Project Grant

Each one of the four desired outcomes of this proposal's activities is tied to one of the four groups of participants. At the completion of this proposal, we expect that: 1) The majority of participating readers who attend "an Evening with Louise K. Waakaa'igan" will report that "Read Poetry Central Minnesota 2021" expanded their understanding of diversity in Minnesota (the variety of people who make up Minnesota), and strengthened their commitment to inclusion (the belief that ALL who ARE here, BELONG here). 2) After at least six adult ESL students participate in the Collaborative Communal Poetry lesson based on the poem "Within" by Louise K. Waakaa'igan, the lesson plan will be completed, published, and made available to Adult Basic Education (ABE) ESL teachers in central and greater Minnesota. 3) "Within" will be translated into Somali to make this Ojibwe Minnesota Poet's work accessible to the Somali-American community in central Minnesota. The Somali translation will be published online with the English original, and consultant/poet Abdi Mahad will read the poem at the Zoom event, "an Evening with Louise K. Waakaa'igan." 4) At least 5 of the 6 participant poet/writers in "Read Poetry Central Minnesota 2021" will report that this program and event facilitated a new or deeper connection to other poets and/or helped them connect to a new audience of readers. ; Access ; Learning ; Community 1) To evaluate whether event participants have expanded their understanding of diversity in Minnesota and strengthened their commitment to inclusion, we will ask our Zoom event participants to answer the question, --"How has this evening effected or changed your understanding of diversity in Minnesota and/or your feelings about what inclusion means'" To gather answers, we will consider hosting small group post-event meetings via Zoom and/or Facebook. We will also consider allowing 15 minutes immediately following the event for attendees to share their thoughts with us. To decide which of these evaluation gathering methods will be most fruitful, we will discuss all of this in our leadership team meetings between November 2020 and March 2021, and if given the opportunity, we will also listen to the suggestions of the "Virtual Capacity Building Program" cohort and advisors to determine which strategy or strategies will give us the clearest, most accurate picture of whether or not we achieved this program goal. 2) The publication of the lesson plan will demonstrate that our second proposed outcome has been successfully achieved. 3) When Abdi Mahad reads "Within" in Somali at the April "Evening with Louise..." our third proposed outcome will have been successfully achieved. 4) We have found that writers with whom we have a relationship will invariably respond to a short email narrative-response survey because they are comfortable putting their thoughts into words, and because they understand that their response is important to our success. So, we will email to the six poets/writers who will be paid to participate in this program and/or event, asking 2 questions: --"How has 'Read Poetry Central MN 2020' and/or "an Evening with Louise K. Waakaa'igan" effected or impacted your sense of connection with other poets and/or with audiences/readers'" --"Do you have any suggestions for how we might improve future "Read Poetry" programs and events'"