It’s been one year since the Bay State Banner, Boston’s weekly newspaper primarily geared towards Black and Latino communities, changed ownership. Its founder and publisher, Melvin B. Miller, sold the paper to journalist Ron Mitchell and filmmaker Andre Stark.

In that time, the Banner has switched up its print format and built new partnerships.

And it’s not done yet.

“Andre and I have really focused on trying to expand the coverage as much as we could,” Mitchell told GBH’s Morning Edition co-host Paris Alston Wednesday.

Media organizations owned and run by people of color — like The Banner, which Miller founded in 1965 — play a vital role in American life, Mitchell said.

“Early on in the development of this nation, the image of Black folks in media was very, very bad,” Mitchell said. “The Black papers, and the different material that was printed by Black printers and the Black media of that day, told our true stories, the images of us, the good news, the bad news. We stand on the shoulders of that history.”

That role is especially important now, he said.

“It is imperative that our stories continue to be told, now more than ever,” he said. “If the media continues to do its job like GBH, like the Banner, like many, many publications, and tell the truth about our nation and our culture and our people, the electorate will make good decisions. It’s all on the line now. I don’t mean to sound negative, but it’s all on the line.”

Mitchell said he’s proud of the paper’s refurbished arts, culture and sports sections. The newspaper has created a digital art gallery, in partnership with the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the City of Boston.

“We’ve always had an arts and culture section in the paper, the Banner did for many, many years prior to our ownership,” he said. “But the other thing that we added was a virtual art gallery. We did a full profile of each artist.”

They also brought back the sports pages.

“One of the first things we stumbled on when Andre and I started going through the old archives was a sports section,” he said. “Boston is a super-duper sports city, so we were really excited.”

On the business side, they’ve redesigned the physical paper into a larger broadsheet and hired Colin Redd, digital sales manager, from Blavity to help put in digital ads and streaming video.

They’ve also hired a new managing editor, Jamyra Perry, from the Philadelphia Tribune, one of the nation’s oldest Black newspapers.

Their expansion comes at a time when other newspapers are shrinking and cutting staffs. GBH, too, recently announced layoffs of 31 people and programing changes for the long running show Basic Black, formerly known as Say Brother, the nation’s first public television show geared towards people of color. GBH CEO Susan Goldberg said that the show’s production would cease immediately as it is being reinvented for digital-first programing.

“I know that it’s [Basic Black] not officially gone forever, so that’s good news,” Mitchell said. “I don’t necessarily feel personally that it needs to be reimagined, but I understand in this media market, you have to tell the stories in as many ways that you can.”

He said he looks forward to seeing what GBH does with the show in the future.

“If the goal is to diversify and magnify the stories and figure out better ways to get the stories out there and to tell our story, then that’s a good thing,” he said. “I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Lee Hill, the [executive editor] here. And I look forward to what the reimagining of the show is. I’m confident that if Lee’s allowed to do what he wants to do, that what will come of it — and I personally haven’t spoken to him about this issue.”

So how are Mitchell and Stark celebrating their first year of owning The Banner? With a gala Thursday night at the Bolling Building in Nubian Square. Tickets start at $150 and are available on the newspaper’s website.

“It’s a fundraiser for BlackFacts educational history tools. We’re buying 50 of those and providing 50 high schools in New England with this educational Black history tool developed by a gentleman up from MIT, old friend of mine, Ken Granderson,” Mitchell said. “Please come out, celebrate our community and our paper.”