I'm a data and investigative reporter based out of Chicago, and you can usually find me trekking around the Midwest for business and pleasure.
📰 Right now, I'm a data reporter at the Illinois Answers Project, a solutions-focused investigative newsroom published by the Better Government Association/@bettergov. There, I work on a variety of stories, from enterprise investigations to data-driven deep dives. I also maintain the Illinois Public Salaries Database, a FOIA-fueled tool that lets readers (like you!) sift through payroll information for over 1,000 agencies across the state.
📜 In the past, I've worked with teams at @Chalkbeat, @USATODAY, WTTW/Chicago PBS, @southsideweekly, Voice of San Diego, the Detroit Free Press, and others. I also was the managing editor at 14 East Magazine, the award-winning student magazine at DePaul University, where I studied journalism, geography and community-focused reporting.
🖥️ On here, you can usually find me tooling around with spatial data, tinkering with random projects, or hitting dead ends. (Hey, everyone needs a sandbox!) Some of my favorite projects here are my graduate GIS project on Mexican tourism industry expansion, digitized and georeferenced Sanborn map data, and a 1950s demographic map brought to life in the present.
📟 Not on here, you can drop me a line at heycamrodriguez (at) gmail (dot) com, or catch me on Twitter (if it's not burned to a crisp) at @journo_cam, Bluesky at @camrodriguez, or LinkedIn (???) here.