Economic mobility in the African-American community in 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.

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.