Jennifer Ludden
Jennifer Ludden helps edit energy and environment stories for NPR's National Desk, working with NPR staffers and a team of public radio reporters across the country. They track the shift to clean energy, state and federal policy moves, and how people and communities are coping with the mounting impacts of climate change.
Previously, Ludden was an NPR correspondent covering family life and social issues, including the changing economics of marriage, the changing role of dads, and the ethical challenges of reproductive technology. She's also covered immigration and national security.
Ludden started reporting with NPR while based overseas in West Africa, Europe and the Middle East. She shared in two awards (Overseas Press Club and Society of Professional Journalists) for NPR's coverage of the Kosovo war in 1999, and won the Robert F. Kennedy Award for her coverage of the overthrow of Mobutu Sese Seko in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. When not navigating war zones, Ludden reported on cultural trends, including the dying tradition of storytellers in Syria, the emergence of Persian pop music in Iran, and the rise of a new form of urban polygamy in Africa.
Ludden has also reported from Canada and at public radio stations in Boston and Maine. She's a graduate of Syracuse University with degrees in television, radio, and film production and in English.
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The Biden administration says to end the homelessness crisis, more must be done to keep people from losing housing in the first place. But identifying and reaching those most at risk is a challenge. -
Voters in several cities approved ballot measures to cap rents, part of a larger resurgence of rent control. Economists warn that such caps can actually reduce affordable housing overall. -
Skyrocketing rents and home prices have been a major part of voters' economic pain. New spending will go toward building and subsidizing more housing, and helping people avoid homelessness. -
Business & EconomyA Cincinnati agency says large investors are taking some of the most affordable homes off the market, exacerbating the racial wealth gap. It's now helping its new tenants buy the homes themselves. -
Given record high rents and low vacancy rates, housing providers are offering to match people up as roommates to get them off the streets. But it can be a tough sell for both renters and landlords. -
Child poverty is at a historic low, according to Census bureau data, and the rate of those without health insurance dropped in 2021. But the good news may be short-lived, as policy measures expire. -
Residents accuse the largely white state government of neglecting the needs of a city that's 82% Black. White flight in the 1970s devastated the tax base, posing a major challenge to any solution. -
A new poll finds white adults are more than twice as likely as others to get sizable financial help from parents or grandparents. By contrast, Black adults are more likely to give money to elders. -
Most Americans say a lack of affordable housing is a serious problem where they live. An NPR poll also finds nearly twice as many Black renters as white faced an eviction threat in the past year. -
There's still a shortage of child care teachers and that's keeping parents out of the workforce. Dozens of states are trying to lure back providers and lower costs for families.
