The Givens Foundation will host a African American Literary Conference, slated for April 2025, to explore emerging themes, trends, and issues in Black American literature. Our collaboration with the Archie Givens Sr. Collection of African American Literature will elevate the discourse, fostering critical engagement. 1) Public Forum: Engaging the general public, as well as emerging and established writers, scholars, critics, agents, publishers, booksellers, educators, and students.
The St. Louis River Area of Concern (SLRAOC) conservation partners are focused on removing Beneficial Use Impairments (BUI) in the estuary and eventually delisting the SLRAOC. Cooperative efforts between multiple resource agencies and regional stakeholders have identified a host of restoration objectives, developed project support activities, and partially secured funding that includes a state commitment through the Minnesota Clean Water Fund.
The Healing Through the Arts Initiative will inspire creative methods of coping with illness by removing barriers and increasing opportunities for people with cancer to participate in the arts by attending events at A Center for the Arts, by bringing artists from A Center for the Arts to the Lake Region Healthcare Cancer Care and Research Center, and by developing arts activities that patients can participate in while receiving chemotherapy treatment.
The Vermillion River Watershed Joint Powers Organization (VRWJPO), in partnership with the City of Hastings and Dakota County, are working to systematically address Total Suspended Solids (TSS) sources contributing to the Vermillion River through use of a prioritized, targeted, and measurable subwatershed assessment approach to identify and implement the most cost- effective and feasible projects to address the Vermillion River's turbidity impairments and TMDL's.
Minnesota Clean Water Funds will be used to complete a paleolimological study of the St. Louis River Estuary for the purpose of providing information critical to removing Beneficial Use Impairments in the St. Louis River Area of Concern. This project will reconstruct the biological (algal load and composition), geochemical (organic and inorganic), sediment, and mercury chronology to identify historical temporal and spatial variations in the St. Louis River Estuary in order to better understand the natural and anthropogenic drivers related to beneficial use impairments for the St.
