Vincent D. McCraw is the Report for America Corps Excellence Regional Manager for Region 2 (Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia). McCraw is a journalist with more than 40 years’ experience in print and digital media. He has covered news stories on municipal government, politics, civic and community affairs in the Detroit, Atlanta and Washington, D.C. media markets. A native of D.C. and a 1980 graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta with a B.A. in mass communications, McCraw started his journalism career as an intern at the Atlanta Journal in 1980. From 1981-1985, he was as a reporter and city editor at The Atlanta Daily World, one of the nation’s oldest Black newspapers. During a 15-year career at The Washington Times, McCraw covered the mayoral administrations of Marion Barry and Sharon Pratt Kelly. He covered D.C. politics, government and community affairs and frequently covered Congress and the White House on issues that affected the District of Columbia. In his later years at the Times, McCraw was an assistant city editor directing a team of reporters covering the District government. In 1999, McCraw joined the Metro Desk of The Detroit News as an assistant city editor directing a team of reporters covering Detroit government, politics and community affairs. He served in several roles at the paper including slot editor on the Copy Desk, and assistant city editor for the Neighborhood News weekly tabloids that offered coverage of communities in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. In 2008, he joined the News’ Digital Breaking News Desk as an editor-producer and in February 2019, he accepted a buyout offered to eligible News employees, ending a 20-year career at the paper. McCraw joined the National Association of Black Journalists initially through its Atlanta chapter in 1980 and has been a member of the national and local chapters in Washington, D.C. and Detroit. In 2015, he was elected Vice President-Print of the Detroit chapter of NABJ. In that role he managed the chapter’s social media platforms. In 2016, he was appointed president of Detroit NABJ and a year later elected president, position in which he currently serves. As the chapter’s president, he is the public face of the organization that advocates for diversity and inclusion in newsrooms in Metro Detroit and sponsors skills-oriented programs for its members, students and emerging journalists. In 2018, he and a team of Detroit NABJ officers and members were instrumental in the planning and execution of the annual national convention of the National Association of Black Journalists in Detroit after a 26-year absence. The convention attracted 3,016 journalists and media professionals to the city and ranks among the top five in attendance of NABJ’s conventions in the past 10 years.
