Reporter Aspen Ford joins InvestigateWest as Howard fellow

Aspen Ford, an award-winning investigative reporter with experience in data projects and collaborative journalism, will be joining InvestigateWest in January as the organization’s first Roy W. Howard fellow.

Ford is the latest addition to the growing staff at InvestigateWest, a nonprofit dedicated to change-making investigative journalism in the Pacific Northwest. A recent graduate of the master’s program in investigative reporting at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, she brings experience in reporting on Indigenous affairs, the environment and police accountability to the news staff.

“We’re thrilled that Aspen is coming to InvestigateWest,” Executive Director Jacob Fries said. “As a young reporter, she’s already distinguished herself with exceptional work.”

Ford is one of five investigative journalists named by the Scripps Howard Foundation as Howard fellows for 2025, each of whom will spend a year working at nonprofit newsrooms around the country. The fellowships honor Roy W. Howard, a former chairman of the Scripps Howard newspaper chain and a lifelong journalist who reported stories from around the globe. The fellowships are awarded annually to graduates of the Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism at ASU and the University of Maryland.

Ford also holds a bachelor’s degree from Northeastern State University in Oklahoma with a double major in Spanish and media studies. She began her journalism career at The Oklahoman and is a member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians.

InvestigateWest was formed in 2009 by a group of journalists laid off by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, with a mission of preserving the kind of challenging, labor-intensive investigative journalism that has been in decline. InvestigateWest’s reporting has led to scores of reforms in the Pacific Northwest, including a dozen state laws meant to protect the environment, workers and foster children.