Our people

At Kensington Voice, our team is scrappy – i.e., someone once called us "the little community newspaper that could"–, but we have worked and will continue to work hard to make an impact.

When committing salaries to paid staff, our priorities include:

Creating opportunities for people with lived experience and residency in the North Philly neighborhoods we serve
Facilitating workforce development for individuals and groups historically denied publishing power and media industry inclusion
Providing leadership opportunities for people and groups historically excluded from formal, paid leadership roles

For members of our advisory board, each of whom receive a very small annual stipend for their service, we prioritize lived experience and residence over fundraising experience.

Executive Staff

Executive Director & Editor

Jill Bauer-Reese / jill@kensingtonvoice.com / 215-385-3392

Jill Bauer-Reese is an educator, journalist, social worker, and, more than anything, a media harm reductionist. She oversees Kensington Voice while working full-time as an associate professor of journalism at Temple University's Klein College of Media and Communication.

Jill's work focuses on the impact of local journalism on the quality of life in geographically defined communities. She draws inspiration from her parents; her dad is a writer born and raised in the far Northeast (Mayfair), and her mom is a social worker from South Philly. She holds an MSW in Macro Practice in Organizations, Communities, and Policy Arenas, an MPH in Social and Behavioral Sciences, an MS in Interactive Design and Media, and a BA in Journalism. She also holds a graduate certificate in Community Practice from the Association for Community Organization and Social Action (ACOSA).

When she's not working, she enjoys gardening and relaxing outdoors with her husband, daughters, and chihuahua/rat-terrier mix Wally.

Newsroom Staff

Accountability Reporter

Emily Rizzo / emily@kensingtonvoice.com / 215-436-8244‬

Emily Rizzo began her career in film and audio documentary production. Her first job in Philadelphia was at PhillyCAM’s community radio station. She then worked as a reporter for WHYY, where she covered Philadelphia’s suburban counties. There she reported on everything from censorship in education, housing insecurity, to a small town’s fight against the sale of its sewer system. She brought local stories to a national audience on NPR, and produced an episode on WHYY’s education podcast; “From COVID to censorship: How a right-wing book ban took hold in Bucks County.” More recently for Chalkbeat, she dug into Philadelphia’s tax break program for developers and its failure to deliver benefits to Philly students.

She’s invested in holding powerful people and institutions accountable, while centering marginalized and working class voices. She looks forward to continuing to follow the city’s plans for Kensington and listening to community stakeholders.

Special Projects Reporter

Sammy Caiola / sammy@kensingtonvoice.com / ‪971-910-6050

Before Sammy joined Kensington Voice, she was most recently a gun violence prevention reporter at WHYY News in Philadelphia. She is an adjunct professor at Temple University (podcasting) and a senior fellow with the University of Southern California's Domestic Violence Impact Fund. In 2022 she was a mentor with The Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting Credible Messenger Program,

Sammy strives to create journalism that facilitates healing and empowerment for people impacted by trauma. She became interested in this while reporting and hosting "After the Assault", a participatory journalism podcast about healing from sexual violence produced by Capital Public Radio.

She was a 2023 Ochberg fellow with the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. She is also the co-host of "Stop and Frisk: Revisit or Resist", a Murrow Award-winning podcast about policing and public safety.

At Kensington Voice she focuses on law enforcement accountability and a span of public health issues including gun violence and sexual assault. When not doing that, she enjoys participating in community musical theatre and hiking with her lab, Pepper.

Program Staff

Community Art and Engagement Coordinator

John Zerbe / jczerbe@gmail.com

J.C. Zerbe is an artist, community activator, and advocate. Known for his graphic lines and expressionistic style work, he has managed to fuse street art elements with his techniques while using lines to create waves of energy throughout his work. Zerbe's focus and passion are directed toward community building and social change.

The neighborhood of Kensington in Philadelphia is where you can often find Zerbe painting, participating in neighborhood projects, or connecting with the community. Zerbe has also led art workshops to bring healing to those experiencing addiction, homelessness, or other forms of ongoing trauma. His work inspires and provokes movement toward social change within Kensington and beyond.

Zerbe was born in Thailand and came to the USA at age 4. He was raised in Central PA, where he graduated from Selinsgrove Area High School. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the Army, receiving an honorable discharge after 3 years of service. He later moved to Philadelphia, where he pursued an art career, attending the Art Institute of Philadelphia and later completing a mural program with Mural Arts. Since then, he has branched out into various neighborhoods and continues working with communities by using art to connect with self and others.

Youth Voices Coordinator

Khysir Carter / khy@kensingtonvoice.com / ‪215-385-3115

Khysir Carter is a multimedia journalist, writer, and editor from Kensington. He has worked for Kensington Voice for nearly four years, writing community-based articles and building partnerships with local neighborhood organizations such as the New Kensington Community Development Corporation (NKCDC) and Youth United for Change (YUC). A lot of his work in KV is centered around engaging with youth to assist them in finding their creative expression through writing and multimedia.

Youth Voices Media Assistant

Maddy Nieves

Maddy Nieves, a lifelong resident of Kensington, graduated from Mastbaum High School and has deep roots in their community. Over the course of two years, they actively participated in Stay True, supporting food drives, clothing drives, and various community initiatives throughout the tristate area. Additionally, Maddy was involved in Kensington Voice programs during their youth.

A self-taught audio editor with a passion for journalism, digital art, video recording, and photography, Maddy enjoys exploring interests such as reading, writing, music, and indulging in a good horror movie. They contribute their skills to programming, audio and video recording, and photo editing.

Administrative Staff

The administrative staff are provided as needed through our fiscal sponsorship agreement with the Federation of Neighborhood Centers (FNC).

Executive Director, FNC Philly

Michael Harbison / michaelh@fncphilly.org

Michael is responsible for the oversight of FNC’s 50+ city programs, including Kensington Voice.

He is responsible for the following:

Executing contracts
Fundraising support
Strategic planning

Contact Michael at michaelh@fncphilly.org.

Chief Financial Officer, FNC Philly

Adam Wilder / adamw@fncphilly.org

Adam Wilder is responsible for the fiscal and operational oversight of FNC’s 50+ city programs, including Kensington Voice.

He is responsible for the following:

Incoming and outgoing payments
Insurance certificates
Hiring/termination paperwork
Payroll and benefits

Contact Adam at adamw@fncphilly.org.

Community Partners

Our partnerships vary in nature and depend on the project. Some are ongoing relationships (i.e., our newspaper distribution partners), and others are time-bound (i.e., collaborative grant-funded projects).

See below for some of our recent partners.

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Wondering how we support our work? Check out our funders >>