Concentrate is a digital news magazine, and Washtenaw County institution, focused on the dynamic communities, businesses, and residents of Washtenaw County, Michigan. We cover what's next in entrepreneurship, creative culture, and urban development in and around the county, and are part of the Issue Media Group family.
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Concentrate is published by Issue Media Group. Incorporated in 2005 in Detroit, Michigan, IMG operates a national network of online media outlets leveraging the power of solutions-based journalism to report on community change. Our publications aim to connect readers to their communities’ most visionary and innovative people, projects, businesses, and organizations – fostering civic capacity, improving understanding of key issues, amplifying underserved voices, and building community attachment during a time of local media decline.
We work with like-minded stakeholders across public, private, nonprofit, and grassroots organizations whose values and missions align with ours through an underwriting model of publishing. Our journalists connect with community stakeholders through regular listening sessions designed to build trust and shape authentic community stories.
IMG's work has been recognized and supported by leading journalism organizations nationally including INC Magazine, Knight Foundation, Columbia Journalism Review, Facebook, Lenfest Institute, Google, Solutions Journalism Network, Ground Source, and Society for Professional Journalists.
A brief history of the Concentrate crew:
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Managing editor: Patrick Dunn
Patrick started writing for a startup newspaper in his hometown of Monroe, Michigan when he was still in high school. That paper is now defunct, but Patrick's career in journalism has taken off over the ensuing decade. Patrick has written for national publications including The A.V. Club and Paste, as well as a slew of Michigan-based publications including the Detroit News, the Ann Arbor Observer, Hour Detroit, Pulp, MLive, and Real Detroit Weekly. He started writing for Concentrate in 2012 and has since become a regular contributor to its sister publications, Model D and Metromode.
Patrick graduated from Wayne State University in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in journalism. He lives in Ann Arbor. When he's not pitching, editing, or writing stories, he can usually be found at the movies or in the woods.
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Managing photographer: Doug Coombe
Doug made the transition from longtime record store employee to photographer when he started to document the Detroit music scene in the early '90s. He started his photojournalism career with Orbit magazine and moved to the Metro Times in 1999. In addition to Metro Times Doug has photographed for Rolling Stone, SPIN, Mojo, The Wire, Billboard, Wax Poetics, and NME. Doug started photographing for Concentrate in 2010 and also is a regular contributor to its sister publications Metromode and Model D.
Doug studied photography at Washtenaw Community College after he got his degree in psychology from the University of Michigan. He lives in Ann Arbor. He is currently working on a photo book of his Detroit music photography. In addition to photography Doug has other expensive habits like buying old soul and jazz albums, vintage guitars and Criterion films. Check out his website or Instagram for more of his work.
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On the Ground Ypsilanti project manager: Sarah Rigg
Sarah has been involved in journalism since she began producing a one-page photocopied neighborhood "newspaper" in grade school, later reporting for and then editing her high school paper. She has worked on staff at Heritage Newspapers and the (now defunct) Ann Arbor Business Review and has written as a freelancer for various publications ranging from The Crazy Wisdom Journal to the News-Herald to AnnArbor.com. She began writing for Concentrate in February 2017.
When she isn’t writing for Concentrate or doing freelance reporting and editing for other publications, she can be found cuddling her cats, bicycling, doing jigsaw puzzles with her husband, or playing board games with friends.
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Chief news writer: Jaishree Drepaul-Bruder
Writing has always been a source of enchantment for Jaishree, who graduated from journalism school in 1998. Since then, she has worked for a number of consumer newsstand magazines and custom publications in both writing and editing capacities, and taught a writing course at Centennial College’s Center for Creative Communications in Toronto. Jaishree’s work has appeared in VerveGirl, Canadian Living, Homemaker’s Magazine, Chatelaine, IE Money, Today’s Parent, Wedding Bells, and Tribute, to name a few. She’s also a regular writer for the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research.
Aside from being wild for the written word, Jaishree is passionate about yoga (she’s a certified kundalini yoga teacher), and off-the-beaten-path travel (she recently spent close to five years as an expat in Southeast Asia). Her free time is spent stargazing, meditating on the sky, and forest-bathing (she’s always game for running away and joining the woods). She's currently based in Ann Arbor.