Insight News ::: 04.06.15

Fostering Voice Play highlights youth voice in foster care MORE ON PAGE 10

Insight News April 6 - April 12, 2015

Vol. 42 No. 14 • The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com

The state of Black Press in America and in the world Black Press of America

By Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., President and CEO, NNPA The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) and the National Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation (NNPAF), state on the public record that the evolution of the 188-year living legacy of Black American owned newspapers throughout the United States remains strategically important, insightful, indigenous, and impactful.

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Scott Gray

Gray leaves MUL post; Steven Belton named interim

Roy Lewis

Benjamin Chavis, the president and CEO of the NNPA moderates the “State of the Black Press” panel during Black Press Week in Washington, D.C. Panelists (from left to right) include: Jake Oliver, former chairman of the NNPA and publisher of the Afro-American Newspapers, Lezli Baskerville, president and CEO of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO), E.R. Shipp, associate professor and journalist in residence at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Md., Charles O’Neal, president of the Texas Association of African American Chambers of Commerce, Cloves Campbell, chairman of the NNPA and publisher of the Arizona Informant, Dr. Hildred Sarah Rochon, MD, a resident physician in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Howard University Hospital and George Curry, the editor-in-chief of the NNPA News Wire Service.

The state of Black Press in Minnesota Al McFarlane Editor-in-Chief In my mind, being a publisher and being a freedom fighter are one and the same. For it is the spirit of the Arc of

Black people’s emergence and transcendence that calls us.

Like those before me… in this market, my immediate predecessors, the legendary Cecil Newman, publisher of the Minneapolis Spokesman and St. Paul Recorder

Newspapers, the iconic Mary Kyle, founder and publisher of the Twin Cities Courier, and progressive advocate Jean Cooper, publisher of Twin Cities Observer and St. Paul Sun… I answered the call.

Stepping into my

profession, my calling was more than getting a job or even starting a business, it was more akin to embarking on a path, a work. It was discovering not a job, but a work.

The feeling has always been spiritual. As I reflect on

the journey, the image of the biblical statement forms in my mind: “I was glad when they said unto me, ‘Let us go into the House of the Lord.’”

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On Wednesday, April 1, 2015, the Minneapolis Urban League Board of Directors announced that Scott Gray will be stepping down as president and CEO to pursue other opportunities.

Gray will remain on board with the organization for 30 days to assist with the transition.

The Board has appointed experienced community leader, assistant pastor, and attorney Steven Belton as the Interim CEO. Belton and his family have had a strong connection with MUL going back to his early years when his family was honored as an “Urban League Family of the Year”.

“We are thankful for Scott’s leadership over the past 6 years at the Minneapolis Urban League,” said Clinton

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NNPA /Freddie Allen

NNPA President and CEO Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. (left) and Publisher Natalie Cole present Newsmaker of the Year award to Attorney Ben Crump

Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown attorney Ben Crump

NNPA Newsmaker of the Year

By Freddie Allen NNPA Senior Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Benjamin Crump, the lawyer who skyrocketed to national prominence by representing the family of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed Florida teenager who was followed, confronted

and shot to death by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Fla., said that since the 4th grade, he always knew that he wanted to grow up and fight for the community.

“The measure of a man is defined by the impact that they make on the world,” said Crump. “Everyday we have to get up and ask, ‘What impact are we going to make on the

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Insight 2 Health It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish!

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Alaina Lewis

Al McFarlane and Sharonne Hayes, M.D., welcome Insight 2 Health Fitness Challenge participants to the Sports Medicine Center at Mayo Clinic Square in Minneapolis.

No longer fitness challenged

By Mayo Clinic, In the Loop Al McFarlane would like to one day say he’s not half the man he used to be. McFarlane, of Minneapolis, who once

Commentary Minnesota should wake up to trade opportunities in Africa

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weighed more than 300 pounds, decided he needed to take better care of himself, so he set a goal, made a plan and set about getting there.

When he started to see some success – he’s lost more than 50 pounds, changed his diet

and improved his fitness – he wanted to share it with others.

So he hatched a plan, working with his fitness trainer, Tyrone Minor, to create the Insight 2 Health Fitness Challenge, or I2H, as the cool fitness buffs call it.

Women Leading Change 3 tips for becoming a servant leader

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McFarlane and Minor formed a powerful partnership.

As owner of Insight News, the largest African Americanoriented publication in Minnesota, McFarlane brought

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Education Groundbreaking set for Northside health, career, and education collaboration

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Page 2 • April 6 - April 12, 2015 • Insight News

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ROUND 5, WEEK 10

IT’S NOT WHERE YOU START, IT’S WHERE YOU FINISH! I2H Blog

By Carmen Robles Forty five days of extensive, intensive, grueling, torturous, invigorating and energizing reintroduction to our bodies at the F.I.T. Lab (Fitness, Innovation and Transformation) ended with the same great enthusiasm that was felt at the exciting Kick Off on January 17th, 2015.

The much anticipated long awaited for reveal was electrifying and nail biting as we were weighed and measured, each of us anxious to know those before and after numbers. The F.I.T. Lab experts are tallying up the numbers and I’ll be reporting on them in the next edition of the Insight 2 Health Challenge updates but for now we can announce the top winners.

Drum roll please … Ta-Dah, and the winners are: In the men’s category first timer Joel Bifulk wound up being the biggest ‘loser’ in I2H history losing 24.4lbs, and 6.5 inches in combined chest and waist measurements, during one challenge! Joel joined the challenge as a family activity, an opportunity to share time with his step daughter Emily Farlow.

I2H participants at Mayo Clinic Square Joel’s taking the summer off to ride his bike, motorcycle bike that is.

See you in the September Round 7 Challenge and congratulations.

In the women’s category, Adero Riser-Cobb claimed her fourth win and also took home the Team win with her team partner Erick Goodlow. Congratulations Adero, you’re a great inspiration losing a combined total of more than 60 lbs.

Congrats to you too, Erick! Great team work!

The gym where we first

faced our challenge and spent ten weeks cheering each other on was transformed into an intimate social gathering place complete with a buffet of pot luck delicious nutritious dishes including desserts. A table display held our coveted Certificates of Completion and a classy F.I.T. Lab tee shirt, our choice of three colors.

I picked the sky and ocean blue; and our choice of one of two books.

Participants’ individual Vision Boards adorned the gym turn conference room. Their reflections

Alaina Lewis

bounced off the mirrors giving the impression we were in a gallery, peeking into each other’s lives. We shared our dreams our goals, our pain and happiness with people who only ten weeks earlier were strangers.

Power couple Tyrone and Jaime Minor reiterated their story and vision of The Insight 2 Health Fitness Challenge initiative as an intentional collaboration between two Black owned businesses, which together, created a market driven strategy to provide measurable solutions for

individual participants as a basis for health and wellness information, instruction and inspiration for the community at large.

Fitness Challenge founders Al McFarlane, Editor of Insight News, and Tyrone Minor, owner of F.I.T. Lab Co., launched the partnership between McFarlane Media Interests, Inc., and The F.I.T. Lab Co just over two years ago.

According to Al McFarlane, 67, “Insight 2 Health Fitness Challenge seeks to create a public mind in the Black community that embraces fitness training, nutrition guidance, and mental health counseling as core components of lifestyle change that can enhance longevity with improved quality of life”.

We’re excited that during Round Five of the Insight 2 Health Fitness Challenge The Mayo Clinic joined our prestigious partners and supporters including, NorthPoint Health & Wellness, Southside Medical, and Open Cities Health Care in St. Paul, UCare, Allina, Medica, Target, Hilton Embassy Suites (Brooklyn Park), Jamaica Tourism Board and Major Taylor Bicycle Club.

Join us for Round Six of the Insight 2 Health Challenge which begins April 18th, 2015. Contact Tyrone Minor at thefitlabco@ gmail.com to sign up for the time of your life. Check out my I2H BLOG on-line at www. insightnews.com for a firsthand look into obtaining a life changing transformation.

I2H motivators: Julie McMahon and Dr. Darren D. Moore

Joel Bifulk MEN’S CATEGORY Loss: 24.4 lbs 6.5 inches Most loss by any participant in 5 rounds “Thanks to my stepdaughter, Emily for introducing me to the I2H” - Joel Bifulk

Round 5: Before

Round 5: After

Round 1

Round 5: Before

Adero Riser Cobb WOMEN’S CATEGORY Loss: 9.4 lbs 4 inches Total weight loss since Round 1: 62lbs “I’m like a turtle, slow and steady” - Adero Riser-Cobb

Team G-Rock/Adero TEAM CATEGORY “I want to say congrats to all the participants who are now like family. Change Your Life, so you can LIVE. It’s never too late to make that choice”.

- Erick Goodlow

Adero Riser-Cobb & Erick Goodlow

Round 5: After

Julie (All about the food) McMahon, My Sound Nutrition “Wow, what an amazing event today at the FIT LAB!! It was so inspiring to see all of you and share in the celebration of your success!

The energy of the group is such an amazing thing. I was particularly inspired by the good-bye letters and vision boards that you shared!! You all should be very proud of the shifts you have made and continue to make.

Congratulations on your success and a special congrats to Joel and Adero and team G-Rock/Adero.

I want to thank each and every one of you for allowing me to be a part of your health journey and look forward to seeing you at the next challenge! Have a Fabulous Day!!” - Nutrition Julie Dr. Darren D. Moore, Ph.D., LMFT “I also want to say Congratulations to all of you who finished the fitness challenge.

You are all great individuals and I continue to see you grow and challenge yourself to do better. I truly believe that things happen for a reason, and it was not by happenstance that I met you

and had the ability to work with you.

I hope you continue to move forward in your life, focus on your dreams, and put yourself first. You have the ability, the power, and the resources, to do whatever it is that you want to do in your life. No matter what people say, you are worthy of having anything and everything that your heart desires (as long as it is not that extra piece of cake, lol). But seriously, I believe that you have the right to be healthy, to have great interpersonal relationships, to be happy, and to live satisfying lives…so continue to focus on this and you will be surprised how wonderful life truly can be. I was telling someone earlier, my entire life changed once I made the DECISION, TO GET OUT OF MY OWN WAY. We can do some powerful things in our lives, once we get out of our own way and we remove others out of our way who may pose as a barrier to us achieving our goals. I am glad that you realize that you have the power to be whoever and whatever you want to be in life. I am claiming all kinds of positive things for you…some of which you do not even know…some of you want new relationships, some of you want success on the job front, some of you want to launch new businesses, some of you want to find love, some want to be better mates, some want to switch careers, there are all kinds of things. I do not take it lightly that some of you have reached out to me and I will do whatever I can to help you. I have dreams too and one of my dreams is to inspire the world…one student at a time, one fitness challenge participant at a time, one family at a time, one community at a time. Have a great day, rest of the weekend, and I hope to see you all very soon.”- Darren Moore

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Worried about the cost of shots? The MnVFC program can help

By The Minnesota Department of Health, Immunization Program Maria is the mom of a 12-monthold who is due for her next well child check-up with the doctor.

Like any other parent, she wants what is best for her child. She knows that getting her daughter vaccinated is an important thing to

do to protect her from dangerous diseases.

Unfortunately, Maria does not have medical insurance for her daughter, and she knows vaccines can be expensive. She’s worried her daughter won’t be able to get the vaccines she needs to stay healthy. Then, a family member tells her about the Minnesota Vaccines for Children program.

Through the Minnesota

Vaccines for Children program, children 18 years old and younger who do not have medical insurance, are enrolled in Medicaid, are Native American or Alaska Native, or whose insurance doesn’t cover the cost of the vaccine can receive all recommended vaccines free of cost.

If you are worried about how much shots cost, ask your clinic

about the Minnesota Vaccines for Children program. Find out if your child can get free or low cost shots by going to this website: www.health.state.mn.us/divs/ idepc/immunize/howpay.html.

Almost all clinics that see children in Minnesota participate in the Minnesota Vaccines for Children program. Ask your clinic if they participate in the Minnesota Vaccines for Children

Mayo From 1 a community connection and a medium for his message. As owner of The F.I.T. Lab in St. Paul, Minnesota, Minor brought the know-how, and a passion for fitness and healthy lifestyles. (Not to mention the brawn.) And together, they brought challenge members, as well as family and friends, the media, and even a local state senator, Bobby Joe Champion, to Mayo Clinic Square on Saturday, March 21, for a workout, pep talk and education session with some Mayo experts.

“This isn’t sweat, it’s tears,” McFarlane told us as he took a brief break from the workout to share his pride in the program participants.

The idea is for those participants to see success and “become a model for the community,” he says. “I’m concerned as a publisher and as a communicator about the persistence of health disparities in the black community. Part of it is systemic. But part of it is our knowledge of what we need to be doing,” he says. “One solution is that we all need to get busy and do something personally, privately. And if we do that individually, the collective benefit is humongous.”

Being able to bring challenge participants to Mayo Clinic Square, hear from Mayo experts, and workout with equipment that the Minnesota

Tyrone Minor

State Senator Bobby Joe Champion

Alaina Lewis

program and if your child can get vaccines free of cost. There may be some other fees you still have to pay when you go to the doctor for the vaccines. You can call your clinic to ask if there are other fees before your visit.

Immunizing your child is one of the most loving things you can do.

Getting all recommended shots protects your child and others in the community so disease does

not spread. Diseases that used to be common in the United States are rarely seen. That is because vaccines work.

If you are looking for more information about vaccines and the diseases they prevent, look at the Vaccine Information Sheets on this website: www.immunize.org/ VIS. They are available in many languages.

someone else in. That’s what this Insight Challenge has been about.”

In addition to hosting the day’s events, Mayo provided health screenings, and Drs. Sharonne Hayes and Tammi Howard offered perspectives on health and nutrition. Mayo is also conducting research to help participants measure their progress, and help Minor and his team fine-tune the program.

That community partnership

angle is key, according to Dr. Hayes. “We realized there were a lot of opportunities for community partnerships,” she says, noting, “This is a way to welcome some people who otherwise might never see Mayo into our house.”

We welcome you to share your comments at our house where you’ll see the tools to share this story with others.

Alaina Lewis

Lynx, Timberwolves, Wild and Twins players use was a highlight, according to Minor.

“I think when a world-class organization like the Mayo Clinic involves the local community, it will hopefully cause them to redefine health and the importance of health,” he says. “Ultimately, I want to ignite change in the metro community. I want to change the mindset on what it means to be healthy … You start with the individual, and then each person reaches out and brings

Currently, there are 427 African Americans in Minnesota waiting for an organ transplant. #TalkDonation promotes conversations in the Twin Cities through art, media and events to ensure donation information, resources, and support are available to all people.

Saturday, April 18th

You belong.

The health plan with you in mind.

#TalkDonation presents The Best of Us event series:

Celebration of Life 2–3 PM: Resource Fair with food, music and more 3–5 PM: YO MAMA presents: This Moment After Death: Celebrating the Afterlife LOCATION: The Center for Changing Lives 2400 Park Avenue South, Minneapolis

At Medica, you’re not just part of a health plan.

You’re part of a community that believes in better health for all.

This family-friendly event is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit talkdonation.org or call 612.800.6100.

The #TalkDonation campaign is funded by the generosity of everyday people who participated in the Department of Public Safety’s “You and $2” program which allows Minnesotans to contribute $2 toward organ, eye and tissue donation education on their driver’s license or state ID card application. The #TalkDonation campaign team is a collaboration of LifeSource, Minnesota Lions Eye Bank, American Donor Services and bfreshproductions.

Learn more at medica.com

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COMMENTARY Minnesota should wake up to trade opportunities in Africa

By Tom Gitaa, Publisher Mshale Newspaper; Chair, Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium

Africa is changing for the better, but my fear is that Minnesotans, and Americans, for that matter, have yet to grasp the implications for this country.

Previously published in the Star Tribune.

The state, and the U.S. at large, would do well to expand commercial opportunities. It could help security as well as the bottom line.

In the January edition of “Minnesota Business” magazine I read of a St. Michael-based company called Jet Edge. It designs and manufactures waterjet systems for precision cutting, surface preparation and coating removal.

INSIGHT NEWS www.insightnews.com

Insight News is published weekly, every Monday by McFarlane Media Interests.

Editor-In-Chief Al McFarlane Publisher Batala-Ra McFarlane Assistant to the Publisher Shumira Cunningham Associate Editor & Associate Publisher B.P. Ford Associate Editor Afrodescendientes Carmen Robles Associate Editor Nigeria & West Africa Chief Folarin Ero-Phillips Associate Editor Culture and Education Irma McClaurin Director of Content & Production Patricia Weaver Sr. Content & Production Coordinator Ben Williams Production Intern Sunny Thongthi Distribution/Facilities Manager Jamal Mohamed Receptionist Lue B. Lampley Contributing Writers Harry Colbert, Jr. Julie Desmond Fred Easter Timothy Houston Penny Jones-Richardson Alaina L. Lewis Darren Moore Carmen Robles Lydia Schwartz Ryan T. Scott Toki Wright Photography David Bradley Contact Us: Insight News, Inc. Marcus Garvey House 1815 Bryant Ave. N. Minneapolis., MN 55411 Ph.: (612) 588-1313 Fax: (612) 588-2031 Member: Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium (MMMC), Midwest Black Publishers Coalition, Inc. (MBPCI), National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) Postmaster: Send address changes to McFarlane Media Interests, Marcus Garvey House 1815 Bryant Avenue North, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55411.

Tom Gitaa Following a trade mission to China during the Pawlenty administration, contacts that Jet Edge made there led, by a circuitous route, to a business opportunity in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Eventually Jet Edge made its first sale of $750,000 to a company in the DRC. The story was heartwarming and further confirmed what I already knew. There is a lot of money to be made in Africa if American businesses could open their eyes.

According to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), state exports to Africa totaled $251 million in 2014, a 3 percent increase. Not much until one realizes that exports to

Egypt alone (yes, it is in Africa) grew by 36 percent in 2014 to $36 million, and a staggering 122 percent increase to Angola, to a record $19 million. Algeria (in the news just last week as terrorists targeted tourists) was a standout, taking in $32 million in Minnesota exports.

In other words, three countries accounted for about a third of Minnesota’s exports to Africa in 2014. There is much more room for trade both ways.

To put this in context, total U.S. exports to sub-Saharan Africa, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, were $25 billion, mainly machinery and aircraft. The top five African

destinations for U.S. products were South Africa, Nigeria, Angola, Ethiopia and Kenya.

With its growing exports to Africa, Minnesota needs to pay close attention to the continent, as there are real jobs dependent on its promise and success.

I grew up in Mombasa, Kenya’s second-largest city, coastal and very cosmopolitan.

The city has a significant Muslim community in a predominantly Christian country, but even while I was growing up there, American influence could be felt in more positive terms than the negative ways it now is perceived.

Influence was projected through business and cultural exchanges. It

wasn’t as pervasive as the British influence, but it was still present. I came to Minnesota in 1990 fresh from high school to attend college and have been here ever since.

Lately, each time I have visited relatives back in Kenya in my biannual visits, most talk of U.S.Kenya cooperation centers on the war on terror and how Americans are cooperating with Kenyan authorities; that sentiment is repeated by other Africans around the continent. There’s nothing wrong with fighting terror, but we need to reach a point where the centerpiece of American foreign policy in Africa is trade and investment.

Indeed, the U.S. State Department lists four pillars of American foreign policy in Africa, as, in order: Strengthen democratic institutions; spur economic growth, trade and investment; advance peace and security; and promote opportunity and development.

It will serve us well as a country if we can balance the four pillars, as I believe they are very much intertwined. Trading more with Africa creates opportunities on both sides and will help our longterm security. The $250 million worth of goods and services Minnesota exported to Africa can easily be doubled within the next two years if business, with the

support of government, can more aggressively compete with China.

Africa is changing for the better, but my fear is that Minnesotans, and Americans, for that matter, have yet to grasp the implications for this country. The Obama administration for the last two years has been playing catchup to the Chinese, who were quick to capitalize on the democratic and economic changes that are sweeping the continent — changes that America and its allies helped orchestrate pre-9/11.

The State Department estimates about 200,000 n o n - g o v e r n m e n t - a ff i l i a t e d Americans reside in Africa.

These are the 200,000 people who have obviously seen the promise the continent offers.

In Minnesota, the big five of African communities are Somalis, Ethiopians, Liberians, Kenyans and Nigerians, in that order. A good start could be seeking a Minnesotan with African roots to start exploring.

Tom Gitaa is president and publisher of Mshale and is chairman of the Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium (MMMC). He is a former board member of Minnesota International Center (MIC) and a current Great Decisions speaker on U.S. Policy Toward Africa.

We expect better from the StarTribune

By Gary L. Cunningham, Jeffery A. Hassan, Ravi Norman, Toni Carter The StarTribune article on March 18, “Nonprofit paid to help with minority hiring at stadium short of goal…

Workforce Is Diverse, But No Thanks to Nonprofit That Was Hired to Help”, totally missed the mark. We expect better of the StarTribune. This story was far beneath the standards we expect from a major newspaper in a growing and diverse community.

It is no secret that Minnesota has the worst racial disparities on most socioeconomic indicators in the nation. The success of minority employment hiring on the Viking Stadium construction could have farreaching implications for the economic well-being of our community as a whole. This begs the question of why the success of the Viking’s Stadium, which is exceeding

all its workforce and business development goals for people of color, is not being trumpeted.

Rather than applauding and understanding this unprecedented accomplishment, the StarTribune squandered this opportunity to educate its readers concerning employment disparities in our cities. Instead, it chose to unfairly castigate a wellrespected African-American led legacy institution – Summit Academy Opportunities Industrialization Center (SAOIC) and its AfricanAmerican leader Louis King.

King, like many others, may have underestimated the actual effectiveness of Mortenson Construction, THOR Construction, subcontractors, the MSFA equity program and the trade unions; and therefore overestimated the actual needs on the project.

If this is the extent of the wrongdoing or the offense, then all parties involved should be painted with the

same brush, not just one person and one organization.

King was singled out even though, according to the article, SAOIC was part of a “coalition” of 14 organizations and colleges.

SAOIC was not alone in its concern that the minority workforce participation goals would be difficult to obtain.

Initially many questioned whether it was feasible to meet the new State of Minnesota’s 32% minority workforce participation goal. It had never been done before on such a massive scale as the Viking Stadium. The StarTribune’s recent headlines are replete with stories of publicly supported construction projects that have failed to meet even lower minority workforce goals.

Therefore, it was prudent for the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority to support an innovative collaboration of organizations to provide additional workers of color if the need arose. MSFA did this by creating a pay-for-

performance contracting mechanism that ensured that no resources would be allocated unless actual workers were trained and placed on the construction site.

Contrary to the title and tenor of the article, there was no wrongdoing, no malfeasance, and no scandal committed by King or SAOIC. No public money was squandered. In fact, there was no suggestion in the article that SAOIC had not met its contractual obligations to the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority or anyone else. Yet, the story was front page news.

With just a little research, the newspaper would have uncovered that SAOIC and its coalition partners have provided training to thousands of low income people in a variety of fields. These jobs change people’s lives. They become taxpaying citizens who contribute to all of our well-being and enhance our community.

The African-American community is diverse, with

multiple perspectives on any given subject. To rely on one source to represent our many perspectives is neither fair nor objective. Fairness demands that multiple points of view be provided on any given story.

Otherwise, the story becomes more of an editorial opinion than objective journalism.

We seek balance and fairness when we read your newspaper. We expect nothing more, or nothing less. In this case the StarTribune fell way below this key standard.

Gary L. Cunningham, President & CEO Metropolitan Economic Development Association Jeffery A. Hassan, Executive Director African American Leadership Forum Ravi Norman, CEO Thor Construction Toni Carter Commissioner - Dist. 4 Ramsey County

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Tell the tobacco industry to STOP selling candy-flavored death

By Ni Ora Hokes, CHW, CD(DONA), M.Ed. Minnesota residents, in particular north Minneapolis, should pay close attention to the new television ad launched

by ClearWay Minnesota this past week to raise awareness

about how the tobacco industry targets flavored tobacco products at certain populations; especially African Americans and youth. Unfortunately, these tobacco companies sell products in flavors that mask the harshness of tobacco – such as strawberry and grape to make it more appealing.

So, parents/guardians and

youth should beware because our communities suffer higher rates of disease and death due to smoking. Everyone should know that lung cancer, heart disease, diabetes, stroke and other tobacco-related diseases are leading causes of death in other populations; as well.

The tobacco industry is legally allowed to commit a

crime against our community and we are paying the price to make them rich with our lives. As a community Elder, grandparent, and health and wellness advocate, it is my hope that our communities pay close attention and take control of their own health and save their lives – STOP smoking!

Tell the tobacco industry to

STOP selling candy-flavored death. STOP the tobacco industry from using flavors to hook our youth! Support the effort our Senator Jeff Hayden, Senator Bobby Joe Champion, and Representative Rita Moran in the push to protect our communities from mentholflavored products.

Chavis

Chicago under the leadership of John Sengstacke, publisher of The Chicago Defender; Carl Murphy, publisher of The Afro American in Baltimore; and about 20 other publishers of Black owned newspapers from across the nation.

Those publishers who came together in Chicago 75 years ago were very mindful of the challenges and the responsibilities of the Black Press in a nation and in world where racial and social injustice and economic inequity were longstanding realities.

Yet the historical and contemporary genius of the Black Press was not to permit the prevailing inequalities or open hostilities to the advancement of the interests of Black people to render the Black Press to a position of silence in face of injustice.

The genius and journalistic power of Black owned newspapers, however, was and still is today to be vocal and audacious.

We report the truth of the news without compromise and without the taint of racial bigotry, hatred or prejudice. If there is a true “Free Press” in America

today, it is exemplified by the freedom and integrity of the Black Press.

Some have asked why has the Black Press retained a “trustworthy” relationship with millions of Black Americans after all these years? Trust is not something that you are given. Trust has to be earned over a period of time.

Look around this room today, there are publishers here who represent second and third generations of Blackowned publishing businesses across the nation. We have earned the trust and respect of the Black community.

Even though the NNPA is a nonprofit, nonpartisan national trade association of for-profit Black owned businesses, we are progressive is our social, political, economic, cultural and spiritual analysis.

What is the state of the Black Press in America and in the World today? We are the most influential, the most respected and the most trusted print voice in the world that articulates and publishes

From 1 Our collective national print press complimented by digital and other social media formats is the press that represents the heart and spirit, and, as publisher W.E.B. Dubois once said, we represent the soul of Black people. We are the voice of the Black American community.

We are local, statewide, regional, national, and we are global.

Our newspapers are not one dimensional.

We are not monolithic. We are as diverse as the communities that we serve.

We are intergenerational in terms of readership, distribution and circulation. We are objective news publishers. But we also are editorially prophetic in our discernment of the cutting edge issues that affect the quality of life of our communities.

Black Press Week this year recognizes and celebrates the 75th Anniversary of the National Newspaper Publishers Association. The NNPA was established in March of 1940 in

CHAVIS TURN TO 5

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Insight News • April 6 - April 12, 2015 • Page 5

BUSINESS

From challenge to success FUNdraising Good Times

By Mel and Pearl Shaw Part two of two part series Challenging finances and what feels like an onslaught of “bad press” can be part of the nonprofit experience.

Addressing these is what leadership is all about. Keep an eye to the future, talk with your donors and stakeholders,

and find a game-changing way to engage the community. This is the story of Regional One Health and its foundation.

Tammie Ritchey, Vice President of Development and Executive Director of Regional One Health Foundation in Memphis Tennessee knows what it’s like to weather the storm. First, executive leaders took time to personally share strategic directions and vision with major donors, keeping them in the loop. The foundation board played a major role too, and continues to do so.

Ritchey proudly promotes the foundation board, “I

sincerely believe we have one of the strongest board of directors around. They are all quite brilliant in their own lives outside of the board and very successful men and women.

They are dedicated to Regional One Health, they believe in the vision, and they all work passionately on our behalf.

They challenge me every day to go harder, to push further, to give more to the patients and families we serve. And we have several members who held on with us during some very challenging times. It was very difficult to be on a fundraising board and not be able to raise a lot of funds because of the

public’s perception of the hospital at that time.”

But that has changed. The foundation now hosts a sellout gala that is nothing short of spectacular. How did it get started? By a board member!

“The gala started when then board member, Leigh Shockey, asked her friend, legendary producer David Guest to bring a soul review that he was doing in London to Memphis and allow the money raised to go to the then MED. He agreed and she recruited board member Susan Arney to assist her with this. The first gala had 14 artists and was put together in eight weeks!” Ritchey explains.

Chavis From 4 the truth with respect to the interests of people of African descent.

Within the national and international context of economic changes in the global marketplace, the trustworthy aggregate capability of the 205 or more Black owned newspapers that are affiliated with the NNPA represents multiple and specific, yet unique, business related opportunities for corporate America, as well as for multinational corporations.

Yes, we provide effective and efficient advertisement options to those who want to reach Black Americans and other consumers of African descent.

But we bring considerable added value to all our advertisers, partners, sponsors and corporate supporters.

We are representative of the hopes and aspirations, toils and struggles, and interests of 45 million Black Americans, as well as the interests of more than a billion people of African descent throughout the world. In the wake of the recent decision by the United Nations to declare 2015-2024 as the International Decade for People of African Descent, it is remarkably timely for the Black Press to step forward in America and throughout world.

Yes, we should be deliberate and focused on how we step forward to ensure the financial and economic sustainability of our businesses, institutions and communities over the next ten years. The success and lasting impact of the International Decade for People of African Descent will ultimately be determined by how well we conceive and execute a ten year strategic business development plan.

Let me be clear toward fulfilling the goal of developing such a strategic plan, I am calling for the NNPA and the NNPA Foundation to take the lead in convening our leaders in banking, finance, print and digital media, Black Church denominational leaders, Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), U.S. Black Chambers, Inc., Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO), National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB), National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), National Bar Association, National Bankers Association, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), National Action Network (NAN), National Urban League, Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), The African Union, African Press Organization, Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), Press Association of Jamaica, Brazilian Press Association, and the Cuban Press Association among many others.

So many of us have been involved in previous efforts over the past 50 to 60 years to have an operational unity among our national organizations. Without over belaboring the point, one thing that was always missing was a business development plan that would bring increased revenue into our respective organizations.

Working in collaboration with the Nielsen Holdings Company, we have

Roy Lewis

Mary Denson (in front), chairwoman of the NNPA Foundation joins Wilhelmina Wright-Harp, the associate dean of the School of Communications at Howard University in the cutting the ribbon during the rededication of the NNPA Media Lab at Howard University as Bishetta Merritt (in eyeglasses), the interim chair of the Department of Media, Journalism and Film (MJF), Yanick Rice Lamb, the assistant chair of MJF, Cloves Campbell, the chairman of the NNPA Association, and Benjamin Chavis, the president and CEO of the NNPA look on. documented the $1.2 trillion dollar consumer spending of Black America. The challenge for us today, however, is to have a greater sense of economic accountability and economic equity and parity with those companies that are the profit beneficiaries of trillion dollar consumer spending of people in the United States and throughout the world.

What is the state of the Black Press in America and in the world today? It is financial assessment time. It is economic accountability time. The Black Press needs to be financially more sustainable and profitable. We need more national and global advertising. The NNPA should work with our colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus and with others, as Congresswoman Maxine Waters so skillfully stated yesterday, to research and detail a national and a global Annual Advertising Sales Report Card on all the companies that do business in our communities.

What is the state of the Black Press in America and in the world today? It is innovation time. We are in the newspaper business.

We plan to stay in the newspaper business to the extent to which we innovate and expand our impact in the marketplace. The aggregation of all that we do is powerful and influential. It is in our business interest to establish a Black owned national and global digital network not to take the place of our printed newspapers, but to strengthen the value and distribution and circulation of our newspapers. Next week the NNPA will launch an upgraded and updated www.BlackPressUSA. com and www.NNPA.org . But these are just the first steps in the right direction as we work smarter as we continue to work harder.

What is the state of the Black Press in America and in the world today? It is time for us to raise up a new generation of young freedom-fighting publishers, journalists and editors. Look at the young people who are in this room today. We are so proud of our young interns and those college students who have joined us today from Morgan State University, Howard University, Texas Southern University and from other HBCUs. They are our future.

Black youth today determine the trends for tomorrow not just in the United States, but also throughout the world. Sometimes, we under estimate our own value and in particular we need to embrace our youth beyond being readers and subscribers of our newspapers. We cannot afford a generation gap nor a cultural gap with our youth. Our upcoming NNPA Annual Convention in Detroit, Michigan, June 16 -20, 2015 will begin with the first day totally dedicated to uplifting,

“We used the gala specifically as a way to challenge and change the business community’s and donor community’s public perception of us. It’s very important that our gala guests have a one-of-a-kind, first class experience – just like what we strive for with our patients and their families when they use our services. The first year we held the gala people said they were happy to support us, but they were unsure about what the experience would be like – so in a way it was a bit of a test.”

The foundation clearly passed the test, as the event is

an annual sell out with people who literally buy their tables a year ahead of time.

You can learn more about Regional One Health Foundation at www. regionalonehealthfoundation. org or by calling (901) 5458373.

mentoring, and encouraging our youth to prepare for leadership, entrepreneurship and dedication to keep the torch light of the NNPA will lit far into the future.

In conclusion, there is just a short list of recommendations that I believe should be considered in addition to the aforementioned points.

We should develop a diversity of new revenue streams for the NNPA and our member publishers across the nation. Specifically in two areas: Establishment of a NNPA Photographic Images Service (similar to Getty Images). We have some of best experienced photographers in the world and most of them are struggling to achieve financial sustainability.

Establishment of a NNPA National and Regional Polling Service.

The 2016 national elections will be the most expensive election in the history

of elections where billions of dollars will be spent on polls and advertising.

The NNPA, more than any other organization, should lead a national public awareness campaign on criminal justice reform to end the unjust mass incarceration of Black Americans, and to stop racially motivated police brutality and prosecutorial misconduct.

The NNPA should support and work with all our strategic partners to increase the educational and economic advancement of Black America.

We thank God for the Black Press. We have come a mighty long way from Freedom’s Journal to today. We have made progress. But we still have a long journey ahead.

Our faith is strong and our determination to move forward is renewed and revitalized.

Copyright 2015– Mel and Pearl Shaw Mel and Pearl Shaw position nonprofits, colleges and universities for fundraising success. For help with your fundraising visit www. saadandshaw.com or call (901) 522-8727.

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Page 6 • April 6 - April 12, 2015 • Insight News

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CONVERSATIONS WITH AL MCFARLANE

Mobile Jazz teachers heat up KFAI airwaves using music and the arts as tools for communication.

Mobile Jazz Afterschool is offered from 2:45 – 5 pm each Monday and Wednesday at Creative Arts Secondary School, and runs until May 6, 2015. After May, the program will be offered during summer school at Central High School in St. Paul, Minn.

For more information about Mobile Jazz Afterschool, please contact Creative Arts Secondary School, (651) 292-3480.

By Carmen Robles KFAI’s Riverside Avenue studio in Minneapolis was sending heat waves through its airwaves this morning with the intense, soul wrenching, social conscious lyrics of rap artist The Lioness (Shaiwna Adams), and the sultry a cappella rendition of My Funny Valentine by jazz vocalist Liz Lassiter.

The impromptu performances lifted our spirits and provided a sneak peak at how these accomplish professionals engage children through vocals, instrumental music and the spoken word.

The arts, among them music, are slowly disappearing from our schools. The JazzMobile After School project brings this important primal, instinctive expression to schools and neighborhoods year round, allowing youth to find their voice

The Lioness through this natural medium.

Mobile Jazz Afterschool is a 12-week after-school and summer school music arts initiative that integrates core aspects of creativity, performing, multimedia arts, and music education to stimulate students’ critical thinking, self-expression and social engagement. Mobile Jazz Afterschool was created

by Grammy-award winning producer Andre Fischer and U of

M professor Ross VeLure Roholt, PhD. Mobile Jazz Afterschool is a partnership between Saint Paul Public Schools Department of Alternative Education, Youthprise and the Twin Cities Mobile Jazz Project which is an initiative for positive social change and cultural awareness. It features live music performances, lectures and demonstrations, which encourage youth to explore their potential

Minnesota Welfare Rights Committee Economic Justice for all Families Over 70,000 kids live in “Extreme Poverty” and current Minnesota laws put children into extreme poverty, according to members of Minnesota Welfare Rights Committee in a

Conversations with Al McFarlane broadcast interview Tuesday morning..

The Minnesota Welfare Rights Committee urged listeners to become involved in the legislative process. Their message: organize your church group, friends and neighbors, get together and visit your legislator at the capitol and at the State Office Building right across the street.

At the very least, call your Senator and Representative. You can find out who they are and how to reach them by going to http:// www.gis.leg.mn/OpenLayers/ districts/ or calling general information at (651) 296-0504.

You may also want to connect with the state agencies that represent the interests of minority groups in the state: • Council on Black Minnesotans (COBM), Phone: (651) 757-1750 www.cobm.state. mn.us • The council on Asian-Pacific

Minnesotans (CAPM), Phone: (651) 757-1740 www.capm.state. mn.us • Chicano/Latino Affairs (CLAC), Phone: (651) 296-9587 http://www.clac.state.mn.us • Indian Affairs (MIAC) http://mn.gov/indianaffairs/ Welfare Rights advocates Kim Defranco, Tasha Jackson, Ebony Wade and Darnella Wade said they are championing legislation that would double the amounts of welfare grants and give aid to all in need. They said the amount state aid grants to welfare receiving families and children has not changed since 1986.

Both policy and stigmatization amount to relegating those in need to the margin of society, often punishing those in need and deserving of compassion and support, the said.

For more information go to www.,welfarerightsmn@yahoo. com or please call Tasha Jackson at (612) 822-8020.

3 tips for becoming a servant leader Women Leading Change

By Dr. Artika Tyner The servant leader builds a vision for justice and exercises the moral commitment to advance the future of social change.

Khaleelah Muhammad embodies the qualities of a servant leader through her vocation as a lawyer, educator, and community activist.

Servant leadership is described as “the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.

Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead” by Robert K. Greenleaf. The focus of servant leadership is to restore community connections, build new partnerships, and promote the common good. This process of engagement is built upon the premise that each individual has the ability to transform the world around us as we make a conscious choice to serve others and lead change.

1) Servant leadership begins with vision.

Vision provides focus for the direction one is headed. The adage of “without a vision, the people perish” sets the context for the importance of leaders creating a clear vision. This vision inspires others to discover their leadership potential and leverage strategic action in order to advance the cause of social justice. The servant leader has a vision of a world where justice and freedom reign supreme. A world where leaders “become dealers of hope,” according to Muhammad.

Advancing hope requires a daily commitment for each of us to use our influence to bring forth change. Muhammad outlines a simple action plan: take a small step in the right direction and keep pressing forward. She stated, “I believe that the greatest changes that we make in this world, will begin with a small step that we each make within. This step must be oft repeated.” These small actions build the foundation for strengthening communities and empowering others to lead.

Muhammad’s vision is to fight for justice for underrepresented and underserved communities.

This is a vision for justice and peace where communities live free from the threat of senseless violence and the plague of poverty.

This vision requires collective

At various points it comes from varying members of the team.

When a ‘natural’ leader emerges, she or he will understand and make room for this occurrence,” according to Muhammad.

Khaleelah Muhammad action. Servant leadership is community-focused as it seeks to shift leadership authority and power to each member of the community by means of emerging from follower to leader. This process aids in the development of the leadership potential of every individual involved. “I see leadership as the manifestation of an effective communicative exchange of vision among individuals and members of a team with shared values that result in inspiration, orchestration and subsequent measurable productivity. In its highest form, its sustainability is ensured because this exchange flows in all directions. Inspiration is shared.

2) Servant leadership is evidenced by one’s ability to empower others.

Servant leadership is measured by the simple notion of “do you grow the people you lead?” The answer to this question is evidenced by supporting the development of the core leadership skills of others and creating opportunities for them to serve in the community.

Muhammad has empowered countless young women as they discover their leadership identity and become change agents. There are several leadership quotes which inspire her personal service mission: Servant leaders aid those around them in unveiling their leadership potential. “I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders not more followers.”

Ralph Nader Servant leaders foster teamwork, partnerships, and collective engagement. “A great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together.” Johann Wolfgang Von

Goethe Servant leaders move beyond creating dependency to advancing empowerment. “As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.”

Bill Gates 3) Servant leadership is a journey of sisterhood.

Oftentimes, it is tempting to believe that you walk on the path of leadership alone. You may feel isolated due to fear or uncertainty on which direction the path of leadership will guide you. However, Muhammad reminds each of us that leadership development is a collective journey where we walk hand in hand with other female mentors and colleagues. This is a journey of sisterhood. Muhammad notes: “Bishop T.D. Jakes, at Woman, Thou Art Loosed, 2015, put ait best when he said that we all have to find our Naomi. I agree with that wisdom. No matter our faith tradition, we all are spiritual entities, connected by Spirit. No one will have walked before the identical path that is our destiny to walk. I have my path and you have yours.” Naomi represents a maternal guide similar to Leo in Greenleaf’s seminal work, The Servant as Leader.

To set the scene— Leo

accompanies a group of men on a mythical journey as the servant who performs routine menial tasks. Leo remains on the journey as a servant while uplifting the men and guiding the journey.

One day, Leo disappears and is found by one of the men many years later. It is then discovered that Leo is also a great leader and a noble guiding spirit, in addition to being an indispensable resource to the group of men. Leo’s inner strengths as a motivator and giver empowered him to serve in a merged role as both a servant and a leader. This serves as an example of a servant leader’s ability to uplift and motivate others through random acts of kindness.

Muhammad serves as a model of servant leadership at its best. She has demonstrated the transformative power of service in developing a vision for justice and taking the steps necessary to make this vision a lived reality.

Will you join Khaleelah Muhammad in advancing change in your community by picking up the mantle of servant leadership?

Dr. Artika R. Tyner is an assistant professor at the University of St. Thomas College of Education, Leadership, and Counseling.

African Americans have all the leaders we need, and are developing more AALF

By Jeffrey A. Hassan, Executive Director African American Leadership Forum Barack Obama, nationally and internationally, and Keith Ellison, locally, nationally and internationally are quintessential “Black” leaders – Black leaders who have not forgotten where they came from. Black leaders who rely on the heritage of hundreds of thousands of Black folks that literally gave their lives, so that they would have the opportunity to lead our people and our nation.

Literally hundreds of thousands, indeed millions, of Black folks worldwide look upon Barack Obama and Keith Ellison as their leaders.

In the United States alone, hundreds of thousands of Black folks proudly display Barack and Michelle Obama’s pictures on their mantel places and throughout their homes.

Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison is known internationally in such faraway places as the Sudan and Saudi Arabia, as the first Muslim elected to the United States Congress; and, oh by the way, he is Black. While Obama and Ellison are, indeed, Black leaders, it just so happens that other ethnicities think quite highly of him as well.

Locally, the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are rife with Black leaders who are getting big results. Eric Mahmoud, CEO of the Harvest Network of Schools, is Beating the Odds, by providing outstanding educational achievement for 1300 Black children every year. His organization also has more than 200 employees.

Sondra Samuels, CEO or the Northside Achievement Zone, is providing positive economic,

educational, and family outcomes for more than 700 families and over 1700 children.

Chanda Smith-Baker, CEO of Pillsbury United Communities, heads an organization that serves 25,000 families annually, employs over 180 people, and manages an annual budget in excess of $8 million dollars.

At the state level, Senators Jeff Hayden and Bobby Joe Champion, Representative Rena Moran, Commissioner Toni Carter, are looked upon by Black folks as leaders. They represent thousands of people, Black, White, Red, Yellow and Brown alike in Minneapolis and St. Paul. All of them have been elected for multiple terms, because they are getting results for their constituents.

In the economic arena, Richard Copeland, Founder and Board Chair, and Ravi Norman, CEO, of Thor Construction, operate the largest Black owned company in Minnesota, and one of the largest Black-owned construction companies in the entire country, and they employ hundreds of people annually. Kim Nelson is Senior Vice President of External Affairs at General Mills, Inc., and Dr. Sylvia Bartley is Senior Global Marketing Manager for Medtronic, Inc. – both international corporations. Both are considered leaders in the Black community. Gary Cunningham, Metropolitan Council member, and CEO of the Metropolitan Economic Development Association, provides business consulting and entrepreneurial development to Black and other minority owned businesses. In the philanthropic arena, Black leaders like Kim Price, Laysha Ward, Jacob Gayle, head major corporate foundations that fund

major initiatives in the Twin Cities Black community.

In the judicial arena, Black judges like Michael Davis, Pamela Alexander, Tanya Bransford, James Clark, and Ed Wilson have provided more than 100 years of accumulated leadership on the bench. In the faith arena, Pastor Billy Russell serves as the head of the Minnesota State Baptist Convention, while at the same time leading Friendship Academy for the Arts, a high performing K-8 public school. Rev. Jerry McAfee serves as the President of the Minneapolis Chapter of the NAACP, while pastoring New Salem Baptist Church. Pastor Paul Slack heads an organization called ISAIAH that is working to eliminate place-based and racebased health inequities to ensure all Minnesotans have an opportunity for good health, and to ensure that economic opportunities are evenly distributed.

This year, theAfricanAmerican Leadership Forum began the Josie R. Johnson Leadership Academy (JRJLA). Funded by the Bush Foundation and The Minneapolis Foundation, and named after the first Black regent of the University of Minnesota, the JRJLA is developing the next generation of leaders for the Black community.

JRJLA Fellows include two PhD’s, three PhD candidates, five Master’s Degrees, two book authors, two community organizers, and a video producer.

One Fellow was the first Black person in the 146 year history of Augsburg College to be student body president; and, also served as president of the Pan African Student Union. Also among these Fellows is a former gang leader, drug dealer and two-time felon, who is now in the final semester of his PhD. In the Black community

we not only accept those who have followed the straight and narrow; but, those who have fallen off, but gotten back on the straight path.

But, all of these examples overshadow the fact that every day there are Black faith, business and philanthropic, government and political, and community leaders who are making a difference in

the lives of the Black community.

Perhaps the needle isn’t moving as fast or as much as we would like, but they’re out there trying.

Most of us are familiar with the story of the little girl and the star fish that goes something like this: Thousands of star fish had washed-up on the shore, with no chance for survival; when a little

girl came upon them and started throwing them back into the sea one-by-one. When told by an onlooker that there was no way she could make a difference for all of them, she replied, “but at least I made a difference for the ones I threw back!” This is the work of Black leaders!

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Minneapolis/St. Paul Alumnae Chapter presents its

19th Annual Literary Luncheon Iyanla Vanzant Photo credit: Harpo Inc./Chuck Hodes

Inspirational Speaker Author of 16 books 5 New York Times Best-Sellers Executive Producer and Host of the critically acclaimed reality series Iyanla: Fix My Life

featuring

Iyanla Vanzant Saturday, April 11, 2015 11:30 a.m.

Crowne Plaza St. Paul Riverfront Hotel 11 Kellogg Boulevard East St. Paul, MN 55101 Admission $75 For ticket purchase information, please visit www.dstmsp.org Event inquiries may be directed to: mspliteraryluncheon@gmail.com Tickets are non-refundable

insightnews.com

Insight News • April 6 - April 12, 2015 • Page 7

A former car dealership, 800 West Broadway sat vacant for years

Groundbreaking set for Northside health, career, and education collaboration

By Harry Colbert, Jr. Contributing Writer All around Minneapolis proof of the economic boon can be seen with the recently developed or under development commercial and residential sites – everywhere except north Minneapolis.

The new Vikings stadium is taking shape nicely, transforming the downtown landscape. Over the past few years Uptown has become unrecognizable from its former self with a plethora of upscale multi-use commercial and residential buildings now dotting the area. Development is all around it seems, with the exception of north Minneapolis.

Outside of the recently completed Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) headquarters on West Broadway Avenue, development on the Northside has been stagnant … to put it mildly.

To drive down West Broadway in many ways looks like a trip back to the 1960s or 1970s but there seems to be a renewed interest in developing north Minneapolis and West Broadway in particular. An Anytime Fitness now resides on West Broadway near Penn Avenue and within the past month a new standalone Walgreen’s has replaced its unkempt older store at the corner of West Broadway and Lyndale Avenues. Now there is news that come summer of

NorthPoint Health & Wellness CEO Stella Whitney-West (right) talks about the joining forces with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS), Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC) in the new West Broadway Education and Career Center, scheduled to open in the summer of 2016. Looking on are DEED deputy commissioner Jeremy Hanson-Willis (left) and MPS interim superintendent Michael Gore. next year, just a couple of blocks from the Walgreen’s, a blighted building that once housed a twostory Lincoln dealership and later a used furniture store will be transformed into the new home of the West Broadway Education and Career Center.

The massive 47,000 sq. ft. building located at 800 West Broadway Ave. has long been the discussion of redevelopment but has remained vacant for years.

Now construction on the building is scheduled to commence this June.

The West Broadway

Education and Career Center will be home to a unique set of tenants who are joining forces in hopes of providing solutions to residents and an area facing a myriad of issues. The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), along with MPS, Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC), and NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center are not only going to occupy space in the building, but will work with one another in efforts to better serve north Minneapolis and its residents.

The unique partnership will offer workforce training and resources, secondary and postsecondary education assistance and health services to area residents.

“When Gov. (Mark) Dayton put forth this initiative it wasn’t about a new building, it was about a better delivery model to help people to find employment within the community,” said Jeremy Hanson-Willis, the state’s deputy commissioner of workforce development. “It’s a new model to give people a pathway to a bigger and brighter future.”

With the new facility, aside from the hopeful dividends of providing better access to healthcare and offering various education opportunities, the project will provide immediate jobs in construction with many of those jobs being filled by residents of north Minneapolis.

Sherman Associations is the lead contractor and the company’s president, George Sherman, said his company is working with Summit Academy OIC to boost minority and women hiring and it is breaking down subcontracting projects in smaller parcels to

better accommodate smaller minority-owned and womenowned contractors who may not have the capitol resources to bid on larger projects.

“We’ll have greater minority and women participation than the Vikings stadium project, that’s for sure,” said Sherman, who said he hopes to have 40 percent minority participation. State guidelines call for 32 percent minority participation. “Our commitment is strong.”

Stella Whitney-West, CEO of NorthPoint Health & Wellness, agreed that the project is beneficial to the area in a multitude of ways.

“Not only are we healthcare providers, we’re also a major employer. We employ more than 400 people, many who are being offered a second chance in life,” said Whitney-West. “That’s something that this partnership represents.”

Hanson-Willis said the new workforce center is a dire need, not only for north Minneapolis, but for all of Minnesota.

“Right Now we don’t have enough workers for jobs, yet in north Minneapolis there are a lot of people who don’t have jobs,” said Hanson-Willis. “So in this community we have to get this right. We have to get people the right training and right skillsets.

If we don’t get this right the entire economic structure of Minnesota is at stake.”

Minneapolis-St. Paul Chapter of Links Incorporated sponsors young women’s issues forum: An African-American perspective The Minneapolis-St. Paul Chapter of the Links Incorporated is sponsoring the Young Women’s Issues Forum: An African-American Perspective on Saturday, April 18, at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College, 1501 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis, from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Girls who are currently in

grades sixth – 12th are encouraged to attend. The day-long event will offer breakout sessions that promote leadership, health and wellness, financial literacy and education success strategies.

Local business and community leaders will facilitate these sessions.

Another Forum highlight will be the presentation of Penumbra Theatre Company’s Race Workshop – an interactive three-part experience that

celebrates human differences.

During the workshop participants will experience exploration of stereotypes and how they shape our perceptions of self and others, monologues about identity and facilitated dialogue and practical strategies for communicating more respectfully.

The Young Women’s Issues Forum is free and includes lunch. Registration is required. To register go to visit www.2015mspywif.eventbrite. com. On-site registration is also

available the day of the event.

The Links, Inc. is an international non-profit, women’s service organization with more than 12,000 members in 276 chapters in 42 states, the District of Columbia and the Bahamas. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for others through services to youth, national trends, health and human services, international trends and services and the arts. The Minneapolis-St. Paul Chapter of Links was chartered in 1972.

Awards From 1 world?’ and we have to do it, because our children are watching us.”

During the 2015 Black Press Week, the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) Foundation honored Crump as the Newsmaker of the Year for his service to the community, especially to the families of young people of color who had been brutalized or killed by law enforcement officials.

The NNPA is a trade group that represents more than 200 Black newspapers published in the United States.

“I go on FOX News a lot and I have these intelligent debates with these Bill O’Reillys and these Meagan Kellys and I know that when, I leave they’re going to make it look bad and everything, but you gotta go, you gotta keep talking to them and not let them [create] the only narrative,” said Crump.

“We’ll come on to talk about

NNPA /Freddie Allen

Bishop Hezekiah Walker and publishers Jackie Hampton of the Mississippi Link and John B. Smith, Sr. of the Atlanta Inquirer Trayvon, and we’ll come on to talk about Michael Brown and Eric Garner, because if don’t talk about it, it’s swept under the rug.”

Crump added: “So, I don’t care if you criticize me and say that we’re trying to be race baiters, because the greatest fear is to remain silent. Silence is almost like betrayal.”

Crump, 45, said that giving a voice to the voiceless has been

the most important part of his career.

“Making people know the name of Trayvon Martin, the name of the Michael Brown, know the name of the Tamir Rice, know the name of Chavis Carter, know the name of Kendrick Johnson in Valdosta, Ga., know the name of Victor White III in New Iberia, La., know the name of Alesia Thomas in Los Angeles, Calif., Jesus Huerta in Durham, N.C., know the name of Leon Ford in Pittsburgh, Pa., know the name of Antonio Zambrano-Montes in Pasco, Wash., the list goes on and on,” said Crump. “If this was happening to White children, it would be a war.”

During his remarks at the dinner, Crump credited Blackowned news media for daring to write and talk about the phenomenon he called the ‘‘Houdini handcuffed suicide killings” of young people of color in the back of police cars.

One of those “Houdini” killings involved Chavis Carter.

On July 28, 2012, following a traffic stop in Jonesboro, Ark., police pulled Carter, 21, out of the truck that he was riding in with two White men. After searching Carter twice, police said that they recovered a small amount of marijuana, then put him in the back of their police car, handcuffed behind his back, where he supposedly shot himself in the head with a hidden handgun.

In 2013, Theresa Rudd, Carter’s mother, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the

AWARDS TURN TO 8

Page 8 • April 6 - April 12, 2015 • Insight News

insightnews.com

LIFESTYLE

Today will be a quiet day Man Talk

By Timothy Houston Today will be a quiet day. This is the title and affirmation from chapter 10 of my book “Study to be quiet.” The things that we say to ourselves to begin each day can shape how we will deal with the challenges that will come our way. What do you do when you get overwhelmed?

How do you deal with the stress and the pressure that each day brings? Every day, a little more pressure is added to your emotional reservoir. Every day it gets closer to capacity. Each of us should begin each day by speaking peace into our lives.

To begin with, we declare today will be a quiet day because everything requires a reset. When we turn on our home computer in the morning, it goes through a series of bleeps and flashes which it does every time it starts up.

It checks to make sure all of the drives and the cylinders are operating correctly. It also checks the main memory to make sure none of the data has been corrupted since it was shut down on the night before. The computer then makes the minor adjustments necessary to keep it running smoothly. We are more complex and complicated than a computer. Daily selfevaluation and adjustments keep your life’s hard drive running smoothly. When we say today will be a quiet day, we are taking the time needed daily to do quiet reflections and self-evaluations.

Secondly, when we declare

Inner peace produces outer peace. You are able to face the world and the things in it without losing perspective on what is important.

today will be a quiet day, we are resetting our spiritual clock. We all need daily quiet time with God. Men often carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, and women often carry the family calendar, schedule and details on hers.

They are both complicated

system that are comprised of a spirit, soul and body.

This complexity is further complicated by the things they have experienced in the past and the present consequences for their actions. Without God to sort through their spiritual and emotional baggage, men

and women will explode emotionally and physically, and the whole world will suffer.

Quiet the spirit, and quiet the man. Daily quiet time with God will provide the guidance and direction needed to remain spiritually whole.

Finally, when we declare today will be a quiet day, we are declaring the need to slow down. Life is a rat race, and if we get caught up in it, we will ultimately crash. When we take the time in the morning to slow down, we give our sprit and emotions the opportunity to calm down. Rush, rush, rush, will only lead to frustration.

Frustration leads to bad choices, and those choices lead to unwanted consequences.

When we declare that today will be a quiet day, we are declaring that today will be a day of good choices.

The need to calm down and slowdown is all around

us. The positive affirmations that we make will have an impact. When you reset your spiritual clock, you reset your emotional clock as well. Inner peace produces outer peace.

You are able to face the world and the things in it without losing perspective on what is important. Our families benefit from this peace. This peace is like a river that flows from the heart of God into the heart of men and women. Every day you should make your positive affirmation. Today will be a quiet day, because I declare it to be so!

Timothy Houston is an author, minister, and motivational speaker who is committed to guiding positive life changes in families and communities.

For questions, comments or more information, go to www.tlhouston.com.

Spring cleaning: Identify what you need to keep or get rid of Motivational Moments

By Penny JonesRichardson This is the week that I start my spring cleaning. I have so much

“stuff” to get rid of and will do exactly that! I realize that some of the things that I have collected through the years have got to go.

Why have I been holding on to so much of this “stuff” for so long? Many of us hold on to things that we know we don’t need and so it’s time to let go.

I remember meeting a person who showed me how holding on to so much “stuff” is not healthy for us. She stated that

there comes a point in your life that you have to decide on what you need to keep in your life and what you don’t. Think about the things you are holding on to, but not quite sure as to why you are still holding on.

Take this person for instance.

She owns over one hundred pairs of shoes. She stated that sometimes she buys shoes because new shoes make her feel good. I believe that sometimes

we use “stuff” to make ourselves feel better. When things aren’t going the way we plan sometimes buying nice things can take our minds off of problems and disappointments.

But remember, there will come a time when you have to evaluate all of the things you have and decide what is needed and what to let go of.

This also happens when you decide to set goals and change

your life for the better. You have to analyze what you need to do in order to be the success that you know you can be. There will be some things/stuff that you need to keep and things you need to let go of. With any change there will be new challenges and new adventures and you must be ready to experience them. Get rid of the things that have gotten in your way and put all of your “stuff” that can only hinder your

Awards

Gray From 1

Penny Jones-Richardson is a published author and life coach. She can be reached via her website at www. thequeensproject.com or email at penny@thequeensproject. com.

of Florida, who was honored with a Torch Award for her successful political career, also thanked the Black press for sharing her story. Carroll was the first woman to be elected as lieutenant governor and the first African American of Caribbean descent to be elected statewide

since Reconstruction.

“Had it not been for the Black press, my accomplishments would not have been told at all in mainstream media,” Carroll said. “We have an audience that needs to be informed and the Black press fills that vacuum that exists in mainstream press.”

Carroll continued: “For many of you, it’s been a struggle to keep the lights on, but you know the importance of the work that you do that your commitment is to not let down the journalists and the publishers that have come before you.”

Filmmaker Jeff Friday

(Entertainment), B. Doyle Mitchell, Jr., president and CEO of the Industrial Bank (Business), and Grammy-award winning gospel singer Bishop Hezekiah Walker (Religion) were also honored with Torch Awards. Willie Myrick, was presented NNPA’s first “Junior

Newsmaker of the Year” Award.

Last year, at the age of 9, Myrick was kidnapped while playing near his Atlanta home. He sang Bishop Hezekiah Walker’s hit song, “Every Praise” for three hours until his abductor finally threw him on the street and drove away.

In a separate ceremony, the late Francis Page, Sr., founder and publisher of the Houston NewsPages, and Dr. Ludwaldo O. Perry, co-founder of the Tennessee Tribune with his wife, Rosetta Miller-Perry, were enshrined in the Gallery of Distinguished Black Publishers at Howard University.

At the awards dinner, Friday said that the more that he traveled around the world promoting Black films and culture, the more he realized that the perceptions of African Americans are being poisoned by the mainstream media.

“We’ve been talking about Black lives matter,” said Friday.

“But Black images matter, too.”

Collins, Jr., chair of the MUL Board of Directors. “Under Scott’s leadership, MUL has strengthened its programs and

partnerships. We wish him well in his new career and educational endeavors.”

When the Board hired Gray nearly six years ago, he promised innovative programs to lift more Minneapolis families out of poverty. And, he has delivered on that promise.

Under Gray’s leadership, the MUL has refined its focus on

workforce development, wealth accumulation, college and career readiness, along with health and wellness. In addition, the MUL has served thousands of Twin City residents through its Gateway to Opportunity, which was recently recognized by the National Urban League as one of the most innovative economic enhancement

programs in the nation.

“It has been an honor to serve in this Urban League movement for over 10 years with 6 of those years at the Minneapolis Urban League.

It is time for me to pursue other career and educational dreams,” said Gray, who recently won a prestigious Bush Foundation fellowship. “I have done my best to provide solutions for those who are the most marginalized in this community. We have created new programing like the 13th Grade, and Big Step that help young adults gain the credentials and postsecondary opportunities critical to earning family sustaining wages.”

Gray added that, “As the Twin Cities become more diverse, MUL is beginning to develop satellite programming into places like Anoka County through an innovative

workforce partnership with the Anoka County Workforce Center. This organization is well poised to continue playing a vital role in the Twin Cities.

I encourage the community’s continued support of this nearly 90 year old institution.”

Over the next few weeks, Gray looks forward to working with Belton and the Board on the transition plan. “The MUL is a strong and vibrant organization that has served the Minneapolis community for more than 89 years,” said Collins. “As we begin a national search for a new President and CEO, our Board knew we needed a wellrespected, compassionate and highly capable Interim CEO to reassure our stakeholders that we will ‘keep the trains running on time’. Steven Belton, a proven leader with deep roots in this community, is the right person for this important job.”

From 7 Jonesboro police department.

The suit said that no fingerprints were found on the gun that police claimed Carter used to shoot himself in the head and that the police car was washed, destroying potential evidence that could be used in future investigations.

The arresting officers, Ronald Marsh and Keith Baggett, received one month paid administrative and returned to active duty following the shooting.

“Without the Black Press I don’t know where we would be in these campaigns of justice for all these unknown, unnamed people of color who are killed everyday all across the world and swept under the rug,” said Crump.

Jennifer S. Carroll, the former lieutenant governor

greatness away for good!

And as always, stay focused, stay determined, and keep striving for greatness.

NNPA /Freddie Allen

B. Doyle Mitchell, Jr. president and CEO of Industrial Bank, addressing dinner before accepting Torch Award for Business.

NNPA /Freddie Allen

Former Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer S. Carroll (left); Dirck Hargraves of Vox Global and Lenora Alexander, publisher of the Denver Weekly News

insightnews.com

Insight News • April 6 - April 12, 2015 • Page 9

COMMUNITY Bush Foundation selects community creativity cohort The Bush Foundation selected 16 organizations that work in the arts for its Community Creativity Cohort. The Cohort is a one-time program designed to both recognize and learn from exemplary organizations that meaningfully engage people in the arts and integrate the arts into public life.

The organizations selected to participate in the Cohort will each receive an unrestricted grant of $100,000. In addition, the Cohort will work with the Foundation over the next six months to articulate the challenges and opportunities associated with their work, particularly around efforts to engage the community, build and support leadership, and advance racial and economic equity. The insights from this effort will help inform the Foundation’s future work in the arts. “The arts can inspire

equity. The organizations that participate in the Cohort will also share lessons learned from their experience working on these issues in their own communities.

The Foundation worked with Laura Zabel, Executive Director of Springboard for the Arts and a 2014 Bush Fellow, to design the Cohort experience.

When Archibald and Edyth Bush established the Foundation in 1953, they did so with a broad mandate that included the “encouragement of the arts.� Since then, the Foundation has made significant investments in the arts and artists. “The Community Creativity Cohort will advance our legacy of support for the arts and align it with our work to inspire and support leadership and community innovation,� Barmann said.

Meet the Community Creativity Cohort: BushFoundation.org

communities to think bigger and differently about how to address tough challenges. But organizations that work in the arts wrestle with tough challenges of their own,� said Bush Foundation Strategy and Learning Vice President Allison Barmann. “The Community Creativity Cohort will help us better understand both the challenges and opportunities these organizations face. This knowledge will strengthen our ability to support efforts to engage people in the arts and integrate the arts into public life.�

The Community Creativity Cohort, which includes organizations from Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota, will meet twice over the next six months. Each meeting will feature guest presenters who will inspire and inform the Cohort on issues related to community engagement, leadership development and

Cohort member West Broadway Business and Area Coalition uses the arts to create an inviting and vibrant neighborhood.

DSWAP interns participate in KPNP 1600 AM Hmong Radio Show The Family Partnership’s Diversity Social Work Advancement Program (DSWAP) interns are wrapping up another season working with KPNP 1600 AM’s “Hmong Radio Show.�

The project was launched in 2013 by DSWAP Clinical Supervisor, True J. Thao, as a way to provide psychoeducation to the Hmong community on mental health issues.

Bao Herr, Amanda Moua, Mai Ku Moua, and Francois Vang, current DSWAP students, took the lead on the project in September 2014 in an effort

to expand their professional growth and fulfill their learning agreement with The Family Partnership.

Participating DSWAP interns are on the air live twice a month. Their goal is to bring awareness on health disparities, and discuss topics, such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), civil commitment, domestic violence, depression, and other issues related to the well-being of Hmong families and individuals.

Through these bi-monthly radio sessions, the Hmong community has gained knowledge from a variety of

of Social Work students for internships so that they can complete graduate school.�

Vang is scheduled to speak at both universities on his experiences with The Family Partnership, the DSWAP program, and the “Hmong Radio Show.�

The Family Partnership is an accredited, multicultural human services organization that has provided help and hope to people in Minnesota who are struggling with difficult challenges or in crisis.

For more information, visit www.

TheFamilyPartnership.org.

guest professionals, including academic professors and practitioners.

The “Hmong Radio Show� will run until mid-May 2015, with previous sessions available to the public at KPNP1600. com. Look for the dated “The Family Partnership� links on the bottom right side of the page.

The University of St. Thomas and St. Catherine University have both shown interest in the “Hmong Radio Show,� and strongly believe in the program’s mission, “To recruit racially and ethnically diverse second-year Masters

True J. Thao

McFarlane

Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio to create a new company, Midwest Black Publisher Coalition, Inc., which delivered millions in advertising revenues to regional Black newspapers.

What we discovered was and old and simple truth: collaboration works.

Fast forward to the age of technology: the digisphere.

While behemoth city dailies suffer, marketing philosophy and strategy continue to shift at the speed of a tweet. The mantra for the industry is hyper-local marketing.

In Minnesota and around the nation, the hyper-local marketing space, for African and African American communities, is owned by the Black Press. Not only do we own the niche, that now is recognized and pursued because of its robust purchasing power, but the new digital technology affords the opportunity to create partnerships and collaboration, not only in Twin Cities, but anywhere on planet Earth.

So we stand in the gateway of time, wielding a glorious history, a record of overcoming and winning, and peering into a phenomenal future, a future for Black people that Black people will define, develop, project and protect.

From this vantage point I say again, The State of Black Press In Minnesota and in the world is healthy, vibrant and energized.

From 1 (Psalm 122:1) The image is clearer, sweeter, sharpened and lifted by astral melodic incantations of master artist Pharaoh Sanders, whose classic tune “Let us go into the House of the Lord� is the breakout piece in the album Summun, Bukmun, Umyun (1970).

So I imagine my predecessors, like me, were equally elated to receive the call, to be stewards of the image, identity, history, and future of Black people.

And because I stand on their shoulders, on foundations forged in struggle, I report today that the state of the Black Press in Minnesota is healthy, vibrant, relevant, and wellpositioned for exponential growth in reach and profitability, on the front end of sea changes in information and communication technologies that redefine how humans and communities interact.

Technology that threatens to disassemble dinosaur concepts of mass media have worked to elevate the importance of the niche. Black newspapers, in the larger scheme of things, have always been niche market vehicles.

What was a disadvantage, has now emerged as a distinct advantage.

I remember making advertising sales calls to big companies, inviting them to use Insight News to reach

Rick Aguilar, president and CEO of Latino American Today and producer of the 19th Annual Multicultural Marketing Conference and Awards (left) presents Al McFarlane, CEO and editor-in-chief of Insight News, with the conference’s Multicultural Marketing Achievement Award the small but growing Black community. We started off with a circulation of 10,000 copies delivered free to homes in the Near North Side of Minneapolis.

Media managers would laugh at my business proposals, joking that their charity work was done through community funds and churches. They perceived my business as a charity, not as a business.

And they had already given, they said. They perceived my audience, my community as a place to do philanthropy, not a place to do business.

The market, they said, was

Classifieds TakeAction Minnesota DIGITAL ORGANIZER TakeAction Minnesota is a statewide people’s network that brings democracy alive in communities across our state.

POSITION SUMMARY We are looking to hire a Digital Organizer to work with the Digital Organizing Manager to build the overall power of TakeAction online and take responsibility for executing day-to-day work of our online campaign work. This position will also focus on organizing within communities of color.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON HOW TO APPLY GO TO Bit.ly/DigitalOrganizer

best reached by vehicles that could deliver the biggest bang for the buck‌the daily newspapers with circulations in the hundreds of thousands, and broadcast media with high Arbitron ratings. It did not matter that those mass media vehicles, particularly in newspapers, had tremendous gaps in subscribership and coverage‌particularly in the Black community.

When I challenged that traditional “mainstream� media did not effectively reach Black consumers, their immediate presumption was that Black peopled did not

subscribe because they did not read.

My counter was that penetration in our community was anemic because mainstream media denigrated, demonized and devalued Black people and Black interests.

There was no circulation in the Black community because the White press had no content that was relevant to improving the quality of life in the Black community.

But the challenge before me was numbers. Insight News led the assault on the marketing citadel by creating and strategy that would deliver significant

Phone: 612.588.1313

Deputy Chief Probation Officer II

U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services, District of MN, is accepting applications for a fulltime Deputy Chief Probation Officer II for the Minneapolis Office. Salary range is $104,508 to $168,700. For a complete job description please visit our website, http://www.mnp. uscourts.gov , Career Opportunities. EOE.

numbers while at the same time allowing niche media like Insight to continue to build connections within and service to our respective communities.

In 1992 we reached out to Black, Asian, Latino, and Native American print and broadcast properties to create the Minnesota Minority Media Coalition, a collaborative selling agency that could deliver for the aggregate group what could not be attained individually.

With the phenomenal success of the model, I reached out to Black newspaper owners in Wisconsin, Illinois,

Fax: 612.588.2031

Case Manager

Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative is hiring a Family Advocate for our Families Moving Forward program center in Minneapolis. Help us end homelessness! Visit: www.beaconinterfaith.org/careers for details.

Vacancies

North Memorial Needs Volunteers to Help Victims of Domestic Abuse SafeJourney, a program serving North Memorial Medical Center and Maple Grove Hospital, helps patients and individuals in the community who are experiencing domestic abuse. Volunteer advocates are needed to provide a listening ear, support, safety planning, information and referral. You do not have to have previous knowledge or experience, but rather looking for people who are sensitive to the issue, caring, and non-judgmental. Advocates sign up for 2 on-call shifts per month. Flexible scheduling - daytime, overnights, and weekends. Training is provided. Deadline to apply and schedule a short interview is January 26. Please call Suzy at 763-581-3942.

Cokato Apts, Cokato, MN (a seniors complex 62 or over or handicapped) has vacancies on 2nd Floor for one BR apts. Waiting list open. Contact Don at 320-286-2758. E-Mail cokapts@embarqmail.com

Chief Financial Officer NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center, Mpls. $76,824.80 - $119,548.00 Annually. This FT leadership position develops, implements, maintains, & evaluates its financial systems, financial best practices, & fiscal services for the clinic. Quals: Master’s degree or higher in business/healthcare/ public health admin, finance, or related field & 5+ years finance exp in a health care setting, at least 1 year in an administrative management position; leadership & mgt exp. For full description & to apply, visit www. hennepin.jobs. The posting is open until filled.

Email: info@insightnews.com

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Page 10 • April 6 - April 12, 2015 • Insight News

insightnews.com

Top row from right: Symone Wilson, Lahson Hampton, Dr Darlene Fry, Anika Bowie, Tiara Bellaphant , Helen Collins, Rosa Miyashiro.

Bottom row from the right: Bert Johnson, Keno Evol, Jen Wang, Julia Gay, Grace Fry, Malena Wilson.

Fostering Voice

By Toki Wright Twitter: @mrwrighttc On any given night there are more than 5,000 homeless youth on the streets in Minnesota.

According to the Department of Human Services, approximately 185 children each week go into foster care. The non-profit Irreducible Grace Organization: Assisting Vulnerable Youth in their Transition to Adulthood has come up with a powerful way to give a platform to young people in the system to express themselves and create change. I spoke with founder Darlene Fry, co-director and theater legend Jan Mandell, and 19-year-old poet Brandon Wilson about their new play “Fostering Voice,” debuting this Sunday at Park Square Theater.

The play was also directed by poet Keno Evol and organizer Mariana Morgan-Sawyer.

AS: When was the organization established and what kind of work do you do?

DF: We were established in December of 2012. The work we do is really individualized, based on which young person we’re working with. We were all educators in St. Paul Public Schools. We had a lot of experiences with vulnerable youth that needed help with more than just their education.

We work with young folks through listening sessions.

They got to direct some of our programming and the steps we take. One of the things they said is that they really want people to know they exist because so often they are invisible in the various systems between court, school and foster care. That’s where Jan’s work really comes it to play to make a play that highlight’s their experiences. At the same time we do mentoring and life coaching. We are working towards having a youth production area, long term housing, and helping them to complete some post-secondary training.

AS: What is a common story

you hear with youth growing up in the system?

DF: I think what’s been one of the pieces that is common, given that they each have individuality, is that they all have to grow up quickly. When you see them you see adults but there are small instances where they never had a chance to be a child. Whether it’s a birthday cake they never had or an invitation to the party or having someone host something for them. (Yet) they are pretty capable adults standing in front of you.

AS: Tell our readers a little bit about the play.

JM: I think the most profound thing about this play is that the young people that come to our events at Camphor Memorial United Methodist Church keep changing. The cast has changed.

People come in and come out.

They are really anxious to share their stories. We’ve created a framework where someone else can drop into the space. There’s

a structure where there is a through line so if people don’t show up others can tell their story within the structure.

Last year I was at Gordon Parks (High School) and we were working on an idea for a play. They came up with the idea of foster care or homelessness because many of them end up in alternative school because of situations beyond their control but they are so bright. They have many individualized stories that have stayed with them or a best friend. Many in school are homeless and haven’t told anybody they are living on a couch. Another would explain that their mother was in a relationship with a sex offender, so at the age 12 the mother chose the sex offender over the child and the child went out on the street. I think the profound thing about this group is depth of the challenges they face and the amazing resilient spirit they have. The deeper the challenge was the more tenacious they are to get out of it and most use art.

Some are storytellers, writers or

Play highlights youth voice in foster care

poets. They are so anxious to be heard be visible.

Another thing we loved about the process is along the way we have (added) workers – Ramsey Country employees and women from St. Paul Schools.

The people working inside of the county are just as desperate to get youth voice. We will also be presenting this play as in service to Ramsey County workers, which is what they ultimately what they want.

AS: What is your spoken word piece about?

BW: I have a couple that are about my life. I feel like my life story will relate to a lot of other people’s life stories because I spent seven years of my life homeless. I’ve witnessed the neglect in the foster care system.

It was short term and I was back on the street in five days.

I was only like 11 at the time. I wrote a monologue piece about me blaming myself and people thinking I’m a problem – that all the time I was wrong. After

getting with the organization I realized all along people were wrong. I’m not a problem. I had resiliency to never give up and move forward. Jan helped me out my shell. I’ve always liked writing. It was my escape from the abuse and neglect my mother had done to me. She helped me think more positively and I’m now a stronger person.

AS: What do you plan to do from this point?

BW: I’ve been in a stable relationship for three years. We got a three bedroom apartment.

We’ve kept it for about six months now. It’s hard but I’m doing it. After experiencing so much struggle I finally have something here.

“Fostering Voices” will be performed Sunday, April 12 at 5:30 p.m. at Park Square Theater (20 W. 7th Place Saint Paul).

Tickets are $10 and all ages are welcome to attend. For more information call Jan Mandell at (651) 210-9635 or email her at Janice.Mandell@spps.org.

“THE HAND THAT FEEDS” Undocumented workers strike for minimum wage in inspirational documentary and Robin Blotnick, “The Hand That Feeds” is an inspirational documentary chronicling an intrepid band of working-class heroes’ demand that their rights be respected by greedy fat cats who’d rather close down the business than raise salaries to just the minimum wage.

So, guess what the disgruntled strikers did? Before they could be locked out, they defiantly occupied the store and ran it on their own until an equitable settlement could be reached. Ultimately, it reopened under new management willing to sign a fair contract with Mahoma and company.

How do you say Norma Rae in Spanish?

By Kam Williams In spite of the existence of a law setting the minimum wage at $7.25 per hour, Manhattan’s Hot & Crusty (H&C) bakery only compensated its Latino staff members a measly $5 per hour. That’s because most were undocumented workers who risked deportation if discovered by the authorities.

The owners of H&C were well aware of their employees’ predicament, so they would routinely threaten to turn in any who dared complain about the ongoing exploitation.

Besides being underpaid, the apprehensive immigrants were denied vacation and overtime pay by a sadistic boss who took delight in reminding them how worthless they were. Truth be told, however, their services were critical to the survival of the New York City restaurant in a very competitive industry dependent upon steady access to a source of cheap labor.

Excellent

“The Hand That Feeds” (2014) This became increasingly apparent to mild-mannered Mahoma Lopez a short order cook working the counter at H&C. Eventually the soft-

spoken chef got fed up with his predicament, especially with the lack of basic human dignity he was being afforded.

So, he decided to organize

his similarly-situated colleagues, regardless of the risk of arrest. And with the assistance of an employment discrimination attorney as

well as veteran activists from the Occupy Movement, they proceeded to picket the place and unionize.

Co-directed by Rachel Lears

Unrated In Spanish and English with subtitles Running time: 88 minutes Distributor: Jubilee Films

insightnews.com

Insight News • April 6 - April 12, 2015 • Page 11 RACIAL JUSTICE/ TRAINING

of multi-racial uprising.

B Dot Croc

Saturday, April 11

Solidarity Training for White Folks Doing Racial Justice Work Shir Tikvah Congregation 1360 W. Minnehaha Pkwy., Minneapolis, 12 p.m. – 5 p.m.

SPOKEN WORD/HIPHOP/ PERFORMANCE Unsilent Voices “Poetry from the Soul” Famous Dave’s Uptown 3001 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Off 10 Mankwe Ndosi

Good music, good poetry and good food is on the menu at Famous Dave’s. Check out Ashley DuBose, B Dot Croc and more. The event is hosted

by Demarcus Simmons.

April 6 - 12 Gaybriel Trendz Aesthetically It! is a list of picks from the editors of Aesthetically Speaking.

Aesthetically It! features venues, events, outings and more that are worthy of “It” status. If you have a venue, event or outing that you feel is “It” worthy, email us at aestheticallyit@ insightnews.com

Monday, April 6 DANCE/PARTY Motown Monday’s Loring Pasta Bar 327 14th Ave. S.E., Minneapolis 10 p.m.

Every Monday at the Loring Pasta Bar Minneapolis joins the nationwide Motown on Mondays movement with its take on soul classics. Expect to hear originals, remixes, and close relatives of your favorite Motown songs. Resident DJs include King Otto, DJ Espada, DJ Greenery, Superbrush 427, Dan Speak, B-Rock, Just Nine and more.

Sunday, April 12 Tuesday, April 7 IMPROV/PERFORMANCE Coloring Time w/Mankwe Ndosi and Sarah M. Greer Icehouse 2528 Nicollet Ave. S., Minneapolis 10 p.m.

Multi-talented performance artist Mankwe Ndosi joins the Coloring Time band for an improvised performance at Icehouse.

Wednesday, April 8 THEATER/HIPHOP/ PERFORMANCE Fairy-tail by Gaybriel Trendz featuring Christlo Arnellia’s 1183 University Ave. W., St.

Paul 9 p.m. – 11 p.m. $5 R&J Entertainment presents Gaybriel Trendz in a unique musical showcase of hip-hop, R&B and Disney. Expect an evening of dancing laughing and more.

Thursday, April 9 READING Race, History and the Body Pangea World Theater 711 West Lake Street, Suite 102, Minneapolis 8 p.m. $8 suggested donation The body has been both metaphor and literal site of contestation – the gazed upon, exhibited, racialized and gendered other. Diverse writers, hailing from Oakland, Minneapolis and Chicago will

Last fall, almost 200 organizers, neighbors, community members, people of faith and justice workers gathered to “train our intuition” towards new practices of power and solidarity within a racial justice movement. The gathering will once again ask for open hearts and curious minds and will be facilitated Ricardo Levins Morales, Susan Raffo, Liz Loeb and Arif Mamdani.

read from their latest works.

Friday, April 10 HIPHOP/SPOKEN WORD/ THEATER Jubilee Intermedia Arts 2822 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis 7 p.m All ages $5 Jubilee is a dynamic performance incorporating elements of hip-hop and spoken word to explore themes of reparations, redistribution and revolutionary solidarity.

With visceral storytelling, personal testimony and incendiary critique, Off 10 challenges the divide and conquer strategy of white supremacy that drives the mass incarceration economy and offers an alternative vision

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April 18 | 7:30pm A sense of pride, belonging and accomplishment.

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Page 12 • April 6 - April 12, 2015 • Insight News

Join us on April 15 at Target Field to celebrate the impact of

insightnews.com

Courage Determination

Jackie Robinson

Teamwork

For ticket info, call 1-800-33-TWINS or visit twinsbaseball.com

Persistence Integrity Citizenship Justice Commitment

vs Game starts at 7:10 pm

Excellence

Jackie Robinson’s 9 Values

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