This is the season of patriotism in Latin America as many countries commemorate their independence from colonial powers. From July to September, public plazas in countries from Mexico to Honduras and Chile fill with crowds dressed and painted in national colors, parades feature participants costumed as independence heroes, fireworks fill the skies, and schoolchildren reenact historical battles.
Beneath these nationalist displays ripples an uneasy tide: the colonial legacies that still tie the Americas to their Iberian conquerors. And as the calendar turns to October, another holiday highlights similar tensions – Columbus Day.
The U.S. has observed the holiday since 1937, commemorating the explorer’s 1492 arrival in the New World. The second Monday of the month remains a federal holiday, even as many states and cities rename it “Indigenous Peoples Day,” rejecting Christopher Columbus as a symbol of imperialism.
Most Latin Americans, meanwhile, know Oct. 12 as “Día de la Raza,” or Day of the Race, which also celebrates Columbus’ arrival in the New World and the tide of Iberian conquistadors that followed. But commemorating the event is all the more charged in these countries, home to the Spanish Empire’s most lucrative territorial assets and sweeping
spiritual conquests. Days before taking office in September 2024, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum reiterated her predecessor’s demand that the king of Spain apologize for the genocide and exploitation of the conquest 500 years ago.
As a historian of Latin America, I’ve paid attention to the ways calendars signal a nation’s “official” values and how countries wrestle with these holidays’ meanings.
Día de la Raza
The first encounter between Aztec emperor Montezuma and conquistador Hernando Cortés took place on Nov. 8, 1519 – the latter backed by an entourage of 300 Spaniards, thousands of Indigenous allies and slaves, and hundreds of Africans, free or otherwise.
This moment of contact began Mexico’s 500year transformation into a “mestizo” nation: a hybrid identity with largely European and Indigenous roots. During the colonial period, racial differences were codified into law, and those with “pure” Spanish bloodlines enjoyed legal privileges over the racially mixed categories that fell below them. The 19th century ushered in independence from Spain and liberal ideas that promoted racial equality –in principle – but in reality, European influence prevailed.
It was Spain that first proposed the Día de la Raza, held on Oct. 12, 1892, to commemorate the 400-year anniversary of Columbus’ arrival in the Americas –implying a celebration of Spain’s contributions to the mestizo racial mixture. The celebration was
part of a bid to fortify nationalism in Spain, as the waning colonial power continued its retreat from the hemisphere it controlled for the better part of four centuries. Spain also hoped to export the invented holiday to the Americas, strengthening trans-Atlantic cultural affinities tested by the United States’ growing sway. Across the Americas, Día de la Raza came to be synonymous with celebrating European influence.
In Mexico, the 1892 commemoration empowered members of the political elite who promoted European investments and culture as the model for modernizing the country. They used the occasion to extol the civilizing influence of the “madre patria,” or motherland, justifying the conquest and colonialism as a period of benevolent rule.
Mestizo nationalism
Only a few years later, however, the U.S. victory in the Spanish-American War swept the last vestiges of Spanish empire from the hemisphere. Spain’s exit made way for dual – and dueling –phenomena: rising patriotic spirit in Latin American countries, even amid increasing economic pressure and cultural influence from the U.S.
The 1910 Mexican Revolution ignited mestizo nationalism, which soon extended to other countries.
In 1930s Nicaragua, Augusto Sandino started a revolution to oust the occupying U.S. Marines while calling for the unification of the “Indo-Hispanic Race.” Meanwhile, Peruvian intellectual José Mariátegui envisioned a modern nation built upon the ideals of a collective, reciprocal society, modeled by
the Incan ayllu system. And in Mexico, beauty pageants celebrating native features gained popularity among the social classes accustomed to perusing department stores for Parisian imports. Yet a tendency to emphasize Spanish cultural ancestry rather than Indigenous ones persisted. In the late 1930s, for example, October issues of Mexican children’s magazine Palomilla celebrated Columbus’ arrival as a heroic entry that provided the region with a common language and religion.
Pan American Day Meanwhile, the U.S viewed Pan-Hispanic sentiments as a threat: Spanish economic goals, cloaked in racial and cultural solidarity. To help shore up hemispheric allegiances, Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed a new holiday on April 14, 1930: Pan American Day, or Día de las Américas. The holiday sought to offset the narratives of both Columbus Day and Día de la Raza and marked the U.S. administration’s Good Neighbor Policy pivot toward Latin America – a softer form of imperialism that promoted solidarity and brotherhood, at least on the surface. The Pan American Union, an inter-American organization headquartered in Washington, saw the new date as an opportunity to forge common traditions across the hemisphere. It vigorously promoted Pan American Day celebrations, primarily among schoolchildren, exhorting teachers to implement games, puzzles, pageants and songs created in Pan American Union offices.
The holiday met
enthusiastic reception in the United States. Midwesterners donned sombreros for parades, and Spanish language clubs in California hosted pageants celebrating the flags of American nations. But Latin American commemoration was tepid at best. The Organization of American States, the successor to the Pan American Union, still recognizes Pan American Day. However, it never gained traction in Latin America and faded in the U.S. during World War II.
Recent shift Latin America’s ambivalence toward holidays to commemorate the colonizers has taken a turn since 1992.
The 500-year anniversary of Columbus’ arrival corresponded with yet another form of colonialism, in many Latin Americans’ eyes, as a new wave of multinational corporations colluded with heads of state to tap the continent’s oil, lithium, water and avocados.
Activists used the commemoration to call attention to lingering economic, social, racial and cultural inequities. In particular, the anniversary inspired Indigenous rights movements – some of which commemorated an “antiquincentenary” to celebrate “500 years of resistance.”
The Día de la Raza has since been renamed to reflect anti-colonial sentiments, similar to Columbus Day in the United States. Ecuador calls Oct. 12 the Day of Interculturalism and Ethnic Identity; Argentina celebrates it as Day of Respect for Cultural Diversity; Nicaragua now refers to it as the Day of Indigenous, Black and Popular Resistance;
in Colombia it is the Day of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity; and the Dominican Republic celebrates it as Intercultural Day. In some places, renaming the holiday has drawn attention to Indigenous rights and culture. Bolivians, for example, draped a statue of a European monarch in a traditional “aguayo” garment, transforming her into an Indigenous woman. However, critics suggest that removing the holiday’s reference to the colonizers erases an important reminder of the conquest and its painful legacy. As in the U.S., monuments to colonizers are coming down – including the monument to Columbus that occupied a conspicuous spot on La Reforma, one of Mexico City’s mosttraversed thoroughfares. In its place is a new installation: a purple silhouette of a girl with her fist raised, in honor of Latin America’s women activists. She heralds a new era of statues lining La Reforma, and heroes for the future – not mired in the colonial legacies of the past. Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct information about how the U.S. first designated Columbus Day a federal holiday. Elena Jackson Albarrán does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affi
Museo Nacional de Historia via Wikimedia Commons
Part of ‘The Baptism of Ixtlilxóchitl of Texcoco,’ painted by José Vivar y Valderrama in the 18th century.
While debate swirls around Obama’s words, Trump’s radical agenda threatens us all
Columnist
By Haley Taylor Schlitz, Esq.
As a Gen Z Black woman, I often find myself at the intersection of history and the urgency of today’s political landscape. The recent uproar over President Obama’s remarks—that some men, perhaps due to their misogyny, may struggle to support a woman as accomplished as Vice President Kamala Harris—is both revealing and misplaced. Instead of focusing on the uncomfortable truth Obama highlighted, we must confront the far more dangerous threat facing women, particularly those in my generation: former
President Donald Trump.
While critics waste time dissecting Obama’s supposed “condescension,” Trump is doubling down on the very rhetoric that defined his first term. Just this past week, he suggested using military force on Election Day to combat what he called “the enemy from within”—a thinly veiled reference to “radical left lunatics.” Such authoritarian rhetoric is not only dangerous; it threatens the very foundation of our democracy.
Trump’s comments reflect his escalating radicalism. His remarks in Detroit, where he implied the entire country would become “like Detroit” and “a mess” if Kamala Harris were elected, were a clear dog whistle laced with racial and sexist undertones. His speech in Aurora, Colorado, was no less divisive, as he again vilified migrants, dehumanizing entire
communities while promising policies rooted in cruelty. In August, Trump continued his pattern of spreading misinformation, this time about Minnesota. He misrepresented Governor Tim Walz’s record, distorting a policy ensuring menstrual products are available in school bathrooms and falsely framing it as radical. In truth, Walz signed this legislation to support students’ health and dignity—a necessity Gen Z women fully understand. Trump’s deliberate distortion of this policy reveals his disregard for measures that directly impact young women, manipulating facts for political gain at the expense of our well-being.
But here’s the thing—my generation, Gen Z, understands the stakes far better than we’re given credit for. We paid attention during Trump’s first term. We watched as three
far-right Supreme Court justices were appointed, and we felt the immediate impact when Roe v. Wade was overturned. For us, this isn’t theoretical or abstract. It’s deeply personal. Gen Z women are either entering or navigating our prime reproductive years, and the overturning of Roe has stripped many of us of rights our mothers once took for granted. We now live in a reality where our bodily autonomy is no longer protected, our futures shaped by a court heavily influenced by Trump’s appointments. Yet, instead of grappling with this painful truth, too many are distracted by manufactured outrage over Obama’s remarks.
Trump’s first-term policies, and his promises for a second, make it clear: he’s not indifferent to the advancement of women in leadership—he’s hostile to it. His calls for military intervention on Election Day,
his racist and misogynistic attacks on Kamala Harris, and his promise to “handle” supposed enemies from within reveal a man determined to dismantle progress.
For Gen Z women, this is not a future we are willing to accept. We know all too well the consequences of disregarding misogyny and underestimating the existential threats to our democracy. The 2016 election and Trump’s presidency revealed these dangers. The overturning of Roe v. Wade made them real in our lives.
We cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of 2016. We cannot disregard the growing threats Trump represents. His presidency showed us who he is, and his recent speeches in Detroit and Aurora, along with his chilling call for military action on Election Day, prove he hasn’t changed.
For women of Gen Z,
especially Black women, this fight is deeply personal. We are demanding better because the stakes for our future are too high to accept anything less. Electing President Harris would open a door long closed to us—one that shows young Black women they, too, can ascend to the highest levels of leadership. This moment is too important to let slip away. To the men reading this, especially those with daughters and nieces—don’t you want us to reach our fullest potential? To see the young women in your lives thrive, break barriers, and achieve their wildest dreams? The future of our country depends on it. We cannot afford to look away or dismiss the threats posed by Trump’s extremism. Our history demands we confront these dangers, and together, we must ensure we do not let history repeat itself.
Microsoft’s Tech Dominance Threatens Innovation and Security
Guest Commentary
By Curtis Shelmon Community Activist
The productivity software ecosystem is currently dominated by a single corporate titan, stifling competition and leaving customers with fewer choices and higher costs. Right now, Microsoft commands a staggering 85% market share in government productivity software, and a huge presence in the business, nonprofit, and education sectors. This should raise serious concerns about innovation, fair competition, and national security, and compel regulators to take action.
Microsoft’s market supremacy isn’t simply because they have created a superior product. Rather, it is the result of a calculated licensing strategy that constructed formidable barriers for competitors and severely limited customer options. Microsoft’s licensing terms often make it prohibitively expensive to use their software on competing cloud platforms, while simultaneously offering exclusive benefits for their own Azure platform. This creates a forced ecosystem lock-in, where customers (including government agencies) face huge costs when attempting to use Microsoft products on non-Azure clouds. In fact,
Microsoft openly advertises that using SQL Server, a common enterprise application, on a competitor’s cloud can cost five times more than on Azure. These practices effectively force customers into Microsoft’s ecosystem, regardless of their actual needs or preferences, stifling true market competition. Microsoft’s licensing practices don’t just harm competition – they have precipitated a perfect storm for security failures and system breakdowns. By locking customers into their ecosystem, Microsoft has removed the pressure to constantly improve their products. This has led to a culture of complacency,
WHEN WE VOTE, WE WIN.
resulting in major tech outages that have caused worldwide disruptions. A scathing report by the Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber Safety Review Board criticized Microsoft for “shoddy cybersecurity practices” and a “lax corporate culture,” highlighting how the company’s dominance has led to a dangerous neglect of essential safeguards. Even worse, it has left the door open for hackers. Foreign adversaries have repeatedly breached sensitive government systems by exploiting weaknesses in Microsoft’s platforms. Just last year, Chinese hackers managed to steal thousands of emails from
high-ranking U.S. government officials’ accounts. It’s clear that Microsoft’s market dominance isn’t just bad for innovation –it has fostered a failed security culture that has become a serious national security risk. This isn’t just about fairness in the marketplace and national security. It’s about ensuring that everyone – from small entrepreneurs to nonprofits to cash-strapped local government agencies – has access to affordable, innovative office software that helps them achieve their goals. Currently, many are missing out on potentially game-changing solutions due to Microsoft’s restrictive practices.
It’s time that we get a comprehensive review. Congress should exercise its oversight powers and the Federal Trade Commission should begin investigating Microsoft’s harmful anticompetitive practices. It’s time to level the playing field. By fostering genuine competition, we can drive innovation, reduce costs, and enhance security. This isn’t just about breaking up a monopoly; it’s about unlocking the full potential of our digital infrastructure to benefit all sectors of society. Our public institutions – and the American people they serve –deserve nothing less than a fair and competitive tech landscape.
VP Kamala Harris unveils extensive agenda for Black men; promises wealth-building and opportunity as election nears
By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia
Vice President Kamala Harris has unveiled an extensive agenda designed to dismantle systemic barriers and foster new opportunities for Black men across America. The agenda, announced on October 14, spotlights wealth-building, health equity, criminal justice reform, and expanded education and job training access. Her plan follows recent controversial remarks by former President Barack Obama, who addressed concerns about voter turnout among Black men and stressed the importance of participating in the election.
Obama’s comments in Pittsburgh were roundly criticized as scapegoating Black men, though he emphasized the high stakes of the 2024 election, noting that some African American males might hesitate to vote. He suggested that part of the reluctance could stem from discomfort with the idea of a woman president. Harris’s plan aims to address the specific
needs of Black men, with initiatives focused on financial empowerment, healthcare, and education.
Forgivable Loans and Wealth Creation Harris’s economic plan centers on wealthbuilding and supporting Black entrepreneurship. Her administration would provide one million forgivable loans, each up to $20,000, to help Black men and others who have faced significant barriers to starting a business. By partnering with community banks and missiondriven lenders, Harris aims to make capital accessible to Black entrepreneurs looking to launch or expand businesses in fields ranging from technology to landscaping and beyond. Additionally, Harris has proposed a significant expansion of the Small Business Startup Tax Deduction, increasing it from $5,000 to $50,000, which would allow Black entrepreneurs to offset startup costs. She also plans to boost access to venture capital, low-interest loans, and incubators specifically for Black-owned businesses. Recognizing that Black
entrepreneurs are frequently denied credit, Harris’s plan includes reforms to expand affordable banking services and crack down on hidden fees that inhibit wealth accumulation in Black communities.
Pathways to High-Demand Jobs and Expanded Education Access
Harris’s agenda promotes education, training, and mentorship programs to equip Black men with the skills needed to succeed in high-demand fields. Her plan emphasizes registered apprenticeships and credentialing programs, which would provide handson training for jobs in sectors like cybersecurity, renewable energy, and healthcare. She also seeks to eliminate unnecessary college degree requirements for 500,000 federal jobs, making these roles more accessible to Black men who may not have pursued higher education.
To increase the representation of Black male teachers—a crucial role model for young Black students—Harris said she plans to invest in teacher training programs through the
Department of Education. By collaborating with HBCUs and MSIs, the Democratic presidential nominee hopes to build a pipeline for Black male educators, addressing the severe underrepresentation in this profession, where only 1% of teachers are Black men. Research has shown that Black students benefit academically and socially when they have Black male teachers, yet structural barriers have prevented many from entering the field. Harris also supports the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program to attract and retain Black male teachers, ensuring they have a pathway to long-term careers in education.
Financial Protections in the Digital Economy Harris’s plan includes protections for Black men who invest in cryptocurrency and other digital assets, acknowledging that over 20% of Black Americans have owned these assets. Among her goals is establishing a regulatory framework to safeguard digital investments, ensuring that Black men are protected as they
As Hennepin County ends veteran homelessness, Governor Walz proclaims Veteran Homelessness Prevention and Awareness Day in Minnesota
As Hennepin County takes a critical step toward Governor Tim Walz’s goal to end veteran homelessness in the state, Governor Walz proclaimed Veteran Homelessness Prevention and Awareness Day in Minnesota. Hennepin County last week became the ninth of 10 geographic areas in Minnesota to functionally end veteran homelessness.
“Minnesota is committed to providing the best services and care for our veterans. Today we are one step closer to becoming the fourth state in the country to end veteran homelessness,” said Governor Walz. “This wouldn’t be possible without our dedicated team at the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs and those across Hennepin County working tirelessly to meet the needs of every veteran.
I extend my gratitude to everyone who has worked to bring us closer to achieving this goal.”
“Everyone deserves a safe place to call home, especially our warriors who have sacrificed so much to protect our state and our country,” said Lieutenant
Governor Flanagan. “I am proud of the incredible undertaking of Hennepin County and the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs, together we are ending veteran homelessness in Minnesota.”
When establishing its goal to end veteran homelessness in Minnesota, the state utilized 10 “continuums of care” based on geographic locations: West Central, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest, Suburban Metro Area, Central, Hennepin County, St. Louis County, and Ramsey County.
Hennepin County is the ninth continuum of care to receive a declaration of functionally no homeless veterans within its boundaries. Ramsey County will be the final continuum of care to end veteran homelessness in the state. Minnesota is on track to become the fourth state to end veteran homelessness.
Earlier this year, the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs opened three new veterans homes in Bemidji, Montevideo, and Preston. Minnesota is the only state to open three new veterans homes simultaneously. The
Three years after Daunte Wright was killed by police, what’s changed in Brooklyn Center?
For Katie Wright, the most important part of a settlement with Brooklyn Center over the killing of her son wasn’t the money. It was promises of change and the hope that what happened to 20-year-old Daunte Wright would never happen again.
But, three years after police officer Kim Potter shot and killed Wright’s son, very little has changed, she said on a summer evening as she sat with Amity Dimock, the mother of Kobe DimockHeisler, a 21-year-old who was shot and killed by a Brooklyn Center officer two years earlier. The two women founded the Daunte and Kobe No More Names Initiative, a nonprofit advocating for police reform.
While the two cases and the consequences for the officers were different – Wright was killed during a traffic stop while Dimock-Heisler, who had autism, was killed in his home during a mental health crisis –both mothers have advocated
Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity mobilized 4,000 volunteers to building affordable housing at the 2024 Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project on St. Paul’s Greater East Side
Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity held the 2024 Jimmy Rosalynn Carter Work Project, a weeklong homebuilding event from Sunday, Sept. 29, through Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. The event marked the official launch of Twin Cities Habitat’s construction effortson The Heights housing development on St. Paul’s Greater East Side. The Carter Work Project commemorated President Jimmy Carter’s 100th birthday (Oct. 1, 2024).
“To have the Carter Work Project come to St. Paul’s Greater East Side and jumpstart The Heights development is a significant honor for Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity and all of our homeowners, partners, supporters and volunteers,” said Chris Coleman, president and CEO of Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity. “It was a privilege to host the flagship event for Habitat for Humanity International which continues to carry on President and the late Mrs. Carter’s legacy. We are proud to demonstrate our organization’s and Minnesota’s commitment to advancing racial equity through homeownership here in St. Paul with this historic development.”
President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund Alexis McGill Johnson last week joined President of Planned Parenthood MN, ND, SD Action Fund Ruth Richardson to kick off a canvass and phone bank where they highlighted the stark contrast between Vice President Kamala Harris, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and Democrats’ New Way Forward, including restoring reproductive rights, with Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans’ extreme Project 2025 agenda to ban abortion nationwide. Donald Trump says he is “proud” that he was able to “kill Roe v. Wade” and calls the extreme abortion bans with no exceptions he
The Heights is a 112acre development in St. Paul’s Greater East Side neighborhood
unleashed “a beautiful thing to watch.” He has promised to be “leading the charge” in banning abortion nationwide, and his
Rucker, Real Estate Broker at Banneker Realty,
WRIGHT 5
MinnPost photo by Craig Lassig Katie Wright, left, Daunte’s mom, and Amity Dimock, Kobe Dimock-Heisler’s mom, pose for a photo at Daute Wright’s memorial on September 5 in Brooklyn Park.
Gage Skidmore
Gov. Tim Walz
HARRIS 5
@kamalaharris on Instagram
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Economic Club of Pittsburgh.
By Winter Keefer MinnPost
Black Men’s Legacy Summit III examines Generational Wealth Transfer
The third annual Black Men’s Legacy Summit will be hosted by Build Wealth MN and its 9000 Equities partners on October 26th, 2024. This free event takes place at the RAC (Thor) Building, 1256 Penn Ave N. Minneapolis, MN from 12noon – 4pm.
Panels of experts and individual speakers explore the topic of Generational Wealth Transfer, with deep dives into:
ABCs......................... of Estate Planning
Wills vs Trusts
Avoiding Probate
Overcoming
Bereavement Trauma
Transferring
Homeownership
Providing resources and guidance can help alleviate some of the stress associated with navigating the legal system after a loss. Focusing on how to create a comprehensive estate plan can ensure that wishes are honored and that loved ones are taken care of.
“Not having an estate plan in place destroys families when something is left behind. It is essential to empower individuals with knowledge about estate planning, especially during such a challenging time. We as Black Men have an obligation to our families to make the transfer of
generational wealth as seamless as possible,” said Jeffery Robinson, of Build Wealth MN.
Panelists and speakers include Lee Lafayette of Lee Lafayette Law; Arthur “Ray” McCoy of McCoy Legal Services; Jamy Barreau, Esq; Bishop Larry Cook, Reverend Jerry McAfee; Reverend Runney Patterson; Bishop AZ Jones Jr.; and Master of Ceremonies Al McFarlane from Insight News/Conversations with Al McFarlane.
9000 Equities is a collaboration of sixteen organizations consisting of financial coaching and housing counseling agencies, lenders, realtors, and other partners that are dedicated to closing the homeownership gap between African American and white households in Minnesota. Homeownership is a proven source of wealth building; however, underserved communities face persistent challenges in obtaining and maintaining their homes. In nearly every state, including Minnesota, African American households are less likely to own homes compared to white households. This event is free and open to the public. A light lunch will be provided. Founded in 2004,
Build Wealth MN, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with twenty years of experience helping people embrace new approaches to giving, saving, banking, investing, homeownership, and creating generational wealth. Build Wealth partners with local communities and businesses to
provide underserved families with supportive financial programs and services to build social and economic wealth Since its inception, BWM has served thousands of clients, helping people reach their goals of financial stability and supporting more than 7,000 families attain homeownership.
Minority group community leaders convened to spotlight the importance of emerging technologies in underserved communities.
The Sanneh Foundation recently hosted a panel consisting of minority community leaders in the Twin Cities who highlighted artificial intelligence’s (AI’s) crucial role in shaping Minnesota’s future workforce. Moderated by former state Sen. Jeff Hayden (DFL-District 62), the discussion focused on AI’s impact on underserved communities, particularly Black and Latinx populations.
The event brought together diverse community
leaders to explore how AI can create a more equitable and prosperous future for all Minnesotans. Panelists — including state Rep. Samakab Hussein (DFL–District 65A) and Tony Sanneh, founder of the Sanneh Foundation — explored strategies to promote economic advancement for minority communities and focused on potential opportunities in the upcoming state legislative session.
Sanneh stressed the importance of AI literacy for future workforce success. “Understanding AI is essential for anyone entering the workforce in the coming years,” he said. “AI is already
Programs include the Family Stabilization Plan, Youth Stabilization Program, Rent Smart-Wise and Ready, PEEP: Pathways to increase Employment and Earnings Potential, Mortgage Loans and Down Payment Assistance, and Housing Development. Most recently, Build Wealth
transforming industries, and without a solid grasp of how it works, people risk being left behind.”
The group explored the importance of AI education in underserved communities to address the growing equity gap in AI access and usage. They called for increased investment in STEM programs and new AI training opportunities to equip students with marketable skills for the future job market.
Hussein spoke on AI’s potential to democratize information for minority communities and younger generations, underscoring its significance for the Black community in Minneapolis and
beyond. Elizer Darris, founder of Darris Group and policy chair of the Minnesota Black Chamber of Commerce, and Irma Márquez Trapero, CEO of LatinoLEAD, underscored the critical need for early, handson AI education. Márquez Trapero stated, “We know that AI will significantly boost our national GDP. Recognizing this future should motivate leaders to invest in the necessary education.”
There is a critical need for community leaders, educators, and policymakers to collaborate in democratizing access to AI and other emerging technologies. This collaboration, through educational programs and hands-on learning opportunities, would help ensure Minnesota’s economic competitiveness and the success of its diverse communities for generations to come.
Sanneh concluded with a message about empowering the next generation: “We’re ensuring our kids don’t just learn about AI — they learn how to use it, adapt to it, and eventually lead in the tech space. Our goal is to build their confidence so they feel they can create and innovate using AI, not just consume what others build. By doing this, we’re setting them up to be future leaders in whatever industries they choose to pursue.”
This event marked a pivotal moment in addressing the crucial role of AI education and access for minority communities across the Twin Cities and throughout Minnesota. The dialogue lays a foundation for a more inclusive and technologically advanced future.
Sanneh Foundation
From left to right: Corey Day (Blue Ox Strategies), State Rep. Samakab Hussein (DFL -District 65A), Irma Márquez Trapero (LatinoLEAD), and Tony Sanneh (The Sanneh Foundation)
Equities
David McGee and The Build Wealth MN team
Sponsored Content
Sanneh Foundation
From left to right: State Rep. Samakab Hussein (DFL - District 65A), Tony Sanneh (The Sanneh Foundation), and Irma Márquez Trapero (LatinoLEAD)
Sanneh Foundation
From left to right: Corey Day (Blue Ox Strategies), Representative Samakab Hussein (DFL - District 65A), Irma Márquez Trapero (LatinoLEAD), and Jeff Hayden (Former State Senator, DFL - District 62)
participate in the burgeoning digital economy. The framework would set standards to protect investors from fraud and provide educational resources on digital asset management.
Health Equity and Addressing Medical Debt
Health equity remains a cornerstone of Harris’s agenda. She has introduced a National Health Equity Initiative focused on Black men, which would address high rates of chronic diseases like diabetes, prostate cancer, and sickle cell disease. Harris proposes capping insulin costs at $35 per month and limiting out-of-pocket expenses on prescription drugs to $2,000 annually. Additionally, she said she would expand funding for
sickle cell research and build a national database to improve prevention and treatment.
To tackle the burden of medical debt, which disproportionately affects Black men, Harris proposes removing medical debt from credit reports and working with states to relieve outstanding medical debt. The effort would help Black men access better credit, opening doors for homeownership and business financing.
Criminal Justice Reform and Economic Opportunities in Legal Cannabis
The vice president also has committed to legalizing recreational marijuana at the federal level, which she argues will reduce incarceration rates for Black men and create economic opportunities in the emerging cannabis industry. By working with Congress to ensure the safe cultivation, distribution, and possession
of marijuana, Harris would remove longstanding barriers that have disproportionately impacted Black men. Her plan would establish pathways for Black men to access licenses and jobs in the legal cannabis sector, providing a chance to build wealth in a market that has historically excluded them.
Affordable Housing, Homeownership, and Financial Literacy Harris further proposes building three million affordable housing units during her first term to address the housing crisis. She would offer up to $25,000 in down payment assistance for firsttime homebuyers, aiming to triple the number of new Black homeowners annually by the end of her term. The initiative would specifically target those who have been unable to buy homes due to a lack of generational wealth, which disproportionately
affects Black families. Still, another facet of her plan would tackle racial bias in home appraisals, a pervasive issue that often results in undervalued properties in majority-Black neighborhoods. Her proposal would mandate training and accountability measures for appraisers to ensure that Black homeowners receive fair property valuations, helping to close the racial wealth gap.
Community Events and Outreach As part of her outreach to Black men, the Harris-Walz campaign is launching several community-centered events. The “Black Men Huddle Up” initiative will feature NFL and NCAA watch parties in battleground states, where Black men can discuss the upcoming election and its implications for their communities. In addition, the campaign will host a series of Economic
Freedom Talks, with notable Black entrepreneurs discussing strategies for business growth and financial independence. Harris’s team is ramping up its Shop Talk series, Brother to Brother canvass events, and launching new testimonial ads to reach Black voters in states like Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Michigan.
In Stark Contrast to Trump’s Agenda Harris’s proposals directly counter Donald Trump’s Project 2025, which she argues would dismantle progress for Black communities. Trump’s plan includes: Reinstating stopand-frisk practices.
Cutting funding for urban education. Eliminating critical programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, which many Black families rely on. Harris’s agenda
seeks to offer Black men a comprehensive path to economic stability and success, positioning her as the candidate dedicated to addressing their unique challenges. Harris’s detailed plan appears to offer Black men a vision of leadership, opportunity, and economic empowerment, which she argues is essential for the future of Black communities. She believes investing in education, health, and wealth-building would help address systemic inequities and build a path to prosperity for Black men nationwide.
“Donald Trump could care less about equipping hardworking Americans with the tools needed to get ahead,” campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond stated. “While Vice President Harris is promising to equip Black men with the tools needed to pursue our dreams and aspirations, Donald Trump is promising Black men in America a national nightmare.”
for changes they say haven’t happened: limiting traffic stops in the city for minor violations and establishing a long-term oversight committee to advise the city and police department on matters about policing.
“All they’ve done is prolong,” Wright said. “They’ve done what cities always do – they wait for it to get swept under the rug. People forget. They forget, just like that. Then cities think they can go on, business as usual.”
“I don’t think (police are) all losers, but people just bootlicking, saying they-cando-no-wrong, is bullshit,” Dimock added. She was clear she would be blunt when speaking about this topic.
Both were hopeful when the City Council adopted the Daunte Wright and Kobe Dimock-Heisler Community Safety and Violence Prevention Act in 2021 and when promises were made as part of a $3.25 million wrongful death lawsuit settlement Wright’s family made with the city in 2022. But now, the mothers and their nonprofit are considering suing the city for not following through on changes in policing.
And in the meantime, Katie Wright fears another mother could lose a child at the hands of police if the city delays or fails to implement changes.
What’s changed and what hasn’t in three years?
Looking at the 2021 resolution passed a month after Wright was killed, some parts have been chipped away, others stalled, and some pieces addressed, at least in pilot form.
This year, specifically, has come with its share of disappointments for Daunte and Kobe’s mothers. In January, the Brooklyn Center City Council shot down an ordinance that would have prohibited traffic stops for minor traffic violations in the city. The vote was 2-3 with only Mayor April Graves and council member Marquita Butler voting for it. According to traffic stop data provided by the city, stops have been down by 40% since Daunte Wright’s death. However, a data analysis by the parents’ attorneys shows that at least 49% of those stopped in the past three years were Black, while the city’s population is less than a third Black. In addition, in a quarter of the stops, no race information was recorded, making it more difficult to draw conclusions. But the parents suspect many of those “unknown” cases involved people of color. Meanwhile, 19.5% of the traffic stops involved white motorists in a city whose population is 38% white. The settlement agreement required the city to provide bias training through the University of St. Thomas, which the university has confirmed it has completed.
However, other pieces of the resolution, which the lawsuit settlement instructed the city to follow through on, have been stalled and sunsetted. A few months ago, the Daunte Wright and Kobe Dimock-Heisler Community Safety and Violence Prevention Implementation Committee, an advisory committee created through the resolution, was sunsetted. The committee was tasked with providing recommendations for policy reforms, but the mothers say the city never implemented the committee’s proposals, pointing back to the traffic stop ordinance that was ultimately shot down.
Brooklyn Center officials say the committee was never meant to be permanent. While creating a permanent violence prevention committee has been discussed, there is no consensus on what that will look like, what powers it will have or when it will be formed.
On the flip side, the city did recently take a step toward partnering with community groups to create non-police officer mental health responses to 911 calls, which is a piece of the resolution. This came after the summer conversation with the mothers.
In September, the council passed a pilot program for mental health response that involves two separate contracts. One contract is with Canopy Roots, a mental health organization offering culturally affirming unarmed first responder services to people in crisis via 911. This organization also serves Minneapolis.
The other contract is with the Hennepin County Human Services and Public Health Department to provide an alternative response for select 911 calls to Brooklyn Center “in a manner that most effectively and efficiently supports and protects the physical, mental, and behavioral health of individuals,” according to the agreement passed by the council at its Sept. 9 meeting. During the $750,000 pilot, which is funded through Dec. 31, 2025, officials will collect data and evaluate the possibility of extending the partnership. The city’s general fund is paying for 12% of the program, with the rest funded through grants and supporting funds including grants from Pohlad Collaborative Solutions, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Hennepin County, and American Rescue Plan funds.
Meanwhile, the City Council has started a review process for the resolution as it stands now. This process would only lead to “minor edits,” mostly to specific verbiage, according to Brooklyn Center Mayor April Graves. But the Daunte and Kobe No More Names Initiative are concerned that this review will lead to continued stalls to tangible reform.
What officials are saying The makeup of both city administration and the Brooklyn Center City Council has shifted quite a bit over the last few years. So has
police department leadership.
Mayor April Graves was a council member when Daunte Wright was killed. She ran for mayor and won in 2022. Graves said her goal in running was to help unify the city.
As the Brooklyn Center council reviews the Daunte Wright and Kobe Dimock-Heisler Community Safety and Violence Prevention Act, Graves said she wants to maintain the vision and values of the original resolution while “ensuring council consensus and incorporating staff input during the review process.”
As for sunsetting the implementation committee, Graves said the committee’s work and recommendations had “pretty much wrapped.” Now the council is considering how to define the structure, roles, and authority of the permanent advisory committee to avoid duplication of efforts by other city committees, ensure clarity and maintain continuity in the public safety reform efforts.
“Because of council consensus, sunsetting it made sense so we could think about some other pieces (of the resolution) we have yet to implement,” she said.
Much of the conversation by city officials about change in the city has revolved around a culture change, the mayor said. Graves noted that the city hired a new human resources and equity director after Daunte Wright was killed.
“Yes, we’ve moved forward on some things and other things we didn’t necessarily move forward on since then,” she said. “But I think I can honestly say that the council and the staff all care about making sure that everybody in Brooklyn Center feels safe and that we don’t want to ever see anything like that happen again. I think I can honestly say, too, that we’re having difficult conversations and we’re not finished.”
The city has also had multiple police chiefs since Daunte Wright was killed. In the summer, the newest chief for the department, Garett Flesland, started his new role. While he is new to the chief position, Flesland has served on the Brooklyn Center Police Department for 24 years.
“Big picture, I consider myself a local kid,” Flesland said, who grew up in Brooklyn Park.
Now, Flesland said his main goal coming into the chief position is to provide stability within the department. When asked about changes on the books, Flesland deferred to the state Legislature or city council.
Again, the conversation with Flesland mostly revolved around cultural shifts.
“I want to consciously leverage the increased dialogue we as a community have had. If I look at the last three years and compare that to 10 years ago or 15 years ago, I believe there’s so much more communication in general,” the chief said.
To chief Flesland, Brooklyn Center hasn’t changed
as much as people think it has over the last two decades.
“My entire time here, this has been a diverse community,” he said. “Yes, if we look at and drill down to specific numbers, the percentages have maybe changed a little bit, but we’ve always had a bunch of columns when we’ve looked at who makes up Brooklyn Center.”
However, the numbers show a different story. Those columns have changed significantly. The city was 90% white in 1990, but in 2020 U.S. Census data shows the city of 32,000 is now 38% white, nearly 32% Black and nearly 14% Asian. And 15% of residents listed their ethnicity as Hispanic or Latino.
Some researchers, including Will Stancil a fellow at the Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity at the University of Minnesota Law School, believe demographics in suburbs like Brooklyn Center have shifted faster than systems like policing.
““What you get is there’s a disconnect between the police force and the community they are tasked with protecting and serving,” Stancil said, adding that Brooklyn Center has the highest percentage of residents of color in the Twin Cities. Again, Chief Flesland was surprised to hear about this large demographic shift that has occurred in his city and within his time with the Brooklyn Center Police Department. It’s easy not to see change when you’re in the place that’s changing, Flesland conceded. While in the span of decades, change can seem slow, it doesn’t mean the shifts aren’t significant.
State policy around traffic stops The Daunte and Kobe No More Names Initiative has more work to do, Amity Dimock said. The group’s advocacy work extends beyond Brooklyn Center. This year, Dimock said they will continue to focus on petitioning the state Legislature for statewide traffic stop policy change. “(Police) have proven to us that they can’t do lowlevel traffic stops without being racially biased. And the end result is, unfortunately, Black and brown bodies. We’re just not accepting it,” Dimock said. According to Justice Innovation Lab, a national data center led by former prosecutors, policymakers, and community advocates, at least 800 people since 2017 have been killed by law enforcement during interactions that started with a traffic stop. Wright was killed during a traffic stop after Potter pulled him over for expired license tags and an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror. Potter claimed she thought she was pulling out her taser instead of her gun when she shot him. In the months that followed, there were calls for the state, cities and counties to end “pretext stops,” or stops for minor violations that police hope will
lead to evidence of other crimes. These stops often disproportionately impact Black drivers, including in Minneapolis, where the U.S. Justice Department found that Black individuals were 6.5 times more likely to be stopped by Minneapolis police officers. Based on the Justice Department’s analysis of traffic stop data in Brooklyn Center, the suburb’s disparity is about the same.
Lawmakers at the State Capitol have introduced legislation multiple times over the last few sessions that would limit pretext stops statewide, but their efforts to get the bill passed have been unsuccessful so far. Meanwhile, efforts by smaller governments have proved effective. Ramsey County, for example, limited non-public safety related traffic stops after finding that Black drivers were disproportionately stopped by police. Two years later, an analysis of the policy showed a decrease in racial disparities related to traffic stops while having no discernible impact on public safety.
Kim Potter and who teaches police moving forward
Kim Potter was sentenced to two years in prison after she was convicted of manslaughter for the killing of Daunte Wright. She was released from prison after 16 months. Recently, Potter made headlines again. Last month, Potter was slated to speak at a Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Oversight Agency training titled: “Remorse to Redemption: Lessons Learned.” This came about after Potter met with Imran Ali, the prosecutor who charged her case, proposing using her case as a teaching opportunity to teach officers what not to do. However, after The Seattle Times reported about her upcoming speaking engagement, the hosting agency’s leadership canceled the training. While the Seattle event was canceled, The Associated Press reported last week that Potter and Ali have delivered presentations at Minnesota Sheriff’s Association events in June and September. They also presented at a law enforcement conference in Iowa in May.
The decision to bring Potter in to speak was made by “well-meaning” officers in the Seattle agency’s leadership “who were looking to learn from someone’s mistakes,” the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Oversight Agency’s board chair David Postman, told the New York Times.
“But this decision was made without the conversation that needs to happen around issues like this,” Postman said after he was part of rescinding the invitation.
This incident has sparked debate over whether or not a former police officer who was sentenced for shooting and killing a Black man should be training officers. In the same New York Times article, Minnesota’s attorney general, Keith Ellison, called
the cancellation of Potter’s talk “a missed opportunity.” But Katie Wright called the speaking engagements “a slap in the face.” For the trip to Washington, Potter’s flight and hotel would have been paid for, and she would have received a small stipend. Imagine being a mother who sees her son’s killer profit off of her part in that story, Wright said. “Nobody until the day that I die will be able to profit off of our tragedy,” Wright said.
“That’s not OK. Why would you want to do that? And people are saying she’s trying to right her wrongs. Well, she can’t do that. The only way that she could ever right her wrongs ever again in her life is if she could give me my son back.” If officers want to learn why it’s important not to use deadly force, Wright said she or other family members of loved ones killed by police could speak to that.
The memorial On a Thursday evening, Katie Wright and Amity Dimock sat in front of the Daunte Wright memorial at the intersection of 63rd Avenue North and Katherine Drive in Brooklyn Center. At one point, Dimock started singing “I Want to Hold Your Hand” by the Beatles. Grasping Wright’s hand, Amity and Wright joked that they’ve been hanging out too much over the last few years. They’ve grown close, sharing a common goal. It was a cool day. Flowers were planted in the spot where Daunte Wright died after attempting to flee from Potter after she shot him. An offering bowl was placed in front of his memorial. It’s imprinted with the folds of the clothes he was wearing the day he was killed. Wright traced the crevices in the bowl with her fingertips. She pointed to the utility pole across the street. It was adorned with air fresheners, all depicting messages for Wright: “I love you,” “I miss you” and “Justice for Daunte.” This memorial was also part of the Wright families’ settlement agreement. But, at the time, the city still needed to change Daunte’s cause of death written on a memorial plaque. It was listed on Daunte Wright’s death certificate that his cause of death was a “gunshot wound to the chest.” The death certificate also said “homicide.” His family said the plaque also should say “homicide.” “Verbiage and language is super important, especially to a city that has caused such harmful things to communities,” Wright said. “The death certificate, even though it says homicide, that doesn’t necessarily mean murder, right? If you’re killed by somebody else, it’s still considered a homicide, which is super important.”
Winter Keefer Winter Keefer is MinnPost’s Metro reporter. Follow her on Twitter or email her at wkeefer@minnpost.com.
that will be the future location of 147 Habitat homes. It will be the largest project ever done by Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity. The Carter Work Project crew helped build the first 30 homes of the development during the event week. Applications are open now for The Heights and people making $50,000 to $100,000 (or more for larger household sizes) are eligible and encouraged to apply.
Carter Work Project has inspired more than 106,000 volunteers across the U.S. and in 14 countries to build, renovate and repair 4,417 Habitat homes.
Twin Cities Habitat was chosen as the host for the 2024 project, particularly because of its work to close the racial gap in homeownership. “The Carter Work Project is an exciting chance to expand housing and homeownership opportunities in our city,” said Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter. “I’m grateful Habitat for Humanity chose The Heights this year, and can’t wait to work alongside hundreds of volunteers to literally build the future of our East Side together.” Prospective homebuyers can learn more about becoming a homeowner at The Heights or other properties at home. tchabitat.org. To make a donation or learn other volunteer opportunities with Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, visit tchabitat.org. Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity brings people together to create, preserve, and promote affordable homeownership and advance racial equity in housing. Since 1985, more than 1,800 families have partnered with Twin Cities Habitat to unlock the transformational power of homeownership. Twin Cities Habitat is one of the highestregarded Habitat for Humanity affiliates nationwide. www. tchabitat.org. TCHH From 3
Planned Parenthood
From 3
Over its 40-year history, the Jimmy & Rosalynn
prosecute doctors for mailing medication
“If
ban,
Planned Parenthood Action Fund Alexis McGill Johnson. “Kamala Harris trusts women and believes that the government shouldn’t
come between patients and their doctors. When Congress passes legislation to restore reproductive freedom, we know she will proudly sign it into law. It’s crucial that we come together to elect Vice President Harris, Governor Tim Walz, and
Democrats up and down the ballot this November.” “If Donald Trump and JD Vance win in November, they will go even further with their extreme Project 2025 agenda, banning abortion nationwide and rolling back
access to birth control,” said Ruth Richardson, President of Planned Parenthood MN, ND, SD Action Fund. “We must stop them at the ballot box and elect leaders like Kamala Harris who are fighting to protect and restore reproductive rights.”
VOTE 2024 VOTE 2024
The Right to Vote is protective of all other rights
By Colin Allred
Voting is one of our most fundamental rights. It’s not just about having a say in the future of our country, it’s about honoring the legacy of those who fought and sacrificed so that we could have a voice. As a voting rights lawyer, I’ve seen the impacts of voter suppression firsthand, and how deeply un-American it is when folks cannot vote because of arbitrary barriers put in place to make it harder. I became a voting rights attorney because I believe the right to vote is preservative of all other rights. That’s why we cannot afford to sit on the sidelines. In Congress, I’ve been working to reinstate and modernize the Voting Rights Act to stop harmful voter suppression laws here in Texas and across the country. To give more Texans a chance to participate in our democracy, we must expand early voting, make Election Day a federal holiday, and take steps like same-day voter registration that make voting more accessible, not create barriers that are harmful to our democracy. I’ve introduced legislation that would ensure integrity in our elections and protect our election workers. I stand by the words of my hero, Congressman John Lewis who said “The vote is precious. It is almost sacred. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democracy.”
Despite these efforts, laws like S.B. 1 in Texas make it harder for Texans to vote by mail, limit the hours of early voting and have burdensome voter registration, and voter ID provisions. This isn’t who
we are as Texans. The Voting Rights Act, championed by the civil rights movement, was signed into law by a great Texan, President Lyndon B. Johnson. I think about other Texas icons like the late, great Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, who fought fearlessly for our democracy. She never shied away from challenging
those who wanted to silence our communities and take away folks’ voices in our democracy. She said it best: “What the people want is very simple, they want an America as good as its promise.”
To live up to that promise, we must do better. Ted Cruz wants to take our democracy backward, as we
all saw on January 6 when he tried to overturn a free and fair election and disregard the will of the American people. Ted Cruz supports restrictive laws based on fear tactics about
De-complicating Medicare Advantage vs. Medicare Supplement plans.
By Albert — UCare plan de-complicator
When you reach Medicare age, it can be a little overwhelming. It’s like a whole new puzzle of health plan coverage that needs to be solved. There are many who call me and ask, “Can you just put it together for me?”
At UCare, we can certainly do that. But we also really want members to understand what they are getting and why. The plan you select all depends on your life and what kind of coverage you need and don’t need.
Apart from Original Medicare, there are two plan types that people who are aging into Medicare gravitate toward: Medicare Advantage plans and Medicare Supplement plans. Let’s dive in.
Medicare Advantage plans
Think of a Medicare Advantage plan like a bundle of benefits. It combines your Original Medicare, Part A (hospital insurance) with Part B (medical insurance). UCare Medicare Advantage plans give you extra coverage and benefits like dental, prescription
eyewear and hearing aids. Most plans also include prescription drug coverage (Part D), which can become increasingly important as you age.
UCare has been offering Medicare Advantage plans since 1998 — longer than any other health plan provider in Minnesota. And today, they’re some of the most popular plans. We have a range of Medicare Advantage plans to choose from that include coverage while you travel and allowances for over-the-counter purchases.
One more thing: UCare Medicare Advantage plans work fantastically for local Minnesotans, due to their large network that includes 97% of Minnesota medical clinics and hospitals.* So if you have a clinic you’ve always used, your chances are good that it’s in-network. And with no referral needed to see a specialist, getting the care you need is easy.
Medicare Supplement plans
A Medicare Supplement plan is something you pair with your Original Medicare. In other words, it supplements your plan. Get it? These policies help pay for the out-of-pocket costs that are not covered by Original Medicare (Part A and Part B).
The main benefits of a UCare Medicare Supplement plan is protection and predictability.
You will have low or no copays or coinsurance when you get care, so your costs are predictable. Your monthly premiums are your main costs — no more unexpected medical bills. Speaking of, UCare’s Medicare Supplement plans offer some of the lowest Medicare Supplement premiums in Minnesota.
Another great benefit of a Medicare Supplement plan is the nationwide coverage. You can see any doctor who accepts Medicare patients, anywhere you go in all 50 states. This is especially useful whether you’re traveling, moving or living in a place where there are fewer providers nearby.
You also get extras like no-cost fitness memberships and discounts on hearing aids.
Why roll with UCare?
I’ve just gone over a couple categories of plans, but please know that we have a variety of plans for everyone, all across Minnesota! Each of them is designed to meet your health and lifestyle needs. The best way to know which one is right for you is to sit down with a broker, or someone like myself, to help find the plan that’s right for you.
Finally, I’ve been riding with UCare for nearly 10 years now, and I can honestly tell you — it’s the people who make our com-
pany go. That’s why we often say we’re “people powered” — never stopping until we know that you understand your plan and you’re comfortable with it. And if there’s ever a problem, we don’t send you up a phone tree. We work the problem individually until it’s solved. It might be why nearly 95% of UCare Medicare Advantage members choose to stay with UCare year after year.**
If you have any questions about anything I’ve covered, you should reach out to your local broker. They can help you decide which plan makes the most sense. Visit ucare.org/ma to find a broker near you.
You can also give UCare a call at 1-866-460-5093 or stop by the headquarters in NE Minneapolis or our Duluth office.
UCare headquarters 500 Stinson Blvd NE Minneapolis, MN 55414 Monday – Friday, 9 am – 4 pm
UCare Duluth office 325 West Central Entrance Suite 200 Duluth, MN 55811 Monday – Friday, 9 am – 4 pm
Photo Credit by mphillips007
Aesthetically It
Full Circle Theater presents the world premiere
The Adventures of a Traveling Meskwaki
The mainstage production of The Adventures of a Traveling Meskwaki by Oogie_Push, directed by Sara PillatzkiWarzeha runs November 6-24, 2024 at Park Square Theatre in the Historic Hamm Building in Downtown Saint Paul.
The production features choreography by Sandy Agustin, intimacy direction by Mason Tyer, lighting design by Tom Mays, set design by Niffer Pflager, costume design by Jorie Ann Kosel, props design by Rene’e Gonzales, and sound/ projections design by Peter Morrow.
Oogie_Push, a member of the Meskwaki Nation, is a multimedia, authored the Native storytelling performance piece. Inspired by the actions of the water walkers, Native grandmothers working to protect one of our planet’s most precious resources, Adventures traces Oogie’s travels across North America as she is moved by a vision to cleanse the water after major oil spills.
Through her time with several tribal nations, she develops simple yet profound healing practices to help heal the water. Using film projection, movement, storytelling, and
The Adventures Of A Traveling Meskwaki explores themes such as death and boarding schools and is recommended for general audiences (PG/PG-13). The running time is approximately 90 minutes. All performances are Pay-As-You-Are-Able, in accordance with the theater’s Mission and Core Values.
she inspires us to take our own small steps to restore the water and heal the planet. Playwright and Lead
at
Z Puppets Rosenschnoz, and recently produced and directed her first documentary Tama Flint: A Meskwaki Tradition. About the Director: Sara Pillatzki-Warzeha (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate + German Descent directs the productyion. A theater director, educator, and scholar, PillatzkiWarzeha holds an M.F.A. and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the U of M where she is writing her dissertation on Indigenous/ settler theatrical collaborations. She serves on the Guthrie’s American Indian Advisory Board.
(An image of Sara accompanies her bio. She is of Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate and German Descent. She is facing the camera with a smile. She has long dark brown hair, colorful dangling earring, and a black t-shirt.)
Founded in 2014, Full Circle Theater is led by a Core Artist Leadership Group made up of Co-Artistic Directors Rick Shiomi and Stephanie Lein Walseth, and Core Artists Martha B. Johnson, Lara Trujillo, and Siddeeqah Shabazz, Full Circle’s 20222025 Resident Core Artist. Full Circle Theater seeks to create transformative theater that centers marginalized perspectives, practices, equity and access, and engages diverse artists and audiences in the creation of a more socially just world.
Unique orchestra Minnesota Sinfonia and conductor Jay Fishman say goodbye
By Michael Anthony MinnPost
“Physically and emotionally, I’m drained,” said Jay Fishman recently over lunch at a restaurant in downtown Minneapolis.
Fishman was explaining why he plans to retire this month after 36 years as artistic director and conductor of the Minnesota Sinfonia, an ensemble of 26 professional freelance musicians whose innovative Music in the Schools program over the years has reached as many as 200,000 inner-city students and thousands more audience members at concerts around the Twin Cities. And the orchestra will retire with him.
“My health is good,” said Fishman, who had just turned a spry, wiry 77. “I still love working with the musicians, and I still love music,” he said. “The problem is raising the money. The wear and tear finally got to me about a year-and-a-half ago. I was finishing up a grant application to the National Endowment for the Arts. I decided right then that I’m not going to write any more grant proposals. I simply can’t do it. I had a concert the next day at the Basilica, and the relief I felt was unbelievable. I was starting to have fun again.”
Making matters worse, support for the arts from foundations is diminishing, he said. Other priorities have taken hold, and this is a special problem for the Sinfonia –the “people’s orchestra,” as it is known – which plays 60 or 70 concerts a year on a modest budget of between $400,000 and $700,000 but doesn’t charge admission for its concerts and whose audience, in part, is low-income.
“This means we can’t make it on ticket sales,” he said, “and we’re not big enough to launch big fund drives, and so the money isn’t there.”
A few years back, Fishman and his board of directors devised a succession plan whereby after Fishman’s departure the orchestra would continue under new leadership, and there was the possibility, for survival’s sake, of merging with one or more other local arts organizations.
That plan was abandoned. Fishman had begun to worry. Perhaps some of his core concepts – free admission and education programs at inner-city schools – might be abandoned in a partnership. He quoted longtime board member Bruce Humphrys, who told him, “You know, Jay, the best thing to do is to close it down and then you’ll be remembered for all the good work you did in the schools rather than as an organization that ultimately failed.”
As it happens, the Sinfonia likely will continue at least into 2025 with its Music in the Schools programs to comply with its non-profit tax status, which requires that all contributed money be spent. But as far as regular concerts go, Fishman and the Sinfonia will gracefully take their final bows in two concerts this weekend: Friday at 7 p.m. at First Covenant Church, 1280 Arcade St., East St. Paul; and Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Basilica of St. Mary, 1600 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis.
Receptions will be held afterward at both events. There will be no admission charge and, as is customary at Sinfonia concerts, children will likely be present. Unlike just about any other orchestra in
the country, the Sinfonia touts a “bring the kids” policy and means it.
Musical roots Fishman grew up on the North Side of Minneapolis in what was then largely a Jewish community. It was a musical household. Fishman’s father played violin in the Minneapolis Symphony under Dmitri Mitropoulos, though because the musicians at that time didn’t make enough money to live on, the elder Fishman drove a laundry truck during the summers. Fishman entered the University of Minnesota in 1965 with the intention of studying medicine. Music, however, proved to be a stronger attraction, and so he began studying composition with Paul Fetler and Dominick Argento. It wasn’t until his senior year that he got his first taste of conducting, leading the university’s chamber orchestra. He was hooked. Fishman went on to study conducting at the Indiana University School of Music, where he met Joyce, his wifeto-be, a violinist, in a practice room. Joyce eventually got a job with the Louisville Symphony, while Jay, developing his fundraising and administrative skills, worked to revive the Louisville Chamber Orchestra, which had folded a couple of years earlier. After two years in Louisville, the Fishmans moved to London, where Jay studied privately with Neville Marriner, founder of the revered Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, in the years before Marriner – Sir Neville, after his knighthood – took over the reins of the Minnesota Orchestra.
Returning with his wife to Minneapolis in 1978, Fishman worked to realize his dream of starting his own chamber orchestra, an ensemble that would bring music to everyone regardless of age or financial means. The dream brought to life the Minneapolis Chamber Symphony, initially a summer orchestra created to fill gaps not serviced by the Minnesota Orchestra or the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. As the orchestra grew in proficiency, it added a limited winter season and began to attract ever larger audiences along with funding from many of the region’s major foundations and three grants from the National Endowment. Even so, there was trouble ahead.
Fire Fishman?
By the summer of 1989, as the orchestra wrapped up its 11th summer season, it became clear to Fishman that his egalitarian vision of the orchestra and its community wasn’t shared by the orchestra’s board of directors nor its management.
As Fishman recalled it, “The board told me, ‘We want to create a second St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.’ I said, ‘That’s really stupid. Why would the community want to support a second chamber orchestra when they can barely support the first one?’ The board wanted to appeal to the upper echelon so they could say, for business purposes, they’re on this elite board.”
The two visions of the orchestra’s role in the community – and which section of that community should be served – proved to be irreconcilable. And so on the evening of Aug. 15, after a concert in Golden Valley, the final concert of the season, the executive committee of the board fired Fishman. Several
members of the committee, none of whom, according to Fishman, had ever been seen at one of the orchestra’s concerts, showed up in the parking lot and handed Fishman a packet of forms he was asked to sign and return no later than Aug. 24. The board was giving him two options. One was to conduct several concerts during the next 12 months and to receive payment for a composition of his, “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” and also to do a certain amount of fundraising. His fee would be $10,000 and he would resign as music director, for which he had been earning about $20,000 a year. Should he not accept these offers within the next nine days, the executive committee would recommend that the board fire him.
Fishman said no.
The resulting brouhaha, surely that year’s biggest ongoing story in local music, extended for several months, igniting heated acrimony between musicians and management and among members of the orchestra’s board. By the end of the month, six board members had resigned, three of them protesting the firing of Fishman. And on Aug. 31, 19 of the orchestra’s 24 musicians delivered a petition to the orchestra’s office calling for the resignation of the management and all board members who voted to fire Fishman.
“It wasn’t just the firing of Jay,” cellist Camilla Heller told the Star Tribune at that time. “We were upset with the way the board of directors was guiding this thing the past year. They killed off our audience.” Season ticket sales, in fact, had dropped from 600 in the winter of 1987 to 25 two years later.
Recalling these now mostly forgotten events of 35 years ago, the impression that lingers is of how spectacularly inept the board and management of this little orchestra was in dealing with the crisis. First of all, they wouldn’t say why they fired Fishman. Nor would they agree to meet with him. And the board chairman, asked by a reporter if it was true that ticket sales had dropped radically, could only say “I don’t have those figures,” thereby confirming a growing impression of the board’s collective vacuity.
An orchestra makes frontpage news Fishman, on the other hand, acted decisively. As the late Joan Didion would have put it, he took control of the narrative. Just five days after getting his walking papers, he called a press conference to protest the actions of the board and held it in North Commons Park, the neighborhood he grew up in. What a picture it made. Here was this diminutive fellow in a suit and tie standing in front of a music stand surrounded by TV cameras and reporters reading a press release about being fired from the orchestra he had created 11 years earlier. The scene evoked David and Goliath: the little guy taking on his oppressors. The photo appeared on the front pages of local newspapers and was reported extensively on TV and radio news. Fishman recalled, “People would stop me on the street and say, ‘Are you the guy who got fired from an orchestra?’”
If there was to be a new orchestra – and that seemed a possibility, if not a likelihood – it would need a
di
fferent name. Fishman came up with Minnesota Sinfonia, and he asked friends to serve on his board. He asked David Zimmerman, then co-owner of the Orpheum Theater, to serve as board chair. Zimmerman, according to Fishman, said he would do it only if the new orchestra was involved in education.
“I said, ‘David, that’s a no-brainer. That’s one of my top priorities,’” Fishman said. Minnesota Sinfonia’s debut The Minnesota Sinfonia made its debut before a capacity audience at the Basilica of St. Mary on the evening of Oct. 20, 1989. Minneapolis Mayor Don Fraser appeared at the start of the program, proclaiming this as Minnesota Sinfonia Day and calling the orchestra “an important new musical resource.”
It was clear that the concert wasn’t only about music. The large turnout –about four times what had been expected, according to a board member – and the standing ovation Fishman received at the end, along with enthusiastic applause from the musicians, at least half of whom had played with the Chamber Symphony, could be taken as a vote of confidence in the conductor, who had emerged as the underdog in the dispute over his firing.
A little girl in the audience was heard to ask her father, “Dad, why are we here?” The father said, “We’re here to support Mr. Fishman.”
At the end of the concert, Fishman walked to a microphone and, overcome with emotion, thanked the musicians for their support. Words failed him, and he left the stage in tears. Fishman’s debut season was made up of four free concerts at the Basilica, a summer subscription series at Wiley Hall at the University of Minnesota and a group of community concerts, most of them outdoors. And he published a mission statement pledging to “serve the musical and educational needs of Minnesotans, with primary emphasis given to families with young children, inner-city youth, seniors and those with limited incomes.” He had tried out some of these ideas during his days leading the chamber orchestra in Louisville. He recalled, “We went into schools where people had no idea what an orchestra was, let alone classical music, and we did everything from Mozart to Scott Joplin. We were going to do a Mozart divertimento once, and I asked the audience, ‘How many of you have heard of Mozart?’ None of them had.”
Classical music in the schools With a grant of $10,000 from U.S. West, Fishman launched Music in the Schools, going the first year to two inner-city schools (and eventually to as many as 22). Rather than have the kids bused to a concert hall – the standard practice – Fishman brought the orchestra to the schools and played in gymnasiums.
“There’s nobody doing anything like what we do in the schools,” Fishman said. “We make a big sound, and the kids are, like, 15 feet away. They can see and hear everything. I was asked to go to Carnegie Hall to observe their educational program. So I went, and I watched the kids. First of all, the pieces were too long, and there was no coherent theme. And the kids were bored silly because they couldn’t see the musicians. The stage is so far away. These
kids are all 8, 9, 10 or 12. They don’t have the patience for this. Kids today have a short attention span, and you need to play a variety of styles.
“My rule is never program a piece that’s more than three minutes long, though I might have one that’s four or five. And I’ve always had a guest soloist who would sing and be a storyteller. For years we had Joe Carter, who’s no longer with us. Joe would walk in and, speaking in his Boston accent, would have them eating out of his hand within 30 seconds. Then he would tell a story and sing. We did that 60 or 70 times a year.”
For each school there is a two-month program of preparation and study, culminating in each school’s “Sinfonia Day,” when the musicians visit classrooms and then everyone gathers in the school’s gymnasium for performances of the music that students have been studying in class. Fishman also made listening tapes (later CDs) for students to hear the music the orchestra will eventually play, and over the past 35 years, he has created more than 80 orchestral arrangements and original pieces to support the musical content. Response from students and teachers has been enthusiastic and gratifying.
A third grader wrote: “Thank you for coming to my school. This is the first thing I ever enjoyed.” Recently, a student came up to Fishman after a performance and told him, “You are my role model.”
Once a year the Sinfonia plays at a school that works with students with disabilities. Nearly all are wheelchair bound and have limited communication abilities. Occasionally, a brave student will try to sing with the orchestra while Fishman holds a microphone to the student’s mouth and helps with the words. One such student’s mother was in the audience when her son sang. A teacher told Fishman afterward that she watched the mother, and there were tears streaming down her face. A few days later Fishman received a letter from the mother, who wrote, “Thanks for helping my son feel good about himself.”
Fishman urges orchestras to focus more than they do on music education. “If nothing else, it’s enlightened self-interest,” he said. “Where are their audiences going to come from if they’re not taught?”
Legacy support As time went on, the Sinfonia continued to prosper. (The Chamber Symphony fared less well. After firing Fishman, the board hired Jere Lantz, then music director of the Rochester Symphony, as his replacement for the 1990 season. Burdened by a six-figure deficit, the orchestra ceased operations two years later.)
Fishman added a winter concert series to the schedule as well as a Young
Artist Competition, wherein high school age students could compete and earn solo performances and cash prizes, and a few years later a Youth Outreach Week during which students spent a week rehearsing and performing with Sinfonia musicians. With support from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Arts and Heritage Fund, the Sinfonia was also able to tour its concert programs and Music in the Schools to rural Minnesota communities. And courtesy of the McKnight Foundation, the Sinfonia was able to commission and premiere more than 50 new works by Minnesota composers. The much-in-demand soprano Maria Jette performed as guest soloist with the Sinfonia in several programs over the years and was impressed. “Jay has a really super roster of players,” she wrote in an email. “More than that, it’s incredible to me that these concerts are completely free to the public. They manage to fill the quite nice auditorium at Metro State in St. Paul – literally fill it. And their audience seems to be composed largely of folks who wouldn’t otherwise get to a classical orchestra concert. Last fall, I was stopped on the street by a couple who had heard me at the Basilica in last year’s program. They’d never heard a live classical/operatic performance, and they were gushing about it. I find this inspiring.” And all this, mind you, on just a handshake. The musicians of this orchestra have never had a contract. The musicians’ union hoped to impose a contract quite a few years ago, but the musicians voted it down, Fishman said. And finally, retirement About to finish lunch, Fishman was asked: What does a 77-year-old conductor do when he retires? This particular 77-year-old said he plans to “compose with some regularity” and also to edit and clean up some of the scores he and others have written for the Sinfonia over the years and then donate them to one or more libraries. Fishman reflected for a moment on his career, which has been considerable – 11 years with the Chamber Symphony, two with the orchestra in Louisville, two more in London and 36 with the Sinfonia. Adding that one year with the University of Minnesota Chamber Orchestra makes it over 50 years of professional conducting, 48 of them in the Twin Cities.
“To have that kind of career and to work with such great musicians on the world’s greatest repertoire and to work with composers, it’s been an amazing career and something I’m truly grateful for.
“I wish it could go on, of course. I wish the Sinfonia could go on beyond me because of the work we do in schools and the free admission and all the rest of it. Be that as it may, just what we’ve done over this time, it’s hard to find the words to say other than I’m just truly, truly grateful.”
ceremony,
Performer Oogie_Push is the creator and lead performer for Adventures. She is an actor, writer, storyteller, dancer, video production apprentice
Courtesy of Minnesota Sinfonia
Jay Fishman conducting the Minnesota Sinfonia in the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.
Get Full of Yourself Without Guilt!
By W.D. Foster-Graham Book Review Editor
SELF / ISH
Get Full of Yourself Without Guilt!
By
Kevin
E.
Taylor
As a pastor, a producer, and an author, Kevin E. Taylor’s life is full and one of service and the ongoing acquisition of wisdom. In the beginning of this book, he gives us a quote by the late Audre Lorde: “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” Eva Marcille Sterling says, “Self-care—as you fear it, because it causes guilt—is what allows you to be greater for those you serve and it lies in your self-care, be it parent or preacher, businessman or teacher.” How many of us
are the person other people need us to be, the one they depend on to get things done, or to do things they can do for themselves, to the point where we expend all our energy on others with none left for ourselves? When it comes to care, how many of us put ourselves last on the list, if we put ourselves on the list at all?
How many of us are accused of being selfish (not to be confused with SELF / ISH) when we do take time out for self-care and it’s not in line with what someone else needs us to be?
With a forward in each chapter by Eva Marcille Sterling, Taylor takes a deep dive into the aspects of self, both personal and professionally: self-image, self-worth, self-destruction, self-sabotage, self-awareness, self-discovery, and selfsufficiency. At the end of the day, to be the best version of ourselves, we must take the time for self-care, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Taylor encourages us the readers to ask ourselves not only the tough questions,
but also the questions we haven’t thought to ask.
I appreciate what Taylor shares about self-care in terms of what we need at a given time, and what it means to be emotionally and intellectually independent. That takes work and some digging into those spoken and unspoken messages from our past that we relegate to the attic of our minds, but it is necessary to clean out the ISH (stuff) cluttering it up. I love the four affirmations at the end:
You are smart. You are kind. You are beautiful.
You are enough.
And let me add this one from one of his chapters: “You already have your own back.”
SELF / ISH is available through TM3: TaylorMadeMultiMedia and his website, www. kevinetaylor.com
Thank you, Kevin and Eva, for your unique and inspiring perspective. Indeed, “what has your attention shows your intention.”
Insight 2 Health
Minnesotans urged to make sure their plan covers their
Big changes coming to Medicare choices for 2025
By Jane Tavares Senior Research Fellow
and
Lecturer of Gerontology,
LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston, UMass Boston and Marc Cohen
Professor
of Gerontology, UMass Boston
Medicare open enrollment opened last week with big changes coming for 2025.
Starting in January, some health care providers may no longer be “innetwork” for certain Medicare Advantage Plans. New benefits from the Inflation Reduction Act also kick in, such as a new maximum $2,000 dollar cap on prescription drugs and a new payment plan option to make paying for prescriptions more manageable.
Changes in Medicare Advantage plans mean an estimated 60,000 Minnesotans currently have providers, clinics and hospitals that will no longer be in-network. Some beneficiaries will have to change doctors or change their Medicare Advantage Plan during open enrollment to get their health care coverage back in sync.
“Each year, we urge Minnesotans to review their Medicare options to make sure their coverage will fit their needs for the coming year,” said Maureen Schneider, chair of the Minnesota Board on Aging. “This year, it’s even more important to make sure that your doctors and clinics
are still covered and that your coverage is affordable and meets your personal needs.”
Open enrollment, which runs through Dec. 7, is the time each year when beneficiaries can make adjustments to their Medicare plans.
Also coming in 2025 is a new $2,000 maximum outof-pocket limit on Medicare Part D prescription drugs. Once beneficiaries reach this amount, they don’t have to pay for their covered prescriptions for the rest of the year. Best of all, enrollment is automatic, so people don’t have to do anything to receive this benefit.
Also new in the coming year is the Medicare Prescription Drug Payment Plan, or MPPP. It helps people manage out-of-pocket costs for covered drugs by spreading costs across the calendar year. Instead of paying at the pharmacy, people pay a monthly amount to their health plan or drug plan. The MPPP is optional, so beneficiaries must contact their Medicare health or drug plan to enroll.
If you need help with Medicare, you have options: Online: Visit www. Medicare.gov to create an account, compare plans and enroll.
Phone: Call 1-800-MEDICARE, available 24/7.
Senior LinkAge Line: Call 800-333-2433 for free help with Medicare in Minnesota, open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Education
University of Minnesota Medical School extends training at Duluth campus to four years
By Ava Kian MinnPost
The University of Minnesota Medical School is doubling down on efforts to train more rural physicians, announcing recently that students on its Duluth branch will now train in that Greater Minnesota setting for four years rather than two.
The announcement comes as the university prepares to open a four-year medical school branch in St. Cloud next fall. Since its inception 52 years ago, the Duluth branch has trained students for two years, then sent them to the Twin Cities campus to complete their program.
The push for change on the Duluth campus came from the realization that the St. Cloud branch would be training students for four years in an effort to create rural physicians, said Kevin Diebel, the dean of the medical school’s Duluth campus.
Diebel said that while the Duluth campus already trains physicians to work in rural and Indigenous communities, by selecting students who have interest in those areas, there were gaps in keeping students in the area to work.
“We’re looking deeper at the desire for these potential medical students to actually have an impact on rural communities or Native
American communities, and we do that by looking through their application and seeing if they have any meaningful, lived experience or work experience in these various communities, so that they can demonstrate to the admissions committee that they really do want to after they’re done with their M.D. program, continue to contribute in a positive manner into these communities,” Diebel said.
But one challenge, Diebel said, is that those students eventually transfer to the Twin Cities for their last two years of training — and some change their minds. He said that while the Duluth program is above the national average in terms of training people for primary care and for getting people into rural communities, it could be improved.
“The model works, but we’re looking at ways to enhance it even further,” he said.
“We’re really going to be serious about recruiting students with intentionality and seeing them from start to finish in a program that has more of a rural focus and Native American focus.”
Since the Duluth campus’s inception in 1972, there’s been a decline in the number of graduates who end up as primary care or rural physicians — though it hasn’t been drastic enough to drive the change from two to four years, Diebel said. According to a medical school presentation at a
Board of Regents subcommittee meeting Thursday, 44% of the Duluth school’s alumni end up practicing in communities with populations of less than 25,000.
At that meeting, Jakub Tolar, the university’s vice president for clinical affairs and dean of the medical school, talked about the rural provider shortage and shared a strategic plan to address workforce shortages, for which the medical school hopes to get $45 million in recurring funding.
Tolar also spoke about visits he took to rural communities like Hutchinson, Wadena, Sleepy Eye, Glencoe and Roseau, saying he heard from many that they wanted more healthcare providers who have been trained in rural settings.
“The primary driver of the change is having a focus a little bit more regionally on the training from a rural perspective,” Diebel said. “Duluth, being a two-year program — we have a harder and harder time accomplishing the goals of our mission, while the other campuses are functioning as four-year campuses.”
The University of Minnesota Medical School trains roughly 240 students each year, a quarter of whom (roughly 65 students) are at the Duluth campus. This shift won’t change the number of students in the Duluth classes, but rather will keep them there for more years.
As is, the University
encourages students to join the Rural Physician Associate Program, which gives students clinical experience in rural communities. In the past few years, Diebel said 20-30 students from each class have joined that program. The program will stay, but Diebel said the school will prioritize getting students from the Duluth campus into it.
“Part of what we’re hoping to be able to say is that you get your education from kindergarten through M.D. in Duluth,” Charles Nies, the chancellor at the University of MinnesotaDuluth, said at the meeting.
The campus is also working with Aspirus St. Luke’s and Essentia Health hospitals to increase the number of students who participate in clinical training. Right now, 10 students participate, but they’ll be working to gradually expand the capacity in the program to 30 students by the spring of 2027. Diebel said there’s a big need for family medicine, noting that about 48% of all clinical encounters in rural Minnesota counties are with a family physician. There’s also demand for psychiatrists, emergency medicine and general surgery, he said.
How head start shaped
Head Start alumnus Duchesne
Drew is senior vice president of American Public Media Group and president of Minnesota Public Radio. Duchesne’s career has been punctuated with several accolades: In 2021, he was inducted into the Hall of Achievement at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism; he received the 2022 Spurgeon Award for Outstanding Community Leaders; and in 2022, he was named to The Root 100, an annual list of the most influential Black Americans in the fields of arts, community, business, entertainment, media, and politics. He shared how Head Start played a role in his life.
I’m incredibly proud to lead Minnesota Public Radio (MPR). I’m energized by expanding the circle of people who depend on our news, information, and music programming. Our ‘going deeper’ approach helps the public to bridge gaps and form connections through meaningful community engagement and listening experiences. My professional and learning journeys started with Head Start. I remember attending the Head Start program on Pitkin Avenue in East New York, a section of Brooklyn. I have vivid memories of my mother walking me there.
My Head Start classroom was a warm environment that
affirmed me as a learner. That affirmation has influenced my journey from Head Start to public media president.
After Head Start, I attended Public School #159 for the first grade, and near the end of that school year, my mother and I moved to Freeport, New York, on Long
At the Thursday meeting, medical school officials also brought up a proposal for a new building in Duluth for training healthcare professionals, which would have new anatomy labs, simulation and research spaces. The school would need regents’ approval and, ideally, would include it in the university’s legislative request for the 2026 session.
Ava Kian Ava Kian is MinnPost’s Greater Minnesota reporter. Follow her on Twitter @kian_ava or email her at akian@minnpost.com.
Island. My mom always seemed to be a step ahead, and to ensure I didn’t experience learning loss; she bought the first-grade reading and math books from the school before we moved and the second-grade books. I spent the rest of the school year and summer completing the lessons in those books. When I began second grade in my new school, those same books were the texts for the year, meaning I was well ahead!
I was a top performer for the remainder of my primary and secondary school years. I graduated from Freeport High School in the top 10% of my class and was accepted into three Ivy League schools. I decided to attend Columbia University to take advantage of being in New York City and remain close to home. While there, I volunteered with and worked for Upward Bound, one of the federal TRiO programs. TRiO programs identify and support high school students from historically marginalized communities as they progress through school and prepare for college. As part of my time with Upward Bound, I saw firsthand the difference that the wraparound approach makes in the lives of students and their families. When I reminisce about the program’s impact on our students, I also think of Head Start and how it offers wraparound services to children and families to provide the support they need while on the journey to self-sufficiency. After completing my undergraduate studies, I worked at Columbia University as a development officer for Upward Bound and its sister program, Talent Search, for a few years, successfully
securing program funding. I then earned a master’s degree at Northwestern University, focusing on journalism. While I was in graduate school, I got an internship with the Minneapolis Star Tribune, one of the nation’s largest newspapers. From that internship, I landed a permanent reporting role and ultimately rose to managing editor of operations with oversight for the copy and design desks, IT, recruitment, training, and more. This experience was an excellent foundation for my future path. After a five-year stint as a vice president of a local foundation, I was hired to lead MPR in early 2020, and I’ve been here ever since. I’m incredibly proud to be a part of MPR. I’m energized by expanding the circle of people who depend on our news, information, and music programming. Our ‘going deeper’ approach helps the public to bridge gaps and form connections
