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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Older homes are the only ones many Americans can afford, but they are costly to fix and maintain, especially for seniors. A patchwork of programs to help are underfunded and have years-long waitlists. -
America has not built enough new homes for years, and millions of older places are falling into disrepair. That's making it hard for a growing number of seniors to stay put as they age.
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Millions of low-income Americans live in old homes that are crumbling, worsening the housing shortage. A first-of-its-kind program in Pennsylvania aims to help whole communities damaged by disrepair.
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Most of the people who live in Poplar, N.C, are seniors. One priority is securing propane and kerosene heaters to keep them warm when it turns cold. -
Maryland's Montgomery County is building mixed-income apartments in which people who can afford to pay market rate allow other renters to pay less. Cities and states nationwide are taking up the idea. -
There are barriers preventing many Latino farm workers in northeastern Tennessee from trying to get help, but the extended Latino community is bringing the help to them. -
In flood-ravaged Tennessee, language and other barriers have left some Latino workers feeling isolated. The larger Latino community is reaching out with food and support.
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Across Eastern Tennessee, people are connecting on social media to help clear out ruined furniture, scrub off mud, and deliver jugs of water so people can flush toilets. -
On a hard-hit street in northeastern Tennessee, houses flooded with about five feet of water, everything inside destroyed. But strangers are showing up to help people clean up their homes.
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In eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina, efforts to clean up the flooding from Hurricane Helene's remnants are slow-going. People are relying on each other as they struggle to move forward.
