Lillian Hernández Caraballo
ReporterLilly is a bilingual, multimedia journalist covering housing and homelessness for Central Florida Public Media, as a Report for America corps member. Before joining public radio, she was an editor at Hometown News and an associate producer at Spectrum News 13 — a Top 20 TV market.
Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Lilly moved to Central Florida as an adult, where she graduated University of Central Florida with degrees in journalism, writing and rhetoric, and Hispanic media. At UCF, she served as editor-in-chief for NSM Today, the institution's student-led news outlet, now called The Charge. While there, she also hosted, managed, and web produced WUCF's “The Road to Freedom Avenue: The Legacy of Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore,” a student project and audio series that won a National Edward R. Murrow Award in 2022 for Excellence in Digital Reporting, a 2021 Sunshine State Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Broadcast Education Association's 2021 Best in Show award for Student Audio.
Lilly serves as vice president of her National Association of Hispanic Journalists' local chapter board and as vice president of the Report for America Council. Most recently, she received a 2024 Florida Association of Broadcast Journalists award for her political coverage on Central Florida's property taxes.
Feel free to contact Lilly via email at lhernandez@cfpublic.org.
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Central Florida Public Media is covering the day of protests in communities across the region. -
Tim McKinney has been working with the “forgotten community” of Bithlo, asking for homeless shelters, especially now with Florida’s camping ban. -
Republican Debbie Mayfield won former seat of now-Congressman Randy Fine, who won a special election to replace U.S. Congressman Mike Waltz. -
Cumulatively, the last 10 quarterly reports show rate increases of about 30% statewide and 40% in Central Florida since 2022. -
A group of 23 households in the Miller Lake area filed a lawsuit against 10 real estate developers over flooding concerns. -
As state Republicans discuss reducing or even eliminating property taxes, progressive-leaning local leaders are voicing concerns. -
The Miami Beach-based microtransit service, Freebee, is offering 35 vehicles for close to $5M a year. This could mean savings for the county but also higher fares. -
$100 million will go to stormwater infrastructure, remaining funds to help with home damages. -
Orlando remains the country’s fastest-growing large metro in the U.S., but urban sprawl has made it hard for public bus transit to keep up. -
At its apogee, the protest had about 1,000 people speaking out against Pres. Trump’s administration and its policies that, they said, violate human rights. -
Overall, homelessness case numbers are on par with last year for Orange, Seminole, and Osceola counties. Nearly half of them are children and seniors. -
The 2025 Gap Report showed the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford Metro Statistical Area only has 19 affordable units for every 100 households.
