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Please
review the following three nominations carefully.
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Once
you are finished, please click the link to cast your vote.
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will need to enter your member
number to cast
your vote. Your member number is located on the top right hand corner of
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You must enter a valid member number for you vote to
count. If you
cannot locate your member number, please contact MCN at 651-642-1904
or 1-800-289-1904, or shelly@mncn.org.
Links
to Nominees:
aMaze - Minneapolis
Twin Cities Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)
- St. Paul
YWCA of Minneapolis - Minneapolis
AMAZE
- Minneapolis
AMAZE's
mission is to 'champion safety and belonging for all children and
families.'
The Families ALL Matter Book Project (FAM) is AMAZE's
signature program. It uses award-winning children's literature to
explore family diversity with elementary aged children in order to
promote positive, inclusive social and learning environments by
fostering young children's (and the adults who work with them)
knowledge, values, and skills around issues of diversity. FAM is a
winning combination of promoting literacy and helping
elementary-aged children build positive understandings of, and
interaction with, their diverse communities.
The
Project has six primary objectives:
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Encourage
positive self-identity of participants
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Increase
understanding and appreciation of diverse family configurations
and the varied experiences that influence families
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Develop
skills for comfortable, empathic interaction with people from
diverse families and backgrounds
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Develop
socially positive skills for communication, cooperation, and
problem solving
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Identify
constructive responses to prejudice, bias, and exclusion when it
occurs (including teasing, bullying, harassment, threats, and
violence)
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Create
learning environments that validate, include, protect, respect,
and appreciate the diverse families and individuals of our
schools, neighborhoods, and nation.
The
Families All Matter Book Project encompasses many family
compositions and experiences. Themes covered are: race/ethnicity,
immigration, religious differences, socioeconomics, divorce,
adoption, gay and lesbian family members, disability and aging.
'Good multicultural literature can enhance children's budding
understanding and empathy when books accurately and positively
portray the backgrounds of the families in the classroom and extend
children's awareness to the significant groups in their community
and the wider world,' according to Louise Derman-Sparks, early
childhood and anti-bias education expert, who also endorses the
Families All Matter Book Project.
AMAZE also provides presentations, training, materials, and
support to teachers, parents and community members about anti-bias,
diversity-affirming, and community-building work with young
children.
AMAZE
works with both children and adults to engage them in eliminating
prejudice and racism. Families All Matter Book Project is an
effective, appealing, and academically sound tool to challenge
racism and other prejudice.
The FAM is AMAZE's principal contribution. FAM helps children
develop empathy for others whom they perceive to be different from
them. FAM provides a way to proactively discuss identity-based
(race, class, age, ability, sexual orientation, etc.)
teasing, name-calling, and exclusion. FAM teaches children
how to be allies and it prevents bullying and violence. The project
plants seeds of empathy, tolerance, and justice that the children
carry with them to middle school, high school and beyond. These
positive messages about diversity, and these skills to deal with
differences, help prepare the children to be effective citizens in a
pluralistic society. AMAZE's work with adults is also significant:
winning them to the priority of this work, preparing them to conduct
the project with Reader Training, and supporting them during the
Project with materials and strategies for tough questions or
oppositional parents/staff is all essential to AMAZE's Families All
Matter Book Project work.
In the current difficult educational climate, created by the
mandates of No Child Left Behind and severe funding stresses in
schools, educators clamor for more instructional time.
Many socio-emotional programs are viewed as 'extra' or
non-essential. FAM, because it is a literacy-based project and
because it meets other curricular objectives, is attractive to
teachers and administrators.
In
some schools and school districts, FAM has faced opposition. AMAZE
helps teachers and administrators defend the project and respond to
the concerns, which often focus on the religion and gay and lesbian
family members sections of the project. AMAZE has spoken at PTA
meetings, staff meetings, and with concerned parents and staff to
explain the guiding principles of the project: safety and belonging
for all students and has assisted schools to find ways to
accommodate opposition without depriving other students the
opportunity for this learning experience. Most people have their
concerns allayed when they hear more about FAM's goals and review
the actual picture storybooks.
The beauty of AMAZE's Families All Matter Book Project is the
positive, affirming content brought to young children in the simple
act of reading a story and talking about it.
Children get to hear stories about all kinds of families,
perhaps seeing their own family's story represented at school for
the first time. They also hear about family experiences different
from their own and sometimes children share about their own
families. Always the focus is on being respectful and welcoming of
every person and all families. Some of FAM's themes are very common
experiences in a classroom's families, like divorce or aging
relatives, yet rarely have teachers had a way to proactively address
that reality with students. Other topics, like religious differences
or gay and lesbian family members might feel too touchy to discuss--FAM
stories provide a perfect entry point.
aMaze website:
www.amazeworks.org
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TWIN
CITIES LOCAL INITIATIVES SUPPORT CORPORATION (LISC) - St. Paul
Twin
Cities LISC, the Family Housing Fund, and the Corporation for
Supportive Housing (CSH) came together in 2002 to convene the
Changing the Face of Housing in Minnesota Initiative - a conscious,
focused effort to improve the housing and community development
system by engaging and retaining more people of color at all levels
of its planning, implementation, and decision-making processes.
The initiative is built around the implementation of four tangible
strategies including:
1) Identifying model recruitment and outreach tools and
helping organizations think creatively about how to attract and
retain people of color.
2) Developing self-assessment tools and training that will
enable organizations to identify internal barriers that may be
preventing their success in retaining people of color.
3) Expanding the pool of qualified job applicants by creating
high-level developmental experiences for people of color in housing
and community development organizations.
4) Providing multi-year seed capacity building grants and
technical assistance to emerging, culturally specific, affordable
housing organizations.
Changing the Face of Housing has an impact throughout
Minnesota
, working with organizations who are involved in some way in the
funding, development and/or management of every affordable and
supportive housing project in the state.
Changing
the Face of Housing in
Minnesota
works to eliminate prejudice and racism in society by confronting
head-on the fact that the leadership in the nonprofit housing and
community development field in
Minnesota
does not currently reflect the diverse communities it serves. The
initiative is educating people in this field on racism and the
consequences of racism, and fostering concrete strategies that will
help organizations diversify and confront racism to result in better
housing for
Minnesota
's changing population run by more effective and diverse
organizations.
The
initiative demonstrates a commitment to pluralism and inclusivity by
making diversity and anti-racism the centerpiece of all Changing the
Face strategies, and by modeling inclusivity in its own governance.
Changing the Face has developed unique and thought-provoking
strategies to combat racism.
The Careership Program is a multi-year program designed to
train new leaders, particularly people of color, for professional
positions in the affordable housing and community development field.
Participants work part-time in a professional capacity with a
host community development or housing organization, attend a monthly
community development seminar, and pursue other training and
support.
Since
2001, Careership accomplishments include:
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36
people of color successfully completing their one year
Careership education and work requirements.
Seventy-eight percent (78%) of all Careership graduates,
including those from the first round, are employed in the field.
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In
addition to employment, two participants completed and one made
progress in completing a graduate degree in community economic
development and one participant completed and six made
significant progress in completing undergraduate degrees after
completing the Careership program.
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Careership
graduates and participants have made a noticeable difference in
the diversity of attendees at community development events,
policy forums and activities.
For its modest size, the program seems to have developed
a high profile among community development corporations (CDCs),
public, nonprofit and private housing developers, and government
agency leaders.
The
Changing the Face of Housing in MN initiative has completed several
industry-wide reports and resources to promote diversity and
inclusiveness, including a survey on the demographics of affordable
housing industry board and staff positions.
The partnering organizations have extended capacity building
grants and technical assistance to four emerging groups from
cultural communities who want to develop affordable housing.
Lastly, over twenty community-based organizations signed on
to the initiative's Community Challenge and have begun assessing
their organizational culture, cultural competence and inclusivity
and will be putting in place organizational strategies with specific
targets to enhance their overall racial and ethnic diversity.
Cultural,
racial, and ethnic groups of color account for an increasing
proportion of
Minnesota
's population.
In fact, it is projected that over the next 20 years:
úMinnesota's African American population will double from
1995 numbers and its Hispanic/Latino population will triple;
úThere will be a 50% increase in the American Indian
population and a 104% increase in the Asian population;
úAn increasing number of immigrants, now representing more
than 47 countries of origin, are and will also be expanding the
state's diversity.
These changing demographics are having a profound impact on
housing - desired types and amenities, proximity to jobs and
community centers, affordability, etc. - and will continue to
influence the housing market for decades to come.
Nonprofit affordable housing and community development
organizations that possess an understanding of the changing
marketplace and its diversity (and with a staff and board that
reflects this diversity), will be in the best position to meet those
changing needs.
This is a long-term initiative that will show its impact over
time, changing racial diversity at all levels in organizations that
fund, develop and manage housing. This increased diversity will
result in less institutional racism and more culturally competent
organizations managing housing that meets the needs of all
Minnesotans, regardless of race.
Twin Cities LISC website:
www.lisc.org/twin_cities
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YWCA
of MINNEAPOLIS - Minneapolis
The
YWCA of Minneapolis' mission is to Empower Women and Girls and
Eliminate Racism. Through all of its activities, the organization
works to eliminate prejudice and racism in society, demonstrates a
commitment to pluralism and inclusivity, and develops and implements
unique and thought-provoking strategies for combating racism.
The YWCA serves more than 25,000 people who live or work in
Minneapolis, with a special emphasis on people of color and
low-income households. In 2004, 8,800 people participated in
programs: approximately 6,000 were awarded health and fitness
scholarships. Ninety percent of program participants were people of
color and 82 percent from low-income households; 72 percent are
female and 88 percent are youth.
On
February 11, 2004, staff members at the different branches of the
YWCA of Minneapolis copied a thought of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s
onto the dry-erase boards just inside the entrances to their
facilities: 'Whites, it must be frankly said, are not putting in a
similar effort to re-educate themselves out of their racial
ignorance. It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the
white people of America believe they have so little to learn.'
Quotes illustrating the YWCA's mission had been gracing the board
for two years but this line, from King's 'Letter from a Birmingham
Jail,' exposed bundles of raw nerves.
YW staff, health and fitness members, Children's Center
parents, and volunteers were quick to voice their opinions. Some
found the words divisive and responded angrily. Some felt grateful
that white privilege, an 'impolite' topic, was named by a mainstream
organization. Still others endorsed the sentiment, but cringed with
fear that feelings might be hurt.
'I took offense to the Martin Luther King quote displayed on
the message board by the entrance,' wrote one man. 'I have always
been a fan of Dr. King's, but I do not feel that it advances world
tolerance to display quotes that identify specific racial or ethnic
groups (in this case whites) as the prime wrongdoers.. I would
prefer if the YWCA would continue to project a general message of
tolerance.'
'Those of us who are white often do not think much about
race; we can be comfortable with the status quo,' opined another
member. 'So there may be a benefit in reading something that
disturbs that sense of comfort. I think that we have to be willing
to be uncomfortable in order for change to happen.'
Instead of shrinking from the discomfort, the YWCA's leaders
marched squarely in the other direction. Staff convened an open
dialogue on the topic at their Uptown facility. Responses from
across the spectrum were gathered and reprinted in a newsletter that
also carried an explanation from CEO Nancy Hite about the vital
relationship between Dr. King's words and the YWCA's mission:
Empowering women and girls and eliminating racism. More quotes
appeared on the message board.
Three
years ago, the nonprofit took an especially bold step toward minding
the mission and founded a Racial Justice division to act as a
catalyst for internal and external projects to promote racial
justice. Just as King's words on the message boards were intended to
provoke thought, the creation of a whole new division with an
ambitious portfolio of projects was intended to place eliminating
racism at the forefront of the organization's agenda.
In part, the fledgling division's mission statement explains
that 'The YWCA of Minneapolis Racial Justice Department exists to
eliminate barriers that perpetuate racism by: Raising awareness of
white privilege; promoting practical solutions that individuals can
do as they begin and continue their anti-racist journey; and
building commitment to policies and practices that eliminate
institutional racism to create long term, sustainable change.'
An
astonishing 1,150 members and program participants have been drawn
into the many activities undertaken by the Racial Justice division:
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The
YWCA is an anti-racism organization that expects and encourages
all employees to be anti-racism activists.
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Nearly
240 people participated in four-hour workshops on unlearning
racism that includes facilitated activities and discussion
designed to generate a frank exchange of opinions and feelings
on race and the affects of white privilege. The workshops
provide a forum for participants to discover conscious and
unconscious ways that racism affects their lives.
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More
than 600 people from the arts, business, education, faith
communities, government, and community service attended the
second annual 'It's Time to Talk' luncheon forum. Community
leaders who agreed to serve as Racial Justice Commissioners
invited a minimum of eight people to join them at a lunch to
hear keynote speaker Wilma Mankiller, former principal chief of
the Cherokee Nation. After the talk, the tables engaged in a
facilitated dialogue about race. Many of those in attendance
were motivated to continue the conversation by organizing
'Community Dialogues' throughout the year.
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These
smaller 'Community Dialogues' are led by a YWCA-trained
volunteer facilitator and engage six to12 people for one to two
hours. Since January 1, 2004, 70 volunteer facilitators helped
more than 966 people engage in Community Dialogues at nearly 30
different organizations including the Minneapolis Public
Schools, Wells Fargo, the College of St. Catherine, the City of
Minneapolis, the City of Crystal, the City of Chaska, Hennepin
Technical College, and Sabathani Community Center as well as in
homes and places of worship.
Dialogues are free to the public and held in accessible
community locations.
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A
diverse group of 62 students and 11 teachers from nine urban and
suburban schools came together for the first youth dialogue on
race, Dare to Be Real. The majority of the youth reported that
they would use the information they gained from the experience
to work on racism issues in their own school. This initiative is
being expanded in 2005 to engage the schools throughout the
school year to work with their student bodies on racial justice
issues.
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The
YWCA's Dialogues on Race give YWCA staff as participants an
opportunity to discuss racism and its effects by coming together
to listen and share their life experiences. Dialogues cover a
wide variety of topics, such as, 'Transforming our Fears in a
Multicultural Society,' 'Racial Tolerance in Times of War,'
'Race and the Criminal Justice System,' and to discuss
workplace scenarios (using anonymous names but real life
incidents) to create understanding, respect, and improve race
relations.
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Perhaps
most ambitious, the YWCA recently launched the Leadership
Registry, an outreach project to increase the participation of
people of color and women on nonprofit boards and government
commissions in Hennepin County. Detailed information about a
diverse, ever-expanding group of volunteers interested in being
referred to a board or commission is being compiled in a
database for matching with organizations interested in
increasing the diversity of their leadership bodies. When a
match is made, training is provided to both the prospective
recruit and board members at the receiving organization. When
the YWCA realized the extent of the commitment it was making,
staff initiated a partnership with MAP for Nonprofits to screen
and match registry participants.
YWCA of Minneapolis Website: www.ywca-minneapolis.org
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