The Clayton Crescent will have a new look and feel as of Wednesday, April 6.
A redesign of the site is nearing completion, which also includes improved functionality for both staff and readers.
Executive Editor and CEO Robin Kemp said, “The goal of the new site design is to present The Clayton Crescent as the professional news operation that it is. Because of the nature of the coverage emergency when The Clayton Crescent was launched in April 2019, we did not have the luxury of creating a traditional news presentation for the site, nor of securing a board and sources of nonprofit funding for day-to-day operations and staffing.
“Thanks to the generosity of our supporters in Clayton County and across the country, as well as grants and matching funds we earned during last fall’s Newsmatch campaign, we were able to hire technical consultants to help redesign the site and to do the heavy lifting required behind the scenes for a project of this scale.”
The new site will look similar to other nonprofit news sites in our peer group, such as The Current (Savannah) and Atlanta Civic Circle. It will feature a cleaner, more newspaper-like look, blazing-fast load times, and an improved mobile interface, among other changes.
“The entire point of this redesign is to elevate the user experience,” Kemp said. “We are proud that our readers can find local news on the home page without having to click through several menus and a flurry of pop-up ads to get to the information they need. We hope this will make it easier for our readers to find city- and issue-related news and information in a fraction of the time.”
During the project, Kemp was diagnosed with, had surgery for, and continues to recover from uterine cancer, in addition to her regular duties. Today, her surgeon said the pathology reports show the cancer was caught at Stage IA, with “no evidence of metastatic carcinoma, micrometastatic carcinoma or isolated tumor cells.”
Kemp will continue recovery for the next few weeks under doctor’s orders, working as she is able.
“While it’s a lot to run The Clayton Crescent on a normal day, the past few weeks have posed additional challenges,” Kemp acknowledged. “However, the show must go on, and we did not want to delay the relaunch at this critical moment.”
Kemp also serves on the board of the Atlanta Press Club, which has provided material support to her during her recovery, as has the Clayton Crescent Board of Trust.
“Thank you, everybody, for your understanding and patience in recent weeks,” Kemp said. “I especially want to thank Kristi Wooten, the Atlanta Press Club, Richard and Debbie Griffiths, Linda Crissey, Charlton Bivins, GlenNeta Griffin, and Tammy Joyner, as well as the crew at APC for their support. And I want to say thanks to my colleagues at other news outlets here in town and around the state for your help, both in the field and personally, during this time.”
The Clayton Crescent is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501 (c)(3) and is a member of the Institute for Nonprofit News.
