Feder: Block Club Chicago adds reporters Melody Mercado, Mack Liederman

With the addition of two new reporters, Block Club Chicago just expanded its full-time staff to 22. That's nearly a threefold increase since the nonprofit neighborhood news site launched in 2018.

The latest to sign on are Melody Mercado, who most recently was a reporter for the Des Moines Register, and Mack Liederman, former per-diem news writer at Nexstar Media WGN-Channel 9 and freelance contributor to Block Club Chicago.

Mercado, who hails from Belvidere, Illinois, and earned journalism degrees from Bradley University and DePaul University, began her career with WHO, the NBC affiliate in Des Moines. In her new role, she'll cover she'll cover the Loop, River North and West Loop neighborhoods.

Liederman, a native of Westfield, New Jersey, graduated from Vassar College and Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.

As a general assignment reporter, Liederman will "fill in the gaps in neighborhoods where we don't have full-time coverage yet and shining a light on the unsung Chicagoans who make the city tick, Executive Editor and co-founder Stephanie Lulay said.

• Get the full report, and more Chicago media news, at robertfeder.com.