The Brian Lehrer Show’s on-air, online feature “Your Uncommon Economic Indicators” has been recognized as one of the most trusted stories about the recession in New York City by NewsTrust.net, a web site that helps people find good journalism online.

One of the brains behind the project, which relied on audience submissions, was Class of ’08 alum Annie Shreffler, online projects editor for WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show. The program hired her just days after she graduated from the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism in December 2008 to help develop the segments.

Here’s some background on the project written by Shreffler:

“In the early days of the recent economic crisis, television news showed the plunging Dow, rows of houses in foreclosure, and economists talking about “toxic assets.” At WNYC, host Brian Lehrer invited his listeners to create a different narrative. He asked, “What does the recession look like in your neighborhood, on your street, in your workplace?” The response was immediate and exceptional.

It was late January 2009, just months after experts declared the U.S. to be in the worst financial condition since the Great Depression. Brian directed his listeners to a web page the station created called “Your Uncommon Economic Indicators” at WNYC.org. Nearly a year later, it remains a destination for public radio listeners to learn about, map, and share personal observations of the economic collapse.

In just ten days the project had 8,000 page views. Listeners sent us stories and photos of anything they suspected was a result of the financial collapse. They told us how a new, typical elevator greeting became, “I still have a job,” as layoffs ensued and they reported on the unusually high number of young dads at kindergarten pickup. They told us their strategies for saving money on lunch and they documented the view of closed storefronts from New Jersey to Queens (including Madison Avenue). But perhaps most special of all, listeners shared their solutions for coping with tough financial change: dates at the grocery store, choosing a walk over a taxi, a church passing out money from their collection plates, librarians coaching hoards of job seekers, and vacationers staying close to home (or even AT home!).

“Your Uncommon Economic Indicators” has drawn together hundreds of listeners from New York City, parts of New Jersey, the Catskills, Connecticut, and Long Island, to view and share their observations in story, photo, and geographic form. The New York Times economics writer Steven Greenhouse called the story archive details that “would make up a great novel.”