— In age of shrinking media options, diversity is celebrated with launch of Urban Spectrum monthly news magazines in two metro areas —
Denver, CO — Communities of color in southern Mississippi and Maryland gained new voices this month with the launch of two monthly online news magazines, the Gulf Coast Urban Spectrum and Baltimore Urban Spectrum. The two inaugural publications featured African American mayors in unification with the Denver Urban Spectrum’s annual State of the City Address by Mayor Michael B. Hancock. The sister publications are all assessable from each respective website (www.denverurbanspectrum.com, www.gulfcoasturbanspectrum.com, www.baltimoreurbanspectrum.com).
DUS is recognized and sought after for its coverage about community events and multi-generational human interest stories around the Denver metro area, as well as its stories of national importance, such as politics, the plight of Black young men, and health epidemics – in America and abroad. Winning multiple journalism awards annually for the quality work of its contributors, the high value placed on the print and online publication by the whole community is proven year after year as the publisher is honored by local civic organizations for having long-term, positive impacts.
The two new Urban Spectrum publications plan to share the same significant service with their local areas. Gulf Coast Urban Spectrum Editor Gordon M. Jackson Jr. promises to bring a unique prism to life on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and surrounding areas, with a motto of “South Mississippi’s Dynamic Diversity”.
Primarily covering the three Mississippi coastal counties of Hancock, Harrison and Jackson, the news magazine’s coverage will also include upper southern Mississippi counties and cities, the Jackson metropolitan area and the northern part of the state, as well as New Orleans, Louisiana and Mobile, Alabama.
“We will especially be focusing on that ‘Dynamic Diversity’: the Coast’s people of color community, which consists mostly of a highly visible and progressive African American community, a diligent and industrious Asian community and a rapidly-growing Hispanic community,” Jackson explained in the inaugural issue, featuring stories about NAACP Interim President/CEO Derrick Johnson, Moss Point Mayor Mario King in Jackson County, the Girls and Boys Club Youth of the Year, and America’s first all-Black community of St. Augustine.
Baltimore Urban Spectrum Editor Tiffany C. Ginyard is excited about approaching her community’s stories from a fresh perspective – one of a longtime, dedicated advocate for people’s rights. The former managing editor of The Afro-American Newspapers, the “mothership of Black media” in Baltimore, described how her diverse community involvement will inform her editorial decisions.
“As a former Baltimore City Public School student, a former secondary English teacher, a mother, an adoptive parent, youth advocate, and fellow alum, who knows Baltimore’s story so intimately, I speak from the place of someone who has vicariously experienced the trauma of gang violence, drug addiction, illiteracy, mass incarceration, and poverty in an overcrowded classrooms,” Ginyard wrote in her inaugural issue, which featured stories about Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, the “Baltimore Ceasefire: Nobody Kill Anybody” campaign, playwright Ursula V. Battle, and more.
Reflecting on the successful launch of the two new Urban Spectrums, Publisher Harris concluded, “This opportunity to share a tried-and-true media source in other metropolitan areas is a dream comes true for many. Sharing this method of exposing mostly untold but valuable news with communities that have been craving such an outlet for years is truly a blessing.”
About Urban Spectrum
The award-winning Denver Urban Spectrum (www.denverurbanspectrum.com) is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. The popular, monthly news magazine bout people of color has been educating, entertaining and inspiring the Denver metro area and Colorado since 1987. The African American, woman-owned publication distributes 25,000 print editions plus an online version each month, attracting more than 60,000 readers. In August, two new Urban Spectrum publications were launched to bring the same quality community coverage to greater southern Mississippi and Maryland areas. The Gulf Coast Urban Spectrum (www.gulfcoasturbanspectrum.com) and Baltimore Urban Spectrum (www.baltimoreurbanspectrum.com) are just the beginning of improved information sharing and advertising opportunities, celebrating diversity in more metropolitan areas around the United States.
PRESS CONTACT:
Rosalind Harris, Publisher
303-292-6446
Publisher@urbanspectrum.net
