Center for Leadership and Neighborhood Engagement - Cultural Heritage Education and Youth Organizing

In November, we hosted our first Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) Training for staff and community members with the goal of collectively leaning into how we can shift a culture of stigmatization of black, brown, and marginalized communities to a culture of emphasizing the gifts and potential and histories in marginalized communities. This framework where the producers are the beneficiaries of change is key to our continued organizing.

Specific immersion activities we convened highlighted cultural heritage included:Just Mercy Tour of Selma & Montgomery, October 2022 Ho?akata Ti, January 2023
Since September, we've engaged over 206 individuals and 3 groups in intercultural development inventory process, and 43 youth in different monthly or one-time programs. We are still building connections and birthing programs, including a videography element of storytelling and skill building. A weekly youth book club led by Kendrick Hall began in January 2023 and is addressing emotional intelligence. Our Triumphant Changemaker cohort has been hosting a monthly JUMP Remix arts-based mentoring program, where youth gather to explore their passions, find safe space for expressing themselves, and grow in confidence about who they are.

We made progress developing relationships with Many Faces and AHHA, including having African American artist Donald Walker as reflection leader for the January Come Together event. And new partnership developments with The Zen Bin & HealMpls as well as the Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery.

During MLK weekend, we co-hosted an event featuring quilters from different cultural backgrounds, including Native American, African American, Hmong, and Scandinavian quilters. This event was connected to artist in residence Joseph Mallard.

Our staff and youth are continuing in the ideation phase of this work, imaging how the goals and outcomes will continue to evolve into our timeline. ; With regard to part one of our project which focused on North Minneapolis, neighborhood-based capacity building, our efforts connected with 1504 children, youth, and adults. This involved listening to, amplifying, and celebrating BIPOC voices and stories; connecting community leaders and organizers with residents, and empowering children and youth to engage in discovery, expression, and community action.

We engaged over 629 children and youth in cultural heritage programming. Of these, 94 in regular programming, 6 in an extensive internship, and 529 in one-time exposure events.This programming included accomplishments/successes such as:Hosted visiting artists and supporting camps for youth related to the arts of piano, voice, dance, videography, poetry, painting, and rap. These often included discussions about using one's gifts in these areas towards building community and justice. And youth having the opportunity to perform/share what they learned with an audience of parents, family, and friends.Took youth to the Minnesota African American Heritage Gallery and Museum.Youth using art to explore and celebrate their story and heritage. The art took the form of collages, videography, acting, writing, interviewing/community organizing.Our summer interns created a booklet and short video of stories featuring voices who live, work, or are otherwise invested in North Minneapolis. Beyond the self and group learning of the interns, the hope is their project helps counter all the negative messaging about North Minneapolis.Note: When creating our budget, we were hopeful about the potential of youth field trip exchange between North Minneapolis youth and a reservation, but the time and logistics of building a partnership with the reservation proved too challenging. We found a more cost-effective strategy to focus on the context of the community with things like youth camps and the Northside culture gallery.Hosted multiple cultural heritage experiences and celebrations-Two Art Gallery Exhibits with A Peace Of My Mind and Northside Culture - the first being a gallery kick-off opening night featuring performances of Northside artists and table conversations; and the second being the culmination of a community engagement process which highlighted the photos and stories of 62 community members around the question When have you found strength amidst struggle? Collaborating with VocalEssence and Northside faith communities of different denominations to host Sing Your Change Block Party, featuring multicultural youth performances and calls to action. Supporting Northside leaders to host 12 Beloved Community Cookouts, as places for community conversation, expression, and connection.I am JUMP (Just Understanding My Purpose) End of Summer BBQ featuring local black entrepreneurs and a black youth drumline and dance/drill team performance.Additionally, our monthly virtual convenings of Come Together for Racial Justice featured the lived experience and stories of 20 local leaders - providing a platform for black stories to be heard.

This work was possible through developing partnerships with arts and/or neighborhood-based organizations for youth programming and project development. Partnerships included AHHA, Zen Bin, Northside Culture, A Peace of My Mind, L&K Academy, 4TY Proud, VocalEssence, Many Faces, and Sondra Samuels, President of Northside Achievement Zone, and Don Samuels, former City Council member. Note - while we mentioned MCAD in our application, that relationship didn't turn into North Minneapolis action during this grant period, but still has potential for the future.

Part two of our project, the Beloved Community Cultural and Heritage Awareness, aimed to mitigate a 400+ year history that elevates whiteness and denigrates blackness and other BIPOC identities. Since the IDI involves a lot of costs that can be prohibitive, we adapted our tactics of cohort convenings to involve other tools including Asset-Based Community Development, Embodied Antiracism, and topical training such as cycle of oppression, world view, and racial identity development. This helped us accompany 18 communities of practice and 1083 Beloved Community participants with program, project, and relationship opportunities to grow cultural, racial, and heritage awareness and appreciationOrganized 18 communities of practice to engage in learning, exploration, and collective action, including several immersion experiences.Engaged 207 people directly in the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) process. Financially supported 3 new Qualified Administrators of the IDI, 1 of whom is a Spanish-speaking community leader. As there are very few spanish-speaking IDI QA's in the field, this new QA is expanding the reach of the tool to his primarily immigrant and Spanish speaking community.Designed a Be the Workworkbook that is still evolving to serve as a tool to help individuals and cohorts grow in their awareness and application.