✦ MAIA MCDONALD ✦
FREELANCE JOURNALIST AND FUNKY FASHION ENTHUSIAST
Welcome!
Maia McDonald (she/her) is an award-winning Chicago-based freelance journalist. She’s currently doing reporting, visuals, and audience engagement for the Investigative Project on Race and Equity. She also serves as a board member for the Chicago Journalists Association.
Maia has reported for several news outlets, including Austin Weekly News, Block Club Chicago, Borderless Magazine, The Chicago Reader, City Bureau, In These Times, The Guardian, and The TRiiBE.
Her work has also been republished by Cicero Independienté, Chalkbeat Chicago, the Chicago Sun-Times, Capital B News, Grist, Wisconsin Watch, and others. She’d love to work with you too!
Maia’s experience has included reporting on flooding in the Calumet region, Illinois labor law and the temporary service industry, Chicago aldermanic elections, and more, links for which can be found on her Muck Rack page, the reporting page of this site, or below.
To learn more about Maia and her journalism experience, please explore more of maiamcdonald.me! Thanks for stopping by!
Recent Work:
At Illinois public universities, campus cops pull over Black drivers at higher rates — Campus police also ticketed Black drivers more often than white motorists who were stopped, a first-of-its-kind analysis of stops shows. The Investigative Project on Race and Equity (repub. by the Chicago Sun-Times), 2025. Read a preview. ✦ View as PDF.
Illinois is the last state to unlawfully strip wealth from homeowners caught in tax foreclosure** — A decades-old state law allows private investors to take people’s homes — and all of their home equity — over unpaid property taxes. Critics say it’s a racist policy most impacting Black communities. The nation’s highest court recently ruled homeowners are entitled to their fair share, but Illinois lawmakers have failed to act. The Investigative Project on Race and Equity and Injustice Watch, 2025. Read a preview. ✦ View as PDF.
**Double asterisks indicate a story where Maia contributed reporting.