Stand by Me: Child Care in Rural America

August 29, 2022

By Annie Barker

"Cynthiana, Kentucky was a thriving town. Jobs with the railroad, tobacco and farming were plentiful. As those industries declined, so did the prosperity for some Cynthiana residents. Today, as the world continues to deal with rising costs and instability, families are having to pick and choose between necessities like food, shelter, and childcare."

Our August 2022 Gad Grant winner is Annie Barker. Barker is a senior at Michigan State studying journalism with a concentration in photography and a second major in creative advertising. She is set to graduate this fall. Annie has interned with the Desert News, Grand Rapids Press and Detroit Free Press. This past summer she worked with Boyd's Station in Harrison County, Kentucky.

See more of Barker's work here - https://www.annaleighbarker.com/#1

Please check out Boyd's Station here - https://www.boydsstation.org

Boyd's Station offers emerging artists and student journalists a rural and serene environment to create and to pursue the individual's craft while providing a safe, inclusive, supportive space with the community of Harrison County for and with people from all ages, backgrounds and cultures to discuss, share, learn about and expand on the areas of literacy, communication and journalism through the visual arts and writing.

The Gad Grant is named after our friend Gad Schuster Gross, a photojournalist, who was killed in Iraq shortly after being accepted at Harvard Law School. Recipients of the grant are encouraged to work on a photo essay in their local community.

Every month we give a $500 grant to a currently enrolled student pursuing documentary photography. Students are eligible to receive the grant once every twelve months. We are always impressed by the quality of applications and we encourage students to keep applying until they win.

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