samd@pillsburyunited.org

Public Allies convene for learning, connection at Core Week 2019

Ideating at Public Allies meeting

Earlier this month, Twin Cities Public Allies gathered at Oak Park Center to participate in Core Week. Public Allies is a 10-month Americorps apprenticeship program that focuses on advancing social justice and equity by teaching allies about leadership and placing them in key operational roles at a wide range of partner organizations throughout the Twin Cities nonprofit sector. For new and returning allies, Core Week offers the chance to explore the values of the Public Allies program through a variety of culture-building activities that exercise their creativity and empathy. It is a time for allies to connect, reflect, and build.

Ashlyn Stenberg is one of several new Public Allies cohort members; Core Week was her first week with the program. Ashlyn is serving as a communication system specialist at the Wilder Foundation, providing administrative support for a variety of projects focused on racial equity and community outreach. Although she was not sure what to expect with many of the high-energy culture-building activities, she says that by the end of Core Week, “[The experience has] already paid off. I’m seeing the benefit of putting myself out there in these spaces.” Ultimately, Ashlyn hopes that Public Allies can help her develop new opportunities that utilize her interest in health equity issues.

Roda Abda, also new to Public Allies, is serving as an operations manager at Twin Cities RISE, where she is assisting with project management and communications for a major upcoming event. After a period of trying to determine her next steps in life, Roda says that she was encouraged to apply by an acquaintance who had already completed the program. “I hope to become a strong communicator and learn to assert myself during my time as an ally,” she says.

Another new ally, Colton Taylor, was placed at Senior Community Services as a home program coordinator. In this role, his job is to recruit, organize, and manage volunteers who assist seniors with a wide range of day-to-day tasks. Like many young people in the program, Colton is eager to explore different post-college options during his time with Public Allies. “I graduated not knowing exactly what I wanted to do,” he says, “and I’m hoping [Public Allies] can help me get a clearer sense of what my career is going to be.”

Now that Core Week has come to an end, the hard work is only beginning. As our new cohort members begin their 10-month journey with Public Allies, the energy and enthusiasm of Core Week reminds us all that real learning happens when young people feel empowered to break out of their comfort zones.

meghanm@pillsburyunited.org

Transforming community through art, theatre

Jon-Michael Reese from Pillsbury House Theatres’ ‘Jimmy and Lorraine: a Musing.’ Photo by Rich Ryan

Pictured above: Jon-Michael Reese from Pillsbury House Theatres’ ‘Jimmy and Lorraine: a Musing.’ Photo by Rich Ryan.

Recognizing that art has more to offer than just a means in which to be entertained, Pillsbury House and Theatre continues the early settlement house tradition of using art as a transformative tool for social justice, a way for people to connect and promote cultural understanding. Speaking of their work within the overall mission of Pillsbury United Communities, Faye Price, Co-Artistic Producing Director of the Pillsbury House Theatre and Co-Director of Pillsbury House, says, “I always think that art, and specifically the art that we do, is another path to health and wellness.”

Their current production, Jimmy and Lorraine: a Musing by Talvin Wilks, explores the lives of James Baldwin and Lorraine Hansberry, prominent artists and civil rights activists of the 50’s-60’s whose words regarding politics, race, and relationships remain timeless. Price, speaking about how the lives and work of these two individuals are still so relevant in light of the inequities our country continues to face, says, “Our hope is that people can watch these characters—and relive in some cases—or learn who they are and what they had to offer us. And their words of hope, their words of anger. Why does this all feel so familiar decades later? Why are we still going through all of this?” And, at the end of it all, when the lights go down and the play concludes, for the playgoers she hopes for some kind of transformation, that “something has been touched to make them question an event, a feeling, a belief, a thought.”

In addition to theatre being a powerful tool to shift mindsets, it also provides a unique way for strangers to connect. Hull House, the first settlement house established in the U.S. by Jane Addams, used theatre as a way for new European immigrants to mingle. With Italians showcasing the work of their best Italian playwrights, the Polish putting on plays produced by their own best artists, and so on and so forth, different groups used this artistic expression to learn more about one another. “That’s what we’re doing,” Price says. “We believe that culture is a way to speak to everyone. Our demographics have changed, but we’re still doing the work and really kind of walking the talk in terms of using the arts to intersect with people. Inside of our theatre, we see women from shelters sitting beside well-to-do lawyers from the suburbs and Somali teenagers sitting next to Caucasian senior citizens. You enter into this space as strangers and you come out of it with a shared experience which I think is a lovely thing. And hopefully you continue the conversation.”

Also staying rooted in settlement house traditions of valuing accessibility of the arts, Pillsbury House Theatre uses a pay-what-you-can ticketing system so that everyone can experience their productions. “We want people to see theatre that are not able to see theatre, that feel like they’re priced out of it,” Price says. Not only that, but this unique hub for creativity and community also threads art throughout their human service programming of Pillsbury House Neighborhood Center. Resident artists teach classes at their daycare as well as are involved with their on-site day training and habilitation program for adults with disabilities. Older adults are engaged in a ‘Visual Memoir’ class. Their Breaking Ice program uses the arts for diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings. Local artists rotate through a structure in their lobby every two months to “remind everybody that this is a place of the arts, how the arts bring people together, and how the arts can encourage healthy and vibrant communities,” Price says.

And hopefully, this was a small reminder of just that—the power art carries to foster connectedness, creativity, and change. If you haven’t had the chance already, we encourage you to see this in action over at Pillsbury House and Theatre. (Jimmy and Lorraine: a Musing is on-stage until October 20th!)

samd@pillsburyunited.org

North News creates hyperlocal, youth-powered journalism

Attendees and staff at Greater>Together 2018

Many residents of North Minneapolis may be aware of North News through its monthly print paper and digital platforms, elevating honest and nuanced narratives about the Northside that aren’t represented in the institutional media. What they may not realize is that in addition to its quality hyperlocal reporting, North News is also working to lift up the next generation of Northside youth voices. 

Through classroom programs and internship opportunities overseen by North News staff, youth throughout North Minneapolis are learning to tell their community’s stories and gain experience that will prepare them for careers in mass media and communications. This need is especially critical in the Northside community. “We are the only journalism education program most of our young people have access to,” said Kenzie O’Keefe, editor-in-chief of North News. O’Keefe also co-teaches the North News journalism class at North High School and expects to lead a similar program at Patrick Henry High School later this fall. 

“Working under Kenzie and being a proud intern for North News over the last three years taught me the skills I needed to become a great journalist,” said former intern Daija Triplett, currently serving at Pillsbury United Communities through the Public Allies program. After the conclusion of her term, she plans to major in communications and media studies at Stetson University in the spring. “I’ve learned so much about how journalism can help connect people to their neighbors in the community.” 

Blessing Kasongoma, currently majoring in communications studies at Augsburg University, concurs: “Interning as a student reporter at North News helped me find myself as a journalist.” But she said the true benefits of the North News youth program are even bigger than that. “As a person, I became bolder when it came to approaching people for an interview. I grew that way. This skill is not just for interviewing, but for everyday life. I learned to be more confident as a person.” 

The North News team has high hopes for their youth program over the long-term. “Our plan is to build on our successes, grow the capacity of our newsroom, and keep our news platforms strong,” said O’Keefe. By formalizing additional pathways between North News and the media industry, O’Keefe said, North News can ensure that all young people in North Minneapolis have the tools and resources to pursue a career in mass media. With that crucial support for emerging community voices, she said, “We envision that North Minneapolis will one day be known as the birthplace of nationally respected journalists.” 

By cultivating young people’s skills as journalists, writers, and storytellers, North News is making a vital contribution to the Northside community. When everyday people are empowered to raise their voices and influence the narrative, real change can begin. 

meghanm@pillsburyunited.org

Growing food as medicine

Community member in urban garden

“Food from the earth,” is what Jessica Thurin, Dietician at the Native American Community Clinic (NACC), referred to it as. As members of an indigenous-led network of organizations in South Minneapolis’ Phillips community working towards healthy food access, the 24th Street Urban Farm Coalition, we’re trying out something new this year: going back to the basics. Back to the earth. Back to traditional methods of healing and nourishing by focusing on food as medicine.

NACC, located just two blocks from our Waite House Community Center, provides a range of healthcare and social services to the surrounding, largely Native community. In an area with significant health disparities, recognizing the role food access has to play in determining health outcomes is critical. Many healthcare institutions might talk to their patients about the benefits of healthy eating without really recognizing or addressing the barriers that exist to do exactly that—where to find this food, how to afford it and access it. That’s why our urban agriculture program teamed up with them to begin providing boxes of freshly grown vegetables to their patients. This produce, grown right in their own neighborhood, will be sold to NACC and distributed to their diabetes groups starting this September free-of-charge in an effort to promote healthy eating and lower blood sugar levels.

“You can be taking all these diabetes medications, but if you have a high carbohydrate diet with breads and pastas and not having a lot of non-starchy veggies which is what is from the garden—that can really cause high blood sugars. And so medications can help, but it’s not everything…I think introducing more foods that are right in our backyard can really help prevent some of these chronic diseases and that’s really what we’re after,” Thurin explains.

And NACC isn’t the only place recognizing the power of food in this way. With another one of our gardens, this is our second year of providing CSA packages to the City of Minneapolis’ Lead and Healthy Homes program. Families are referred to their program when elevated lead levels have been detected within their body, after which they are moved to transitional ‘Safe Houses’ while their homes are removed of lead hazards. While in these safe homes, families receive visits from public health nurses as well as deliveries of our food boxes packed full of freshly grown kale, broccoli, collards, and more. The reasoning, Jim Doten, Environmental Services Supervisor for the City’s Health Department, explains, is because “there’s a link between nutrition and susceptibility to lead poisoning.” If someone is deficient in certain nutrients, especially iron, then their body is more likely to absorb lead. So with this program in particular, our farmers are purposely growing more iron-rich foods that are proven to prevent further lead absorption while also lowering existing levels in the body. Alex Vollmar, supervisor of this program, sees the addition of these CSA boxes as a “very holistic approach to responding to elevated blood levels.”

Back to the basics. Remembering how for thousands of years, indigenous communities have used food for nourishment and healing. It’s something that’s often overlooked now, but so necessary to address in order to close health disparities. As members of the 24th Street Urban Farm Coalition, we look forward to continue moving this work forward alongside NACC, Indian Health Board, and other coalition members. Thurin says,

“Food is medicine. I don’t think a lot of people know that. But our ancestors definitely did that. They used food as medicine. They used traditional medicine plants. I really think that’s important to bring that back now.”

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