of storms — Debby, Helene and Milton. The storms brought record-breaking storm surge, heavy rainfall and powerful winds that wreaked havoc across the region. These events led to widespread power outages, overwhelmed wastewater systems and thousands of tons of contaminated debris.

You can learn more about the Tampa Bay Times Spotlight Tampa Bay series here.

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Buying Up The Bay: A Tampa Bay Times special report

Throughout 2024, I edited a series of investigative stories by Tampa Bay Times business reporters highlighting the growing influence of corporate ownership over Tampa Bay and Florida’s residential rental pool. Over seven installments, Buying Up The Bay explored how private equity firms are buying up single family housing in Florida at record breaking rates, raising prices on tenants and clogging up local courts with a high volume of evictions.

Read the full series here.

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48 Hours Before Milton: Diary Of A Hurricane Evacuation

By Justine Griffin for the Chronicle of the Horse

Published Oct. 21, 2024

With less than 48 hours before Hurricane Milton would barrel toward my home as a major Category 4 hurricane, I sat in a rural gas station outside of Ocala, Florida, and bawled my eyes out. 

My truck had just 22 miles of gas left in the tank when I pulled into a long line of cars and trucks filling their tanks, generators and gas cans in a frenzy that sadly felt too familiar to me as a lifelong Floridian. Emotions ran high less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene caused mass devastation through Florida on its way to North Carolina. 

People were taking this one seriously. 

The highways were gridlocked with cars heading north. The World Equestrian Center—Ocala was at capacity, with a waiting list for horses and their owners trying to get out of the path of a storm, which would reach catastrophic Category 5 status before it made landfall.

This was the third gas station I’d pulled into after dropping my horse off at a friend’s farm. The one before ran out of gas just three cars ahead of my turn at the pump. The first had no gas left at all. I had evacuated my Thoroughbred gelding Mikey here ahead of Milton’s arrival. None of the horses at my urban boarding barn in Tampa Bay were evacuated for Helene. But for Milton, few owners wanted them to stay.  

As an editor at the Tampa Bay Times, Florida’s largest newspaper, covering hurricane season is a competitive sport. I’d learn in the days to come that Hurricane Milton was about to be the Super Bowl of the 2024 season. 

Read the full story here.