Kansas

Simone Garza

Simone Garza is covering economic mobility in the African-American community in Wichita, Kansas for The Community Voice. Garza’s reporting career had its start at the University of Iowa in 2019, when she enrolled in the school’s mass communication and journalism programs. There, she reported on research projects for The Daily Iowan, held two internships for digital marketing, with a woman-owned business and blogging for environmental research. Garza holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism with a minor in philosophy.

Jacob Martin

Jacob Martin covers the criminal justice system and African-American communities in Kansas City, Missouri for The Community Voice, a statewide bi-weekly that reports on Black and African-American news in Kansas and Missouri. Prior to joining The Community Voice, Martin worked as a general assignments reporter with KCUR, where he covered breaking news in Kansas City, and the Shawnee Mission Post, covering COVID-19 trends in the community. Before moving to Kansas City he lived in Brooklyn, New York (by way of Louisville, Kentucky). He holds a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Louisville, where he wrote for The Louisville Cardinal, the student newspaper.

The Community Voice

The Community Voice is a bi-weekly, state-wide publication that targets Kansas' African-American community. The publication was founded in 1993, and purchased by the Gooch family in 1996. The publication was originally a monthly, and has been bi-weekly for almost two decades. Until 2015, our coverage area was predominately the Wichita community, but we've expanded into the Kansas City market, focusing heavily on the Kansas side of the metropolitan area. Again, in response to a request to expand, we formally expanded our coverage in 2018 to include the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area.

The Community Voice

The Community Voice is a bi-weekly, state-wide publication that targets Kansas’ African-American community. The publication was founded in 1993, and purchased by the Gooch family in 1996. The publication was originally a monthly, and has been bi-weekly for almost two decades. Until 2015, our coverage area was predominately the Wichita community, but we’ve expanded into the Kansas City market, focusing heavily on the Kansas side of the metropolitan area. Again, in response to a request to expand, we formally expanded our coverage in 2018 to include the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area.

Celia Hack

Celia Hack reports on local government for The Wichita Beacon, a nonprofit news site in Wichita, Kansas. Prior to this, she interned for EcoRI News in Providence, Rhode Island, covering local government and environmental issues. Hack earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown University in 2021, where she worked as a reporter and section editor for The Brown Daily Herald. Her outstanding accomplishments earned her a second place award from the university honoring excellence in journalism. Hack is from Westwood, Kansas and has covered local government, criminal justice and education as a freelancer for the Shawnee Mission Post and for The Journal, a publication of the Kansas Leadership Center, a nonprofit in Wichita. As a research assistant, Hack has worked for Global Energy Monitor, a nonprofit collecting data on worldwide fossil fuel projects, and for the Climate and Development Lab, a think tank researching climate policy and politics.

Malcolm Carter

Malcolm Carter covers African-American communities with a focus on the criminal justice system for The Community Voice, a statewide publication based in Wichita, Kansas. Previously, he assisted in the research and the implementation of media strategies for the Association of Black Organizations in Detroit, his hometown. Carter is a 2021 graduate of Hampton University with a bachelor's degree in journalism. While there, Carter was the project director of the athletic marketing team, responsible for planning and developing projects supporting “Respect The H,” a TV show featuring university sports. Carter traveled with the teams and the university's award-winning Marching Force Band, documenting games and performances from the sidelines.

Rafael Garcia

Rafael Garcia is a journalist for The Wichita Beacon, a nonprofit digital news organization in Wichita, Kansas. He covers local and state education issues, and hopes to focus on the future of education as the state rebounds from the pandemic. Prior to working at The Beacon, Garcia reported on K-12 and higher education for The Topeka Capital-Journal and The Manhattan Mercury in Kansas. His stories on equity-and-access issues, declining enrollment and educator shortages have been published across Gannett Kansas' network of papers. A Kansas native, Garcia's love of donuts helped him win a first place award from the Kansas Press Association for a feature he wrote about an estate sale at the site of a donut shop that closed long ago, but is filled with memories. A first-generation college graduate, Garcia was three-time editor-in-chief of The Kansas State Collegian at Kansas State University.

Stefania Lugli

Stefania Lugli is a watchdog and community reporter for The Wichita Beacon, a nonprofit online news outlet in Wichita, Kansas. She covers Wichita communities that have been forgotten by the local media. This multimedia reporter has worked as a metro correspondent for The Boston Globe, and earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Emerson College in 2020. Born into a Venezuelan family, Lugli grew up in Cape Coral, Florida, is fluent in Spanish and is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. She interned with The GroundTruth Project and with the GBH News Center for Investigative Reporting in Boston. In 2019 she won a scholarship to participate in the Knight Foundation’s NAHJ Student Project. Lugli enjoys being a plant mama and is waiting for the day she can swim with the manatees.

The Community Voice

The Community Voice is a bi-weekly, state-wide publication that targets Kansas’ African-American community. The publication was founded in 1993, and purchased by the Gooch family in 1996. The publication was originally a monthly, and has been bi-weekly for almost two decades. Until 2015, our coverage area was predominately the Wichita community, but we’ve expanded into the Kansas City market, focusing heavily on the Kansas side of the metropolitan area. Again, in response to a request to expand, we formally expanded our coverage in 2018 to include the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area.

The Wichita Beacon

The Wichita Beacon is a nonprofit, digital-only news outlet based Wichita, Kansas, launching in Summer 2021. Our mission: To spur reforms in the public interest by shining light on wrongdoings and abuse by government, businesses and other institutions in the region through in-depth, solutions-driven journalism. The Beacon’s sister newsroom in Kansas City was founded in April 2019 and began publishing in early 2020.