Colorado Community Media – made up of 23 publications serving cities and towns in the Denver metro area – is expanding.

The Denver North Star and the G.E.S. Gazette , established in 2019 and 2021 as free monthly publications and digital products, are joining the portfolio. The National Trust for Local News, Colorado Community Media’s parent company, completed the acquisition of those titles on Wednesday.

The monthly North Star is Denver’s largest neighborhood publication, and the G.E.S. Gazette, which transitioned to digital-only earlier this year, is a bilingual community publication serving the Globeville and Elyria-Swansea neighborhoods. They are in close geographic proximity to other publications operated by CCM, including the Washington Park Profile and Life on Capitol Hill.

The publications were owned and operated by David Sabados and his wife, Emma Donahue, and were founded in response to a lack of community media in North Denver, Sabados said. He told the Colorado Community Media staff during a meeting Wednesday that when they began looking for a buyer for the publications about a year ago, CCM immediately seemed like the right fit.

“We took a long look at Denver’s and the state’s media landscape of hyperlocal publications and ended up where we started: when we thought about who we trusted to keep the papers’ community feel and ensure their long-term viability, we knew they would be in good hands at CCM,” he said.

Sabados and Donahue will serve as advisers to aid in the transition. Editor Kathryn White and others involved with the North Star and Gazette also will continue working with the CCM operation.

“I’ve long been a fan of the Denver North Star and the G.E.S. Gazette, and what David and his team have done for that community,” Colorado Community Media Publisher Linda Shapley said. “I’m thrilled to take the baton and do what I can to make those publications even stronger.”

The plan is to soon merge the websites for the North Star and Gazette into Colorado Community Media’s site , which serves as the home for all of CCM’s two dozen titles – including the Arvada Press, Golden Transcript, Parker Chronicle and Littleton Independent, among others.

The acquisition of the G.E.S. Gazette is Colorado Community Media’s second publication serving Spanish-speaking audiences. CCM launched its first bilingual news product in January – La Ciudad , a newsletter in Spanish and English that primarily serves Commerce City. According to the Pew Research Center, 21% of the nation’s 65 million Hispanic adults get their news in Spanish.

The National Trust for Local News , a nonprofit dedicated to acquiring, transforming and conserving local newspapers, bought Colorado Community Media in 2021. In fact, Wednesday also was the three-year anniversary of that acquisition.