The Journalism Lab in Dayton is a nonprofit that helps regular citizens learn the craft of reporting and community journalism. They recently established the Mary Evans Scholarship Fund. Mary Evans was a co-founder of the Journalism lab who did a lot of work highlighting the challenges faced by normal citizens trying to return to normal society after being incarcerated, with the Re-Entry Stories radio series she produced for WYSO being a notable example. She tragically passed away in June 2025, the fund was established in her honor.
The first recipient of the Mary Evans Scholarship Fund was Heidi Arnold, a communication professor and advocate at Sinclair who has worked hard to amplify underrepresented voices and pass legislation for humane treatment of incarcerated people. Arnold shared some of her thoughts and explained the importance of continuing the Re-Entry Stories series that Mary Evans had started.
“When someone comes out of prison, that process of reentry is very difficult. It’s more difficult than being incarcerated in so many ways because there’s no job for them, there’s no house for them…there’s just so many challenges that they have, and if they have family, that’s helpful. But if they don’t have family and friends, it’s almost impossible and people don’t always make it.” Arnold said.
Arnold talked about how so many citizens don’t understand prison, how people end up there and how difficult the reentry process really is. She said that those who have had a loved one in prison, or who have been in prison themselves, understand what it’s like, but most people have not gone through that and are unaware.
“I think that people just don’t have any idea, I remember one of the first times I brought Mary to Sinclair to speak to a group, there was a woman there who was a retired faculty member and she just wept at the end, and she said, ‘Thank you so much for bringing Mary here, because I had no idea what was really happening in the world.’ And I think there’s a lot of people with blinders on like that.”
Arnold talked about how she used to teach in the prison and that was how she met Mary, and how proud everyone was of her for how far she had come. Mary played a crucial role in the Journalism Lab and was involved with several other organizations, including the Dayton Foodbank and the Kettering Foundation.
Arnold said that she feels great about winning the award because of her relationship with Mary, and how cool it is to carry on the torch that she started. At the same time Arnold said that the competition aspect wasn’t as important to her as continuing the work.
“You know, it’s always nice to win something, but it’s more important to me to do the actual stories. Whether I won the scholarship or not, it’s not life or death. I’m still going to do the reentry stories, and I’m really stoked about having Courtney Alspaugh, who’s the [new host], to have her involved in that…So, yeah, it feels good to win and all that, but it’s more important, you know, to keep the reentry stories going.” Arnold said.
Arnold said that maybe the award will open doors somewhere, but in the meantime they would still be moving forward with the radio broadcast regardless of whether they had won or not. Arnold also said that it will take more than one person to finish the work that Mary started.
“I think her legacy is not only hers, but it’s a lot of people, and we have a lot of people released every month back into our communities from prison that [need] understanding and compassion and a second chance and maybe a third chance, in order to make it. And honestly, those people don’t make it without us. They just don’t. They can’t. They have to have the social capital and they lost it when they went to prison. [They’re] just making a shot in the dark at what’s best, [they] don’t make it without us and so to me, that’s the legacy. We got to [continue] the awareness and education, but also the support of the community that we have and what they call returning neighbors.” Arnold said.
Erik Larson, Reporter
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