Get connected to your city

Our team of journalists is the same team that worked for the Seminole Voice, which delivered reliable news to the area for decades. When that newspaper and the Seminole Chronicale closed in 2014, it created an information desert.

Readers told us that before we arrived this year, they got most of their local information from Facebook and word of mouth. Not having a trusted, reliable news source in the community speads misinformation, creates division and leaves people feeling disconnected and powerless.

Our mission is to provide important, local information that makes people feel connected and empowered to shape their community. We're focusing on city hall matters and education because that's what readers told us they want to learn about. As we grow, we'll incorporate even more areas of interest that matter to you.

If you want to learn about decisions being made in your community, gain a deeper understanding of the issues affecting you and your neighbors and find out how you can be a bigger part of your city, The Early Bird newsletter is for you.

Reliable, local news at your convenience

We launched our free email newsletter, The Early Bird, in September and have delivered stories that break down complex issues moving through city hall.

With funding from our readers, local businesses and grants, we’ll be able to dive deeper into the local issues through investigative journalism and create explainer series that will help people form better connections to their community.

Sign-up for The Early Bird, local news and events delivered to your inbox every Thursday morning

Here's an example of our e-news

“Great publication with wonderful, local info. Appreciate all you do.”

Melissa Kweller

Owner of Green Acres Farm Oviedo

“Love, love the digital news of OCN. Never felt more connected to the community. You and your staff do a fantastic job.”

Fran Mulin

Member of Oviedo-Winter Springs Kiwanis

“Several people I hold in high regard observe your startup as highly regarded for honestly reporting the news, and not jaded alternatives of others who are poisoning our country."

Bob Miller

Former Winter Springs Commissioner and OCN Community Advisory Board member

Meet the team

We are the same team of journalists who brought you trusted, local news through the Seminole Voice years ago. We started Oviedo Community News as an independent, nonprofit newsroom because we saw that the community’s stories weren’t being told and important issues here were being ignored.

Megan Stokes has served as a community journalist for more than 15 years, including as associate editor for the East Orlando Sun and a reporter for the Seminole Voice, the Winter Park-Maitland Observer and Orlando Magazine. She served as treasurer for the Florida Press Club for seven years and has won awards from the Florida Press Association and the Society of Professional Journalists. Megan holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism at West Virginia University. She's a mother to two daughters and a cat named Buddy, who she rescued off the street in Geneva.

Isaac Babcock is a longtime local journalist and former managing editor of the Seminole Voice. His work has been featured in Golfweek magazine, the New York Times and Jalopnik. He has won more than a dozen Florida Press Association and Society of Professional Journalists awards and contributed to award-winning, in-depth work for the NPR member station 90.7 WMFE. He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Central Florida, and may be best known for his roles in the annual Oviedo Cemetery Tour. Isaac can often be spotted at community events with a camera slug around his neck.

Jenny Babcock is a communications and marketing professional and multimedia journalist who has worked in community newspapers, magazines and public radio. She previously managed communications and marketing strategy for Orlando’s NPR station, 90.7 WMFE, and served as managing editor and reporter for the Seminole Voice and Winter Park-Maitland Observer. She currently serves as marketing and communications manager for Habitat for Humanity Greater Orlando & Osceola County. She holds a master’s degree in business administration and bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Central Florida.

Alex Babcock’s career in journalism took off in Oviedo, where he created the Seminole Chronicle newspaper before taking the helm of the Oviedo Voice. He fell in love with the Greater Oviedo area through living there; attending community meetings, church sermons and festivals; and through many friendly chats. His tour in the Army brought that journalistic skill to Afghanistan and back, before he returned to Seminole County to raise a family. He’s a product of UCF’s journalism school and remains a loyal fan of the Knights.