Nice to meet you.
I'm a reporter writing about affordable housing, poverty and social justice with The Record, NorthJersey.com and the USA Today Network New Jersey.
I was previously an investigative journalist at the Center for Public Integrity covering federal money and politics. I also reported at the Center for Responsive Politics, better known as OpenSecrets.org, where I learned way more than I ever thought I would about campaign finance.
Before that, I worked with the Washington Post's investigative team to help research, analyze documents and interview sources for long-term investigative pieces. I contributed to the Pulitzer Prize-winning database on fatal police shootings.
I graduated summa cum laude from Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, where I focused on magazine and multimedia journalism, and received my master's degree at American University in journalism and public affairs.
My work has also been published in outlets such as USA Today, The Texas Tribune, Slate, NBC, TIME Magazine, The Atlantic and The Daily Beast, and local newspapers such as the Columbus Dispatch, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Santa Fe New Mexican.
I became a journalist in order to hold those in power accountable. Email me with any tips at balcerzakA@northjersey.com