Charmaine Runes

As WBEZ’s data/visuals reporter, Charmaine analyzes data and designs visualizations that contextualize stories and empower people.

Prior to moving to Chicago, Charmaine was a public policy researcher at the Urban Institute in Washington, DC, where she focused on the 2020 Census and the implications of potential miscounts; the implementation and impact of multi-generational anti-poverty interventions; and structural racism in policy, research, and evaluation. She has produced and presented data visualizations at multiple conferences, including the 2016 White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders data convening.

More recently, Charmaine served as South Side Weekly’s as its Director of Fact-checking; on the side, she reported and developed several data visualizations for the Weekly, often using Census data. She previously worked with the City of Chicago’s Chief Data Officer and Design Director to re-imagine the requester-side FOIA experience, and at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Chicago Department of Public Health to develop social media strategy and graphics. Charmaine has also covered local government as part of City Bureau’s Documenters network.

Charmaine graduated from Macalester College with a B.A. in Economics and the University of Chicago with a M.S. in Computational Analysis and Public Policy.