Melba Newsome

Melba Newsome is an independent journalist and editor, writing for the Charlotte Observer. Her project will be a series of reports focused on the underlying racial and ethnic disparities around the opioid crisis in North Carolina. Ms. Newsome will examine how most state resources to address the scourge of the opioid epidemic are overwhelmingly targeted at whites in suburban and rural communities. The North Carolina plan has not changed even while the face of the epidemic has shifted to Black and brown communities, who have been dying from opioid-related overdoses at a higher rate than whites. Among other things, Ms. Newsome will look at drug choices, types of insurance, distrust and quality of care, and harm-reduction measures being used to fight the epidemic in North Carolina.