Creating Culturally Vibrant Communities with Health Wellness & Cultural Arts Events!

As stated in my proposed concept, the purpose of this project is to plan & design Health Wellness & Cultural Arts activities in Black Indigenous Communities. I curated a Cultural Community Festival in North Minneapolis with emphasis on Health Education and Intentional Cultural Activities. We invited a Native American Elder to acknowledge the land. We had Native American Drummers to perform a Drum Ceremony and invited community members to join in for a Rain Dance. The community joined in and enjoyed the community aspect of the dance. We invited Nonprofit Organizations to table and educate community members on sustainable living. We had electric bikes, provided by NiceRideMN. Community Members used the bikes to join our organized bike ride to Indigenous Farms in North Minneapolis to learn about Indigenous Farming and how they can get involved in growing their own food. We had a roundtable with a Community Liaison & Facilitator to discuss sustainability, equity & access to food in Green Zones. We setup opportunities to conduct workshops designed to amplify awareness around community health and well-being at a later date. To bring attention around our Cultural Arts aspect; we highlighted Aztec Dancers, local Spoken Word Artists as well as local Cultural Music Artists. Our goals were met! We were able to engage with over 100 participants. Through our NiceRide tracking, we signed up over 50 memberships with our Equitable Engagement program which allows NiceRide Team Members to give $100 yearly bike memberships to underserved communities for $5 per year. Each community table had giveaway's for community members. Participants harvested food from local Indigenous Gardens. We had Educational Learning Tables. We had Artist teaching Art Skills plus an Open Mic at every event. We conducted Roundtables involving community members. We had an opening question around Equity & Food Access at every event. We invited students to come and learn about agriculture & farming with other youth participants. We also invited community members to ask about community plots to grow their own food. We met with our local council member to talk about doing advocacy work together. We had a group of amazing volunteers/ambassadors who helped with every aspect of planning & organizing these events.; BF50 Indigenous Health curated Health Wellness & Cultural Arts Events, specifically in Minneapolis Green Zones. The measurable outcomes for this project exceeded my expectations. We planned to create events/activities involving students, community members & cultural leaders in the community. We hosted Earth Day Events, Small Business Art Events, Chicano Latinos Programming and we partnered with Local Nonprofits to provide education around Plant-Based Food Education. We hosted a Cultural Celebration about Seed Saving & Organic Growing which included a Candle-making Workshop to honor Mom's who's doing great work in their community. BF50 partnered with Black Indigenous Community Leaders to host several Urban Garden Educational Events. I hosted the UMN Green Summit Panel as well as the Community Connections Conference Breakout Session, in which BF50 Indigenous Health collaborated with Project Sweetie Pie and Minneapolis Climate Action. Local Environmental Organizational Leaders joined as panelists. I hosted a Cultural Seed Convening with 2023 James Beard Leadership Award Winner, Jim Embry who presented an Award Winning presentation on Seed saving. Organic Growing and Environmental Justice. I served 100% PlantBased Food that garnered huge recognition by community members as well as other notable guests. We absolutely achieved our goals.

BF50 partnered with local organizations, Educators, Artists and Students to help amplify Black and Indigenous voices. The work we accomplished was apparent as we met our goal to bring awareness around Environmental Justice, Sustainable Transportation and Sustainable Food Systems. We achieved our goals and the impact was apparent. We received excellent feedback during our Workshops, Focus Groups, Urban Farm Bike Tours and Urban Farm Cultural Gatherings. In order to create tracking; we created sign-in sheets for most of the events. We set up a pre-planned Google Doc Form to garner necessary information prior to the events. The forms asked attendees to list how they would like to participate in the events. Lastly, we did have some slight difficulties we would like to change/amend. We didn't anticipate cost allocations for Art Supplies and Food Service Assistance, nor did I express that the funding should not be as rigid as it was perceived. It's not only used for Food & Products Purchases. I should have clarified a budget for the amount of time I personally put into Food Prep, Cooking and for my Assistants. As a result, I personally covered Art Supplies. I spent valuable time preparing food and had to lean on assistance from people who I'd planned on assisting with other duties. Another lesson learned was equipment rentals - when renting on a Saturday, due to businesses being closed on Sundays; we're required to pay 2 days of equipment rental. When offering grants to Cultural Curators who primarily serve Cultural Communities, perhaps having less rigid requirements might be helpful in assisting Curators. The object for me is to provide amazing services to underserved communities without feeling so stifled. One of my team members misplaced 3 of my receipts and I almost had a conniption. The pressure of dotting every I and crossing every T is a bit much. My pictures and videos speak for themselves. Although, I'm extremely appreciative for this opportunity; there has to be a better way to complete this process. It has definitely caused me to rethink how I plan to provide these services to underserved communities in the future.