Jen was Deputy Editor and Director of Social Media at DNAinfo Chicago, a site she helped launch in 2012. Before joining DNA, Jen was HuffPost’s Chicago Editor and a breaking news reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times.  Jen also co-hosts The Girl Talk, a monthly conversation series and podcast featuring influential Chicago women.

Jen grew up in Chicago, attending Columbia College Chicago and Mother McAuley High School. Email Jen

Kelly is a Senior Editor for Block Club Chicago and leads the team’s coronavirus coverage. She was named Journalist of the Year in 2021 by the Chicago Journalists Association and was dubbed the city’s “Best Watchdog” by Chicago Magazine in recognition of her work covering COVID-19 for Block Club, which included an award-winning series on inequitable vaccine distribution at Loretto Hospital that prompted an FBI probe.

Kelly previously covered breaking news and crime as a reporter at DNAinfo Chicago, where she won awards for her photography and coverage of crime in the city.

She studied journalism at Northern Illinois University. Email Kelly

Hannah Boufford is the Newsletter and Hotline Manager for Block Club Chicago.

Hannah works with reporters to curate, build and send more than a dozen neighborhood newsletters each week. She also manages our text alerts and oversaw Block Club’s coronavirus hotline, which won the Community Champion Award for a large newsroom in INN’s 2021 Nonprofit News Awards and was a finalist for Best Solutions Project of the Year in the 2021 LION Publishers Local Journalism Awards.

Before joining Block Club full-time in 2020, Hannah was a Block Club news intern in 2019. She also interned at The Oregonian/OregonLive and CBS News in London while studying journalism and sociology at Indiana University.

Email Hannah.

Molly covers the far Northwest Side neighborhoods, including Portage Park, Jefferson Park, Norwood Park, Forest Glen and Sauganash. She previously worked as a reporter for the Times of Northwest Indiana and for the Wisconsin State Journal. 

Originally from Minneapolis, Molly earned degrees in journalism and environmental studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In her free time Molly loves biking around the city, exploring Cook County’s many forest preserves and listening to Johnny Cash. Email Molly

Before becoming the Social Media Editor at Block Club Chicago, Melissa was at WGN News as a digital content producer, covering breaking news, crime and trending stories. She started her career as a producer at KTIV in Sioux City, Iowa, where she covered the 2016 Iowa caucuses.

When she’s not in the newsroom, Melissa is doing all things pumpkin spice on Splash of Spooky — a website she created that shares Halloween news all year. 

Melissa is a Chicago native and a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Email Melissa

Patrick covers Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Wrigleyville, Old Town and Northalsted. Before joining Block Club, he worked at the Chattanooga Times Free Press in Tennessee and the Gillette News Record in Wyoming.

Originally from Elmwood Park, Patrick studied journalism at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. His work has been published by WBEZ, the Chicago Sun-Times, Paste Magazine, the Denver Post, American Songwriter and more. Outside of reporting, he spends his time reading, going to concerts, biking around the city and is trying really hard to keep his house plants alive. Email Patrick

Jon Hansen is the Executive Producer and Host of the “It’s All Good” podcast. Jon is also a host at WGN Radio, for CW26’s “Chicago Food to Go,” and the In-Arena Host for the Chicago Blackhawks. 

Previously, Jon appeared on “The Jam” and “You & Me” on WCIU, and was the Broadcast Editor for DNAinfo Chicago. Jon is a native of Downers Grove and went to the University of Illinois. He also worked as a communication staffer on Capitol Hill. 

Jon and his husband live in Roscoe Village, and Jon enjoys golfing, cooking — though he excels in neither. Jon is a self-proclaimed expert at the “Price is Right” and “Wheel of Fortune” and can often be heard screaming at the television when contestants do poorly. Email Jon

Zack joined Block Club Chicago after six years at the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times and with 14 years experience in advertising and sales in the Chicago market.

At the Sun-Times, he oversaw the digital advertising strategy and execution for the organization and helped transform the Sun-Times digital product into a viable platform for advertising partners to speak to readers. 

Zack was born and raised in the western suburbs of Chicago and currently lives there with his wife and two daughters. He studied at Illinois State University and earned a degree in Mass Communications. Email Zack

A lifelong Chicagoan, Gwen Ihnat was a writer and editor for The A.V. Club, the pop-culture arm of The Onion, for several years, eventually becoming the editorial coordinator there, as well as the assistant managing editor of Onion food site The Takeout. She was also an editor at the Chicago History Museum for nearly a decade.

Most recently she has been a writer and editor in the newsroom at WBBM, Chicago’s only all-news radio station, and has also written for publications like Entertainment Weekly, The Wrap and Primetimer.com. She lives in Ravenswood with her husband, teen twins and pandemic puppy. Email Gwen

Mack is a writer for Block Club Chicago covering a little bit of everything. He reports on the role of sports in community, quirky local happenings and unsung Chicagoans who make the city tick.

Originally from New Jersey, Mack earned his master’s in journalism from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s in political science from Vassar College, where he also led The Miscellany News, one of the oldest student newspapers in the country. Email Mack.

Melody Mercado covers the Loop, West Loop, Gold Coast and River North for Block Club Chicago. 

She started her career as a television reporter at NBC affiliate WHO13 News, where she played an integral role in covering the Iowa Caucus and the racial justice protests of 2020. She later covered the Des Moines city government, with a focus on local policy and its effect on the community for the Des Moines Register.

Melody is an Illinois native from Belvidere, and has a B.A. from Bradley University and a M.A. from DePaul University, both in journalism. Email Melody

Taylor Faye joined Block Club after 3.5 years at WBEZ, where she started on the membership team and eventually went on to lead their first-ever digital audience engagement program and guest host for Vocalo radio. Prior to joining WBEZ, she worked as an organizer for Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign, where her team’s advocacy resulted in the closure of 70 coal plants across the country. Before that, she was a youth social worker and had knees that didn’t creak.

Taylor Faye is a lifelong Chicagoan, born and raised in Beverly. She spends her free time biking, trying to read more books and scouring the city for “real” sourdough. Email Taylor

Luriel is a homegrown Chicagoan who focuses on streamlining processes at Block Club as Operations Manager.

Before joining Block Club, he worked on the public affairs team for Noble Schools where he worked closely with community stakeholders, parents and school leaders to ensure that all students have equitable and positive school experiences.

Luriel graduated from Tufts University and spends his time perfecting his pizza recipes with his partner and dog. Email Luriel

Manny Ramos is an investigative reporter for Block Club Chicago’s The Watch and examines inequity on the South and West Sides. He previously worked as a reporter for the Illinois Answers Project and the Chicago Sun-Times. His work has won both national and local awards. He studied journalism and digital cinema at DePaul University.

Manny is a lifelong Chicagoan and now lives on the Northwest Side. When he’s not writing, he’s probably thinking about baseball, reading a comic book or listening to indie Hip Hop and R&B. Email Manny

Atavia covers Englewood, Auburn Gresham and Chatham for Block Club Chicago. She previously worked as a suburban reporter at the Chicago Tribune, covering Highland Park and Deerfield, Illinois. Atavia’s work has appeared in USA TODAY, VICE, the Chicago Reader, The A.V. Club, South Side Weekly and more. She studied journalism at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and minored in creative writing.

A South Side native, Atavia was raised in the Ashburn neighborhood, where she spent her afternoons at Gerties and her evenings at the Ford City theatre. When she’s not reporting, she enjoys discussing good eats and bad movies. Email Atavia

Pascal Sabino covers North Lawndale and Austin. He was previously the Environment, Health & Wellness Editor for the Real Chi, a West Side local news lab with a mission of providing equitable, accountable news coverage for Chicago communities misrepresented by traditional media narratives.

As part of the City Bureau Reporting Fellowship, Pascal reported on the impact of Section 8 vouchers on affordable housing in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side. Before returning to his hometown, Pascal worked as an editor for international business publications in Turkey, the UAE, Oman and Indonesia. Pascal is a 2015 graduate of Pomona College in Claremont, Calif. Email Pascal

Lizzie joined Block Club Chicago after nearly five years at the Chicago Sun-Times, where she oversaw digital strategy in the newsroom as Director of Audience Engagement, advanced suntimes.com’s digital subscription model as Director of Digital Growth, and eventually joined the executive leadership team as the VP of Marketing. She was previously part of the founding editorial team at DNAinfo Chicago, where she worked as a neighborhood reporter and senior editor.

Lizzie was born and raised in the western suburbs of Chicago and studied journalism at Northwestern University while moonlighting in newsrooms across the city, from NBC5 to the Chicago Reporter to WBEZ. Email Lizzie

Joe covers Uptown, Rogers Park, Edgewater and Andersonville for Block Club Chicago. Prior to joining the team at Block Club, Joe worked at DNAinfo Chicago as a breaking news reporter and later as the Bridgeport reporter. His work has also appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Reader, Chicago Magazine, Belt Magazine and elsewhere. He studied journalism at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 

Joe is a native of the Mt. Greenwood neighborhood. Despite his South Side roots, Joe has come to love the North Side. In fact, his (and his dog, Scout’s) favorite place in the city is the Montrose Dog Beach and his favorite place to grab a bite, Chicago Joe’s, is in North Center. Email Joe