Clockwise from top left: Levi Jiang, Nate Harrington, Norah Rami

The Dow Jones News Fund is proud to announce the O’Toole Family Foundation Fellowship, which will provide three college students with training and paid internships in Philadelphia area newsrooms. The first three recipients will work as reporters this summer at WHYY, the Philadelphia PBS and NPR affiliate, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Philadelphia bureau of Chalkbeat.

The O’Toole Family Foundation was founded by Terry O’Toole, a News Fund summer program alumnus, and his wife Polly. Terry was a DJNF intern in 1979 after his junior year at Villanova University, where he served as the editor-in-chief of the Villanovan. First, he attended the copy editing bootcamp under the direction of the legendary Dr. Edward Trayes at Temple University, followed by 10 weeks working in the newsroom of the Wall Street Journal. Although he ultimately found his calling in finance, he never wavered in his support of the News Fund and its mission to train the next generation of journalists.

O’Toole, the founder and managing member of Macanta Investments, first established a scholarship in honor of Dr. Trayes in 2004. That scholarship has been awarded to 19 News Fund interns through his family’s philanthropic organization. Last year, the O’Toole Foundation decided it wanted to do more to support local journalism and worked with the News Fund to create a grant for three student journalists to work in local newsrooms this summer. The organizations the News Fund selected to receive an O’Toole intern this year are all nonprofit news media covering the Philadelphia and southern New Jersey regions.The three fellows will be among the 81 members of the Dow Jones News Fund Class of 2025.

In 2017, the O’Toole Family Foundation underwrote the production of a short documentary on Dr. Trayes and his impact on scores of News Fund interns during 50 years as director of the editing program. At the time, Terry said: “As someone fortunate enough to have experienced first-hand the broad, career-shaping impact the internship offers its students, I can state without reservation how critical it is for this program to continue to develop and thrive.”

News Fund Executive Director Shirley Carswell said O’Toole is doing his part to help. “The News Fund is so appreciative of Terry O’Toole and his family’s unfailing support of our mission for more than 20 years. This generous grant will provide skills training and paid experience for three students, who in turn will help local newsrooms better cover their communities. So the impact of this gift will be felt well beyond those three individuals.”

“We’re very excited about this new collaboration with the DJNF,” said Terry. “The program is designed to provide students with real local newsroom experience, and offers the nonprofit news organizations additional reporting capabilities, all at a time when strengthening local news is critical.”

David Cho, Dow Jones News Fund president, said: “Terry O’Toole’s journey from DJNF intern to lifelong supporter is a powerful reminder of how one summer can shape a lifetime—and how one person can shape the future of journalism. This fellowship not only honors that legacy but extends it to a new generation, giving them the chance to grow, contribute, and carry local news forward.”

The 2025 O’Toole Family Foundation fellows and their newsrooms are:

  • Nate Harrington, a senior at Syracuse University, who will attend data journalism training at the University of Maryland before interning at WHYY.
  • Levi Jiang, a graduate student at the University of Washington, who will also attend data journalism training at the University of Maryland before interning at the Philadelphia Inquirer.
  • Norah Rami, a junior at the University of Pennsylvania, who will train in business reporting at American University before interning at Chalkbeat, based in the Philadelphia bureau.

About the O’Toole Family Foundation:

Founded in 1993, The O’Toole Family Foundation is a national non-profit organization co-chaired by Terry and Polly O’Toole. Grants are made to non-profit organizations focusing on education, health, hunger and food scarcity, and building better communities through the arts, athletics, and media. Since its inception, the Foundation and its affiliates have made grants to more than 200 non-profit organizations. For more information, please visit: https://otoolefoundation.org.