CalMatters Journalists Launch Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism

Two CalMatters journalists recently started their own 2025-26 Rosalyn Carter Scholarships for mental health journalism.

The Carter Center, which seeks to prevent and resolve conflict, advance freedom and democracy, and improve health, named 10 fellows this year, two of whom are CalMatters reporters Marissa Kendall and Joe Garcia.

The fellowships challenge recipients to delve deeper into the study of mental health and substance use disorders and to share reliable information with the public related to care, research, and possible solutions to systemic challenges. Carter Center USA Fellows receive a $10,000 stipend in addition to intensive training from leading experts in mental health and journalism.

Fellows were selected by a committee of current and former journalists, mental health experts and the US Fellowship Advisory Board.

Joe Garcia

Garcia joined CalMatters as a UC Berkeley local news contributor in 2024. He began writing while serving 21 years with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. His unexpected journalism career began at the San Quentin News and led to publications in the Sacramento Bee, Washington Post, MIT Tech Review, Alta Journal, and The New Yorker.

Especially his 2023 article. “I’m listening to Taylor Swift in prison” for The New Yorker went viral online, in which he describes the impact of Swift’s music on his personal growth and development. follow-up articleGarcia says he even wrote while in administrative segregation called “The Hole” after being accused of “inflammatory comments” after talking about shower conditions.

Garcia writes, “No pens were allowed in the hole—only the flimsy ink tanks from the inner ballpoint boxes. I had to twist the paper tightly around the ink tubes, stick the paper in place with wet soap, and wait for everything to dry. I changed my sleep schedule so I could work in the stillness of the night. We could only listen to music using small, hand-operated radios, and I suffered from static electricity to hear ‘Antihero’, ‘Karma’ and ‘Snow on the Beach’.

He now lives in Los Angeles and writes for CalMatters. This summer, he took readers to San Quentin in a way only he could, writing about prisoners beautifying the walls with murals.

Marissa Kendall

Kendall is a CalMatters reporter focused on California’s homelessness crisis, a topic on which she has won multiple awards for sensitive and comprehensive coverage.

Kendall reported brought Californians the real-world view of homelessness and related topics, including mental health advancements through CARE Courtswhat happens after the homeless camps have been clearedand a look at where mental health money goes.

Prior to CalMatters, she covered housing and homelessness for the Bay Area News Group, where she was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team covering the deadly Ghost Ship warehouse fire in Oakland. Kendall has also covered high-profile cases in Silicon Valley and crime in Southwest Florida. She is a native of the Bay Area and a graduate of American University.