Michael Tortorello

Mar 7, 2024 | sahanjournal.com | Michael Tortorello

Sahan Journal provides communities of color withfree, fair, and responsive journalism that showseveryone the way to a more equitable Minnesota. Founded in August of 2019 by Mukhtar M. Ibrahim, Sahan Journal is a nationally recognized nonprofit digital newsroom dedicated to reporting for immigrants and communities of color in Minnesota.

Feb 28, 2024 | sahanjournal.com | Amina Musa |Michael Tortorello

Photographer Yasmin Yassin seems to see everyone in Minnesota eye-to-eye: say, a small-town mayor in rural Minnesota, or a synchronized swimming crew. She may not share a history with any of these individuals. Yasmin landed in south Minneapolis by way of Canada. She was formally trained in the sciences, taking a degree in microbiology and genetics, and then a master’s in public health at John Hopkins University.

Jan 18, 2024 | sahanjournal.com | Michael Tortorello

Sahan Journal is a nonprofit digital newsroom dedicated to reporting for immigrants and communities of color in Minnesota. Our diverse staff creates exceptional journalism: coverage that truly represents the changing face of Minnesota and recognizes that democratic engagement and power belong to everyone. Sahan’s stories reach audiences across many platforms, including our website, social media, newsletters, text/SMS, TikTok and Reels, and community events.

Oct 29, 2023 | sahanjournal.com | Michael Tortorello

Mukhtar M. Ibrahim spent almost a decade reporting for legacy newsrooms before he made a leap to try something different. Mainstream journalism, he’d found, failed to cover immigrant communities like his own; when other news sites did publish stories about people of color, they often did more harm than good. Though Mukhtar had never worked as an editor or publisher, that realization inspired him to quit his job in 2019 and found his own digital news startup.

Oct 18, 2023 | sahanjournal.com | Amina Musa |Michael Tortorello

On one of the last scorching weeknights in August, with temperatures hitting 100 degrees, Minneapolis hosted an outdoor Somali concert at Lake Harriet. Somali music events usually take place at night and tend to occur in conjunction with political events. This event, “Som-Fest: Somali Cultural and Music night,” attracted some of the community’s political leaders. But the event focused on a different kind of unity—a gathering of Somali Minnesotans of different ages and regional backgrounds.