Promoting Somali Culture and Heritage in the Twin Cities
SOMFAM's vision is to build a strong Somali community. With this grant, we will facilitate new avenues for deepening Somali women's cultural identity. SOMFAM will launch a Somali language YouTube channel and Somali Cooking Classes to educate the Somali diaspora, particularly Somali women living in Minnesota, about culture and critical resources, and to empower them to engage with and share their cultural heritage.
2022-2023 Cultural Heritage and Community Identity Grants - Spring 2022
Both our new YouTube channel programming and our Somali Cooking Classes will be evaluated along a set of measurable outcomes.
The measurable outcomes for SOMFAM YouTube, which we will be tracking are:
-Program viewership, goal: 2,000+ viewers
-Number subscribers, goal: 500+ subscribers
The measurable outcomes for our Somali Cooking Classes include:
-Number of bi-weekly sessions, goal: 20 annual session
-Track attendance, goal: 15 attendees per session (300 attendees annually)
In addition to our measurable outcomes, we will also implement a series of surveys to understand the impact of our programming on the community we serve. While these outcomes are difficult to measure, we will use community insights as another tool to track the progress and success of our project. These insights will also prove invaluable to us going forward in the design and implementation of our future programming.
In keeping with our culture as a community-led and community-driven organization, we also receive important feedback and reflection through dialogue with participants, their families and the community as a whole. SOMFAM's program staff develop close relationships with participants and will continue to engage participants in regular discussions of the program and how it can best meet participants' needs. This is grassroots work with the power to change an individual's life with and through their community.
Our program staff are responsible for soliciting and collecting participant feedback. A systems developer will create a database where we can record and report evaluation metrics. For each project, we will track specific metrics to evaluate their success. These metrics are designed to strengthen our understanding of community engagement and impact.
We are thrilled to report that both the YouTube program and the Cooking program are up and running, thanks to this grant support! We launched the YouTube program in summer 2022 and have already released 15 episodes to date. Average viewership is about 1,700 per episode. Our program targets Somali women, sharing critical information about culture, and culturally appropriate supports such as mental and physical health, and family support. The program is hosted by women, for women, and is conducted entirely in Somali. Our partners at Xogmaal Media and the Somali American Network help us record, edit, and release the videos. Furthermore, because they post our videos on their popular channels, they help us extend our reach.
The Cooking Program launched this past winter. So far, we have hosted 8 cooking classes attended by an average of 15 women each. The classes are intended to teach basic cooking skills, how to make traditional Somali cultural dishes, and how to cook healthy meals in a culturally appropriate way. Additionally, the program builds connection and community among Somali women as they strive to develop strong personal and cultural bonds to support and sustain one another.
We could not have launched these two programs without support from The Minnesota Humanities Center. Thank you very much!; We are thrilled to report that both the YouTube program and the Cooking program are successfully and consistently operating, thanks to this grant support! We launched the YouTube program in summer 2022 and have released 15 episodes to date. Average viewership is about 1,700 per episode. Our program targets Somali women, sharing critical information about culture, and culturally appropriate supports such as mental and physical health, family and parenting, and financial and legal information for immigrants and refugees, particularly the Muslim and East African community. The program is hosted by women, for women, and is conducted entirely in Somali. Our partners at Xogmaal Media and the Somali American Network help us record, edit, and release the videos. Furthermore, because they post our videos on their popular channels, they help us extend our reach.
The Cooking Program launched this past winter. Since December 2022, we have hosted biweekly cooking classes for 15 women each class. The classes teach basic cooking skills, how to make traditional Somali cultural dishes, and how to cook healthy meals in a culturally appropriate way. Additionally, the program builds connection and community among Somali women as they strive to develop strong personal and cultural bonds to support and sustain one another.
We could not have launched these two programs without support from The Minnesota Humanities Center and Minnesota Legacy Grant funds. Thanks to these grant funds, we have been able to build, launch, and sustain these programs. We will continue to sustain them through our increased capacity to fundraise and to build proof points of our successful programming. Thank you very much!