New news source for Boston-area minority communities in the works

Dan Kennedy reports that Yawu Miller and Claudio Martinez are planning the Greater Boston News Bureau "with the aim of supporting local news outlets that serve communities of color in and around Boston."

Miller was senior editor of the Black-focused Bay State Banner until his uncle Melvin sold it to a local group last year. Miller continued writing for the Banner and will keep doing so even after his new effort is launched, only now his byline will include the bureau's name.

Martinez is executive director of a Lynn group working to help local students prepare for college.

The two won a $400,000 grant last year to help them start up their new venture, which will report and produce "politics, public policy, community development, economic justice, criminal justice, race and social justice" that will then be offered for free to other news outlets in the area.