The UpTake is a nonprofit news organization focused on using community journalism as a tool to build racial and social justice. Founded in 2007, The Uptake is a leader in Minnesota statehouse coverage, ensuring that important debate and decision-making is accessible to diverse communities. While our coverage primarily focuses on social movement coverage and social issues, a large component of our work is the training of individuals on how to report on their communities. Through these efforts, journalists-in-training explore and become experienced with the tools, practices, and tactics of community journalism through an experiential and paid training program.

The UpTake is a deeply collaborative organization working to create partnerships and connections among community media and between community members and community media. The UpTake is a founding member of the Twin Cities Community Media Collaborative, and a co-producer of both “The Quilt: Policy, Art, and Healing” as well as the MinneAsian Stories Podcast. 

Founded in Saint Paul, Minnesota, The UpTake was baptized in the turmoil of the 2008 Republican National Convention and the prolonged 2008-09 recount battle between US Senator Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger (and eventual winner) Al Franken. The UpTake’s community journalists have played a central role in bringing these and other important stories to Twin Cities’ communities and national audiences. 

The UpTake has earned a reputation for pioneering many of the new-media techniques that had become synonymous with citizen journalism. This has brought recognition and awards from such groups as the Center for Public Integrity, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Freedom of The Press Foundation. 

The Uptake believes that journalism has a strong role to play in educating underserved communities about important social issues, and that members of those communities should be empowered to tell those stories. Through collaboration and training, The Uptake serves as a high-quality news organization that is building the future of local journalism at the grassroots level.