Mississippi Gulf Coast Bureau Reporter
Amy Schafer is the Mississippi Free Press’s Gulf Coast reporter in partnership with Report for America. Her coverage focuses on immigrant and working-class perspectives in the Gulf Coast. She graduated from Pennsylvania State University’s Schreyer Honors College in 2026 with bachelor’s degrees in advertising/public relations, global and international studies with a concentration in human rights and women’s, gender and sexuality studies. Prior to joining the Mississippi Free Press, she served as the editor-in-chief and business manager of Penn State’s student newspaper The Daily Collegian. She also worked as a freelance reporter for The Washington Post where she covered the extradition hearings for Luigi Mangione. Amy is a native of Douglassville, Pennsylvania. In her free time, she enjoys reading, swimming and watching football.