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My name is Mackenzie Wilkes and I'm a digital journalist from North Carolina.
I'm passionate about the intersection of people and politics. Whether I'm reporting on race, policing, education or another policy issue I'm dedicated to telling stories that capture the nuances of communities. I also enjoy the digital production and finding the best ways to tell a story. I study journalism and political science at Elon University with an expected graduation date in December 2021. I'm currently an investigative reporting fellow with News21 where I am producing multimedia stories on COVID-19's impact on communities of color. I previously served as the Executive Director of Elon News Network where I managed the organizations digital platforms. |
Photo by Beth Wallis
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Yurok Tribe grows solutions in soil of crisisA drought, a pandemic and a landslide — three crises that exposed the food insecurity of California’s Yurok Tribe have ignited members to explore their own solutions. Nestled between the Pacific Ocean and the peaks of redwood trees on the mountains, the Yurok Tribe Reservation was declared a food desert by the USDA in 2017. The ongoing food insecurity issue worsened when the coronavirus pandemic, coupled with environmental and infrastructure problems, slammed the reservation and surrounding community.
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Drone footage by Clare Grant
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A Taxing DivideWhile most municipalities fund their operations with a healthy mixture of sales taxes and property taxes, college towns such as the town of Elon often must rely much more heavily on sales tax revenue since their largest property owner — the university — is tax exempt. Although the university has tax-exempt status, it still uses services provided by the town, which cost money to run. The fire department responding to alarms going off in a dorm, town police being dispatched to an apartment and even the water running through faucets on campus all are services at the expense of the town.
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