Caitlin Cress
Reporter
Caitlin Cress writes across all of the desks for The Hale Center, which means that you'll see a lot of her across this site. She has written for various publications like Ink magazine and the Kansas City Star. She enjoys writing and enjoys copy editing even more. Caitlin earned undergraduate degrees in English literature and public relations writing from Missouri Western State University and a master's degree in English, with a focus in manuscripts, print culture and editing, from UMKC. She enjoys cooking, baking, eating and watching too much TV.
Stories by Caitlin Cress
Meet a mayor that makes time to read with kids every week
Video by Lindsey Foat and John McGrath, story by Caitlin Cress | The Hale Center for Journalism As part of the national American Graduate initiative, KCPT is highlighting several community leaders and educators who are making significant, scalable changes to prepare students for success in K-12 and beyond.These stories of local education champions will air…
Comic book fans, producers embrace digital versions but still preserve print issues
Jim Cavanaugh has owned Clint’s Comics in midtown Kansas City for 39 years. He has seen the stores around his Main Street storefront come and go, and said that his store is the only one that remains in the area from the 1960s. While other media businesses like book and movie rental stores have gone…
Ladies-only camp gets women fired up about the great outdoors
Michelle Manning is sporting a huge bruise on the inside of her upper arm. She shows it off, pulling up her shirt sleeve to expose the injury that she refers to as her “prized possession.” While learning how to shoot a bow and arrow earlier, Manning accidentally snapped her arm with the bow string, which…
The Makerista uses entrepreneurial hustle to build blog readership
Less than a year after publishing her first post, lifestyle blogger Gwen Hefner has received national recognition that many entrepreneurs would envy. She was chosen to participate in Creating With the Stars, an annual contest for do-it-yourself bloggers, and was selected as one of the top five decorating blogs by “Better Homes and Gardens.” And,…
Fine artists build business skills, community through Artist INC
The business side of a fine arts career is complicated: the process of filing multiple tax forms, writing grant proposals, building websites and marketing often falls on the shoulders of the artist, most of whom don’t hold degrees in business. These processes are complex, time-consuming and often difficult to navigate for the uninitiated. Without these…
Entrepreneurs will develop smart city technology for KC in ‘living lab’
Mayor Sly James’ office announced a new partnership between Kansas City, Missouri, and Cisco’s Smart+Connected Communities program this week under the banner Connected and Innovative Kansas City. The partnership is being touted as a major step toward Kansas City becoming the nation’s most entrepreneurial city by Mayor James in a press release from his office….
Bigs, Littles bridge time between visits with tech
Big Brother Tom Cowherd and his Little Brother Aaron, now 18, have been matched for 10 years — paired in the youth mentorship program at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Kansas City. They have spent the past decade playing football, fishing and going to movies. Aaron’s mother, Kathy Wilmes, enrolled Aaron in the BBBS-KC…
Instructors, digital professionals debate value of social media certification
Liesl Christman is the digital content specialist for the Kansas City Public Library system. She is in charge of managing, among other things, website content and all social media accounts, like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. She has no formal social media training. “To be fair,” she said, “when I started college, it was 1998. Social…
JCC to host interfaith service of unity, hope
An interfaith unity service to honor the victims of Sunday’s shootings will be held 10 a.m. Thursday at the Jewish Community Campus’ White Theatre. Clergy from different faith communities across the metro will lead the 45-minute service. Three community members were killed Sunday afternoon in shootings at two locations: Overland Park’s Jewish Community Center…
24-hour hackathon leads to new websites for nonprofits
Web pro Meg Adams stayed up for 24 hours to help design a new website for Kansas City Actors Theatre. (Photo by Caitlin Cress/Hale Center for Journalism) Caitlin Cress — The Hale Center for Journalism The project space at Think Big Partners in the Crossroads is packed: the open…