Adminstration of Rochester's 3.12M award from Minnesota Main Street Economic Revitalization Program

• DMC EDA: DMC and City of Rochester adminstrating the distribution of 3.12M award. Formal grant criteria will be established, including the prioritization of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) participation. DMC will serve as the administrator of the grant.

Allies & Advocates

• Diversity Council: Allies & Advocates is a community response program that nurtures and supports individuals experiencing heightened anxiety, uncertainty, or incidents of hate/bias in this challenging social and cultural climate. We have been receiving communications regularly and increasingly from individuals deeply affected by what is transpiring here in Rochester, in our state, nationally, even globally. We want to be able to field these calls with empathy and wisdom. We decided to tap our greatest resource – compassionate people.

Barbershops Creating Change in the Community

• Barbershop & Social Services: BCCC is a coalition of Black barbers, beauticians and owners in Minnesota who are advancing a more just Minnesota for their communities. For years, barbershops have been staples of communities as they provide both individual and collective empowerment, esteem and moral. These are spaces where people come for physical and communal transformation. At the core, barber and beauty shops foster intentional relationships with community members while also providing a service.

Bridges to Careers

• Community Education: Hawthorne Education Center: Join the many students who have started their college career at Hawthorne Education Center! We offer unique enrollment options to accommodate our students with diverse experiences and needs. We also offer additional resources in the following areas: Applying for RCTC & for Financial Aid Career Planning and Job Placement Academic Support at both Hawthorne and RCTC

Building Out the use of Aunt Bertha as a Community Resource tool

• Mayo, Aunt Bertha: A (free) Toolkit Designed for Impact. Their Mission is to connect all people in need and the programs that can help them (with dignity and ease). Aunt Bertha collects all federal, state, county, city, neighborhood, and charity program information and put it in one place and make it easy for people to find and connect with those programs. Ultimately, this leads to people in need getting help.

Building Strong Communities

• Building Strong Communities: The Building Strong Communities program is a multi-trade apprenticeship preparatory program that will prepare you for a career in the construction industry. This program offers individuals the opportunity to receive Union endorsed training, exposure and a “foot in the door” to a career in the trades. Program graduates will have an opportunity to interview with participating Construction Trade Unions and Contractors.

Bystander to Upstander

• Diversity Council: Bystander to Upstander Sessions are participatory scenario-based sessions that provide opportunities for individuals to learn about and practice responses to incidents they might encounter in business, on campus, and in their daily lives. Unlike traditional diversity training, these activity-based workshops focus on real-time interventions. The sessions include general instruction in courageous listening and observing, as well as culturally-specific insights and role-playing exercises with tips and tactics for de-escalation, respectful intervention, and accountability.

CENTER FOR HEALTH EQUITY AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT RESEARCH

• Mayo Clinic: The Center for Health Equity and Community Engagement Research at Mayo Clinic partners with communities to allow everyone to achieve the highest possible level of well-being and health. The center's leadership team works with internal and external stakeholders to develop the strategic direction and initiatives aimed at creating innovative solutions to health disparities throughout the course of life to advance the ideal of health equity.

City of Rochester: 2020 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Action Plan

• City of Rochester, MN: The purpose of this update is to provide a framework for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion(DEI) efforts in FY 2022. These efforts will be focused on building internal capacity within the City of Rochester. Internal capacity building will be focused on 3 areas: (I) Recruitment and Retention of diverse teammates, (II) Diversity, Equity and Inclusion professional Development, and (III) Community Connection and Engagement

Community Dashboard

• openBEAM.net: Many best-practiced communities have implemented community web-based dashboards to provide a "read-out" of the health and wellness metrics of the community. DMCC's website is a push technology and not so much as social, collaborative virtual teaming site. Olmsted County, Mayo, OMG (and others) have just completed a community health study and published a report. We should go further and have a plan to be more agile and responsive in changing statistics by implementing a dashboard.

Community Engagement Response Team - Rochester, MN

• Barbershop & Social Services: C.E.R.T (Community Engagement Response Team) is raising money to help keep downtown Rochester safe. Donations will be used to increase patrols of downtown Rochester. Right now C.E.R.T has six volunteer patrol team members that will be patrolling the streets every weekend from 12 am until 3 am. While the six patrol team members are volunteers right now, our goal is to be able to provide a small stipend for their time in helping keep the streets of Rochester safe.

Community Health Assessment Process

• County of Olmsted, MN: The Community Health Assessment Process is about improving the health and well-being of residents in Olmsted County. Every three years the community conducts a health needs assessment to determine Olmsted County’s leading health priorities; formulate a plan to address the needs; and publish an annual progress report. Olmsted County Public Health Services, Mayo Clinic, and Olmsted Medical Center engage with diverse partners across our community to lead this process.

ConnectUP!

• TBD: ConnectUP! MN is a two-day, culturally grounded gathering of curated underestimated entrepreneurs and investors that: learn and share with each other, engage in relationship-building, provide best and next practices from the field, as well as engage in active problem solving to build thriving, diverse, and sustainable enterprises and co-design an ecosystem that prioritizes equitable access to resources, capital and networks.

Culturally Powered Communities

• United Way of Olmsted County: United Way of Olmsted County’s Culturally Powered Communities is a transformational capacity building program designed to strengthen the education, health, and financial stability of Olmsted County’s cultural communities by strengthening the organizations that serve them.

Distant Relatives

• TBD: Somali Youth basketball programs are broken down by age groups: 10-12 year olds, 13-17 and 18-21. He estimates that 30 young men are involved in "Distant Relatives." Mumin conducts practices with each group about twice a week, year round, gathering at an outdoor basketball court or inside at Zumbro Lutheran Church. They also play a few tournament a year.

Diversity & Inclusion Programming

• IMAA: IMAA’s diversity and inclusion training provides first-hand, experiential knowledge about different cultures. You will gain a better understanding of those you work with, improve your cultural competency, and progress toward a more inclusive working environment. View our brochure for more information about the training and pricing. Send us a message if you are interested in starting the conversation!

Diversity Council Rochester Area Racial Attitude Survey

• Diversity Council: Update to the 2006 survey. The Diversity Council first collaborated with a community task force to survey local attitudes toward race in 1990. In 2006, a second survey was conducted in association with Luther College. The 2006 survey duplicated many questions from the original survey in order to accurately measure how attitudes have changed over time. This latter survey also included additional questions focusing on immigration, and on actions as well as attitudes.

Diversity Newsletter Collections

• openBEAM.net: A collection of newsletters to let readers discover what's going on.

Diversity in Education Blog

• Mayo Clinic: A Mayo Clinic staff blog site that features personal insights and stories on lived diversity experiences.

Empowerment Center/Gage East Apartments

• Center City Housing: A project for homeless families in the Rochester area is seeking funding for what the planners are calling the "Empowerment Center" to be housed in a former elementary school. Center City Housing Corp., a nonprofit based in Duluth, announced Thursday that more than 80 percent of those that participated in a campaign planning study support the idea of turning the East Gage School site into a community center, to be called the Empowerment Center.

Equity Resources

• Diversity Council: Diversity Lesson Plans & Activities and Toolkit that includes the business case for investing in diversity, training tools, best practices in managing diversity, and diversity tip sheets.

EquityLogic (Becoming the Solution)

• Diversity Council: A tactical approach to building cultural agility and diversifying organizational strategies. Designed to impact: Employee retention Workgroup and individual productivity Customer/client satisfaction Problem solving and crisis management Inter-workgroup relationships Organizational innovation and adaptability Cross-organizational collaboration Market penetration

Expanding Career and Technical Education Center (C-TECH) Building

• Rochester Public Schools: That section will house programs focused on engineering, residential construction and horticulture, as well as a WSU STEM Village. That will require renovating and expanding the building. Construction is expected to start in June for this phase. Since the new building is valued at $5 million, this phase will presumably cost $1.5 million. The rest of the courses, such as manufacturing, health sciences and others, will be offered at the new C-TECH building when it opens in 2016. It will be connected to the Heintz Center via a 60-foot walkway.

Exploring - Discovering Your Future

• Gamehaven Boy Scout Counci: Exploring provides exciting activities and one-on-one mentorship for youth looking to discover their future. Whether you’re a local organization looking to strengthen the community or a young person wanting to uncover the possibilities of your future, Exploring is a great place to start.

FAITH Cardiovascular Health & Wellness Program

• FAITH: The FAITH! (Fostering African-American Improvement in Total Health) Program is a cardiovascular health promotion initiative grounded in faith and spirituality to advocate for health equity for African-Americans in Minnesota.

Facing Race

• Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation: A Minnesota That Works for Everyone WE ARE COMMITTED TO DISMANTLING A BELIEF IN A HIERARCHY OF HUMAN VALUE, WITH A FOCUS ON RACIAL EQUITY. As we work to create a just and vibrant Minnesota where all communities and people thrive, we know we can never realize our vision unless we advocate for equity.

Family and Community Engagement (RPS)

• Rochester Public Schools: Each month during our District Family Engagement meetings, parents, administrators, community members, staff, and other stakeholders come together to share meaningful and exciting events happening throughout Rochester Public Schools.

Generation Next (GN)

• Generation Next: Our Vision Every child has the academic, social and emotional skills to thrive in a globally-fluent world. Our Approach A seamless alignment of family, community and schools to ensure every child thrives.

Global Connections Community

• University of Minnisota Rochester: Mission. The Global Connections Community enhances internationalization of the UMR student experience through intentional community development and support. Students who commit to and are selected for this special program are future health care professionals who seek to develop as global citizens, increasing cultural understanding, competency, connections, and knowledge.

Global Technovation Challenge

• Rochester Area Math and Science Partnership: Technovation is a 3-month program where teams of young women work together to imagine, design, and develop mobile apps, then pitch their “startup” businesses to investors.

Housing Alliance Coalition

• Coalition for Rochester Area Housing: A continuing project to realize this purpose: “We are a cross-sector Alliance of organizations and individuals who seek to preserve and increase the supply of affordable housing that meets community needs and priorities in the Rochester area, through shared information, coordination, and collaboration.”

Human Libray of Southeaster Minnesota

• Diversity Council: The Human Library, an initiative developed by the World Culture Center in Denmark, allows people and organizations to check out human "books" for a unique learning experience. If you want to know what it's like to be, say, a single mother, a homeless person, a refugee, or a gay man, you check one out of the library and they share their personal story and answer your questions.

I-WE Program

• Diversity Council: The Inclusive Workforce Employer (I-WE) Designation is supported by the Workforce Development Board of Southeast Minnesota and the Winona Workforce Development Board. It was established by the Regional Workforce Alliance of Northwest Minnesota to support and recognize employers who: Express a commitment to an inclusive workplace in their stated values, mission or policies. Assess how diversity, equity and inclusion influence their work and culture. Provide diversity, equity and inclusion education for staff and leadership. Allocate resources to support and sustain an inclusive and equitable workplace.

Intentional Social Interaction (“IZI”)

• Marnita’s Table: Intentional Social Interaction (“IZI”) is a model with 5 guiding roots and 20 touchpoints designed to break one’s preconceived notion of the “other” or those who are different from us. IZI is based on peer-reviewed research and the experience engineering techniques used by corporations across the globe to convince people to part with their money. Instead of using these techniques to develop a more efficient way to imbed consumerism, we have taken the underlying concepts and applied them to create the environmental conditions necessary to promote openness, authenticity and connection as we engage communities in important conversations and initiatives around education, social justice and integrative and community health and wellness.

It's That Easy

• The Center Clinic : Teaching evening classes to Latino parents about Parent Child Connectedness and how this relationship is the foundation for raising sexually healthy children.

Jeremiah Program (Campus for Single Mothers and their Children)

• Jeremiah Program: Jeremiah Program Rochester-Southeast Minnesota launched its campaign for a campus in Rochester to serve 40 single women with children from Southeast Minnesota, with the assistance of a gift from the Sisters of Saint Francis, Rochester, MN.

Joint Studies on tackling Racism as a Public Health Issue

• County of Olmsted, MN: Olmsted County commissioners are looking to tackle racism as a public health issue. The board on August 4, 2020 unanimously approved a measure officially asking members of the county’s Public Health Services Advisory Board and Human Rights Commission to work together to investigate racism and disparities in health care.

Leadership Greater Rochester (LGR)

• TBD: Leadership Greater Rochester is a comprehensive 10-month leadership development course created by the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce. The program’s mission is to develop emerging leaders through participation in personal, professional and community awareness activities designed to encourage individual responsibility for taking an active leadership role in the future vitality of the greater Rochester area. Active involvement in the class community impact project, reading for leading component, developing a personal mission statement and community board observations are additional requirements for graduation.

Learning Is Forever (LIFE)

• Rochester Community & Technical College: As part of the Rochester Community and Technical College outreach effort, Learning Is ForEver (LIFE) provides stimulating educational programs and encourages social and personal growth for life-long learners in our growing and diverse community. This is accomplished through a variety of affordable courses including lectures, discussion groups, day trips, and other learning opportunities in an accessible setting.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Poetry Contest

• Diversity Council: The annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Poetry Contest sponsored by the Diversity Council is open to Olmsted County students in grades 3 - 12. Themes and deadlines are announced each year in October, and winners are announced in January.

Mayo Clinic Health Disparities Research

• Mayo Clinic: Health Disparities Research supports meaningful research to identify and address health disparities and to help ensure Mayo Clinic patients reflect the diversity of our communities.

Mayo Supplier Diversity Program

• Mayo: The Mayo Clinic Supplier Diversity Program's goal is to engage in mutually beneficial strategic business relationships with minority-owned, woman-owned, veteran-owned and small business enterprises so as to provide equal access to Mayo purchasing opportunities and promote supplier participation to reflect the diverse business community and patient population.

Middle Way Chinese Business Market

• Middle Way Group, LLC: Blending east and west cultural competency to expand marketing reach in Asia

Mobil Video Recorder Policy

• Police Policy Oversight Commission of City of Rochester: TBD

More Women on the Move

• Women on the Move: More Women on the Move is a non-partisan, grassroots organization, is dedicated to empowering ​women committed to inclusive, equitable, healthy communities and seeking and supporting women to run for elected office. The group is also striving to help women explore a variety of leadership positions throughout the community, regardless of their area of interest or expertise. The success of the original Women on the Move group, in its efforts to encourage more women to run for office and seek leadership roles, inspires the new group to replicate that success as our community grows and progresses in coming years.​

Night Market

• TBD: HIGHLIGHT LOCAL BIPOC BUSINESSES & BRING A SLICE OF CULTURE TO ROCHESTER MN.

Olmsted County Community Services PACE

• Olmsted County Community Services: P.A.C.E. (Parents & Children Excel) - works with All children of color between the ages of 7 and 14 who have attendance and academics issues in school or behavior problems at home, school or community. P.A.C.E. also provides positive teen (peer) mentorships for the children on the caseload. Social workers and case aide staff facilitate leadership activities of high school mentors with their elementary student mentees. A key goal of these relationships is to create transformative experiences for both the mentor and the mentee that increase academic achievement and high school graduation. Another important facet of this program is to promote productive citizenship within the community through service activities of various sorts.

One Olmsted: Embrace diversity as an asset

• County of Olmsted, MN: Internal/Employee - One Olmsted mission for diversity and inclusion is to attract, hire, develop, advance, retain and engage a workforce that reflects the public we serve, draws from all segments of society, and values equity, diversity and inclusion. External/Community - One Olmsted works to eliminate disparities and create equitable outcomes for all through our commitment to diversity and inclusion and development of strong community partnership. VISION: Vision: We envision a workplace and community where everyone is treated equitably.

P-TECH 535

• Rochester Public Schools: P-TECH 535 is a pioneering education reform initiative created to prepare young people with the academic, technical, and professional skills required for high wage, high skills, and high need regional careers. This public-private partnership allows students to take high school and college coursework simultaneously while engaging in industry-guided workforce development in one of two pathways.

Parents Are Important In Rochester (PAIIR)

• Hawthorne Education Center: Parents Are Important In Rochester - PAIIR is Rochester Public Schools Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) program. ECFE offers high-quality parent and early education programming. PAIIR's Mission ​"Strengthening families with young children through education and support" PAIIR Provides: • Parenting information and resources to help develop positive informed attitudes and expectations about raising children. Early childhood education using purposeful, age appropriate, research based instruction covering all areas of development. Fun learning activities for both parents and children.

Pathways to College and Careers (Emerging Leaders Program)

• Workforce Development Inc: Create educational pathways to lead to livable wage jobs.

Project HEALINGS of MN

• Diversity Council: HEALINGS provides an opportunity to close vaccination gaps and solve persistent health inequities by galvanizing disparate regional efforts and forging unbreakable connections between BIPOC Minnesotans and the state, local, private, and nonprofit entities that serve them. More than 250,000 touches that will establish a formidable network of human relationships to fulfill current COVID priorities and lay a foundation for equitable management of major health events arising in the future. The initiative will focus on Minnesota’s major population centers and the tribal communities of the Anishinaabe and Dakota.

Project Legacy

• Project Legacy: The philosophy of Project Legacy derives from a recognition of the historical context of people of color in this country. It is founded on a belief in the necessity of rekindling a sense of hope and possibilities. In order to accomplish this, the connections, access, legacy paradigm needs to be translated into the reality of life for the youth who are served. In other words, a group of adults who genuinely care and commit to the mission and philosophy of the program must create connections to ideas, information and opportunities. They must advocate on behalf of the youth to guarantee access to those opportunities and resources that support and sustain the belief in the possibility of a positive future. With hope comes a belief in one’s ability to control one’s destiny. Armed with a sense of empowerment, youth will be emotionally and socially prepared to embark on a path to making dreams a reality and thereby creating their own legacy for the future.

Project Search

• Mayo Clinic: Mayo Clinic Project SEARCH is for students with developmental cognitive disabilities who are in their last year of high school eligibility, between ages 18-21 and enrolled in Rochester Public Schools in Minnesota. The goal of Project SEARCH is competitive, integrated employment for each student intern. The Mayo Clinic Project SEARCH site in Rochester, Minnesota is a partnership between the Rochester Public Schools, Mayo Clinic, Vocational Rehabilitation Services, Olmsted County Disability Services with supports from the Project SEARCH State Leadership Team.

RISE for Equity Podcasts

• Mayo Clinic: Can talking about equity inspire a new mindset about it?

RISE for Youth

• Mayo Clinic: RISE for Youth is a first-of-its-kind collaboration between Mayo Clinic and the Rochester branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) designed to help Black and underrepresented students transform themselves from youth with potential to competitive and empowered talent entering the workforce. The program aims to create new pathways for success by providing students with critical educational and leadership skills, training and long-term mentoring for successful careers in health care, science and beyond.

RPD Accountability Dashboard

• Rochester Police Department: The Rochester Police Department (RPD) is committed to fostering a culture of transparency and accountability throughout the Department, in order to improve and maintain the trust of the community we serve. The dashboard is an initiative which was proposed by community members at the “Proposed Actions for Justice” Virtual Town Hall on June 11, 2020. RPD was pleased to embrace the idea and committed to producing the first dashboard within 30 days.

Racial Equity Resource Directory

• Compass (Wilder Foundation): A listing of racial equity programs and training providers serving faith communities, civic organizations, educational institutions, and anyone working to combat racism and increase cultural competence.

Ready to Lead

• Family Service Rochester: Our goal is to equip people with the knowledge and skills to feel confident in volunteering to serve our community and the many nonprofits and government committees seeking diverse voices and representation.

Refugee Resettlement Program

• Catholic Charities: Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement Program (CCRRP) has a rich history of serving primary refugees in our community since 1975. The Refugee Resettlement Program meets the regional needs of the refugees designated to resettle here, either through family reunification or as “free cases” assigned to our local community. New refugees are at their most vulnerable as they enter the United States. As the only resettlement agency in Southeastern Minnesota, CCRRP seeks to address the most fundamental needs of all new refugees such as access to shelter, food, clothing, income, medical care, education, and employment.

Resilient Living (A Happy Brain)

• Stree Free (Resilient) Living: Compassion attunes with other’s inner state, with the intention to ease suffering and share joy. – Dr. Amit Sood

Rochester Family Literacy

• Hawthorne Education Center : Rochester Family Literacy is: Parent Education Adult Education Early Childhood Education Parent & Child Time To enroll in Rochester Family Literacy, you will need to make an appointment for a home visit.At this appointment, you will fill out an application and possibly set up placement testing. After the home visit, we will contact you to let you know if you are eligible for this new program.

Rochester Public Schools Strategic Plan

• Rochester Public Schools: Per RPS: "We are currently in the third stage of strategic planning. This stage develops a plan that addresses the action (the 'how') and measurements ('how well are we doing') to meet the strategic objectives. You are now invited to nominate yourself, or others, to be part of the third stage of strategic planning by serving on the Measurement Team or an Action Team."

Rochester World Festival

• TBD: Rochester World Festival: Allow us take you around the world from China to Latin America, India to Uzbekistan, and all in one weekend. Volunteers from many different cultures in our community take part in every World Festival. Learn more on how to be a volunteer for the next World Festival and other RIA sponsored activities and events by contacting us.

Sister Save Sister

• John Marshall High School: The club provides an anchor and sense of belonging to a group of students who often felt adrift and disconnected from school. But the weekly meetings are only one element of the club, which tries to build a network of support and accountability around the students. The club has its own rules. To be in Sister Save Sister, each student must find a mentor among the JM staff. Students are to be accountable not only to themselves but to each other. If a sister goes astray, set her right. If a sister is roaming the hallway when she should be in class, tell her where she ought to be.

StandUp Students

• Diversity Council: StandUp Students, a program of the Diversity Council, provides interactive scenario-based training that equips students with tools and tactics to interrupt bias and hate as it occurs, in safe and age-appropriate ways that help build environments where all students feel welcome.

Student Leaders Creating Change (SLCC)

• Diversity Council: Training SLCC provides students with 12 weeks of in-depth training. Defining bullying and cyberbullying Reporting bullying incidents Prevention & intervention Understanding biases, stereotypes, and prejudice Unconscious biases Mindsets Microaggressions Race and privilege Gender and sexual expression Interfaith conversations Mediation and conflict resolution Becoming changemakers Role playing: safe ways to intervene Restorative practices: healing the hurts

Supplier Diversity Initiative

• Rochester-area Chamber of Commerce: The Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce is a proud supporter of Diversity in Business. Our Supplier Diversity Initiative is a collaborative effort of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the City of Rochester, and Rochester Area Economic Development, Inc. (RAEDI) to provide business level opportunities, certification assistance and education to small and diverse area suppliers (minority, women and veteran-owned) who seek access to the Southeastern Minnesota economy and business community. This will help develop mutually beneficial relationships with and between diverse suppliers and buyers in order to source local and regional vendors and thus build economic vitality.TBD

Targeted Business Enterprise Utilization Plan

• City of Rochester, MN: To further increase participation rates of targeted businesses and workforce on DMC projects, four priorities have been identified that are outlined below. (1) Build capacity of Targeted Businesses located in Southeastern Minnesota (2) Assess gaps with existing subcontractors to determine market opportunity. (3) Recruit women and minorities from workforce to start their own companies. (4) Host workshops to educate entrepreneurs, provide consulting services for WMBVE certification process and assist with bid process to win contracts on DMC projects.

The 21-Day Equity Challenge

• United Way of Olmsted County: The 21-Day Equity Challenge is a powerful opportunity for shared learning, action, and growth. Olmsted County and greater Minnesota residents are invited to develop a deeper understanding of how inequity and racism affect our lives and our community.

The Meadow Park Initiative

• Family Service Rochester: Families do better when they live in a strong community with economic mobility, employment security, and self-advocacy. Since challenges such as poverty, unemployment, and housing instability tend to concentrate in areas negatively impacted by a history of disinvestment, targeted investments in these neighborhoods can develop them into the kind of place that allows families to reach their full potential. Established in October 2018, the Meadow Park Initiative focuses on a neighborhood with significant barriers to long-term financial stability and educational attainment. Residents are leading the way in developing an action plan for working together to make a difference in people’s lives in the neighborhood by identifying and cultivating local leadership, building meaningful connections between neighbors, and learning about residents’ hopes and dreams for the community.

The Sound of Scars

• TBD: The Sound of Scars is an idea I have fostered for the last year as a means to bring awareness and provide support to those experiencing emotional abuse like I have in my past when I felt there was no-where to turn. The idea is simple, show emotional abuse through a new medium; Art and music. By combining mediums, a larger impact can be created on the viewer both mentally as well as sensationally. This is the goal of the grant funded gallery being hosted at the Rochester Civic Theatre, August 6-21, 2015 (More Info Here). But "The Sound of Scars" isn't just a one time showcase of art and music, It's a symbol of awareness and hope that can be carried on to help support those in need as well as bring light to many overlooked topics in our world. "Every pain has a scar, every scar has a story, and every story deserves to be heard" This is the premise of "the Sound of Scars". To be a forum to help support, bring awareness to, and eventually to lead to the reduction of emotional abuse.

The Village Community Garden & Learning Center (VCGLC)

• Diversity Council: The Village - Where We Grow Together! The Village Community Garden & Learning Center is a new community garden opening this 2019 growing season. The focus of this garden is to grow together as a community that comes from many parts of our world, and to learn about each other's traditions in food, arts, and culture. Thank you to Rochester Home Infusion for donating 11 acres for this project, and to our many partners at Diversity Council, Olmsted County, U of M Extension, Rochester Farmers Market, UMR, and RCTC. We are excited to share this new community asset with the city of Rochester and surrounding communities. This season will focus on the establishment of the garden through development of water resources, fencing, funding for event resources, and building our community of gardeners. We look forward to growing together!

WE Forum #rochmn

• Saint Mary’s University: The WE Forum brings together women in business to share knowledge and resources in support of new business creation and growth. This forum is a partnership between the Kabara Institute, Collider, RAEDI, SCORE and the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce

WSU: Multicultural Education Certificate

• Winona State University: Demographic differences (e.g., ethnic, racial, socioeconomic, gender, sexuality, religious, linguistic, and physical/cognitive) characterize members of our social and professional communities. The Multicultural Education Certificate Program is designed to prepare professionals to work more effectively with diverse clientele within their respective education, health, law enforcement, social service, faith, non-profit, arts, military, business and industry sectors throughout Olmsted and Winona counties. This certificate program provides participants with the opportunity to both analyze their own cultural experiences and work more closely with both clientele and their communities to examine how services can be provided in a more equitable manner.

Youth & Whole Family Training System

• Diversity Council: This initiative takes a comprehensive approach to anti-bias education by providing programming that addresses the needs of the entire school community: students, staff, and parents.

Beam Up DEI Actions for Area CBO's

• OpenBeam.net: Many area Community Based Organizations(CBO) to their credit are embarking on DEI projects and seek friendly guidance how to get going. OpenBeam to help identify actions that area organizations may pursue to make impacts on area's DEI needs. OpenBeam to provide assistance in two ways : (1) OpenBeam's founder, Al Lun, will serve as Diversity Council ambassador to be a conduit of information sharing between the CBO's and Diversity Council. If requested, a DC staff person may also join in the effort. (2) OpenBeam's dmcbeam.org community assets database is made available to enable community resources connectivity in general.

Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative & 2021 Global Mayors Challenge

• City of Rochester, MN: Started first as a mayoral initiative to apply and leverage the knowledge and learning from Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Program (that offers leadership and management training to mayors and city leaders) to affecting organizational change and to foster city leaders' professional growth and the advancement of key capabilities within Rochester metro area which leads to Rochester being a finalist for the 2021 Global Mayors Challenge.

Commitment to Action for Racial Justice project

• Rochester Area Nonprofit Consortium: Evaluate the resources available for listen, learn and act. Explore the onboarding process for undersigned. Forming steering committee for the project

Developing Age-Friendly Olmsted County (AFOC) Plan

• Family Service Rochester: Age-Friendly Olmsted County (AFOC) is a cross-sector initiative to ensure that residents of Olmsted County have what they need to live with autonomy and dignity in all life’s stages. When Olmsted County became a member of the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities in early 2020, it officially joined a global movement, with roots in the World Health Organization, to help cities and communities respond to an aging population and prepare for a permanently older society.

Developing and Executing on Cradle to Career Plan

• Cradle to Career: Every child and young adult succeeds cradle to career, through shared purpose, alignment and accountability among community partners This is the purpose of the Cradle to Career initiative in Rochester, Minnesota. Education is a powerful strategy to improve educational outcomes resulting in healthy individuals, families and community who have economic stability with productive careers and contribute positively to a civic and equitable society.

Discovery Walk Co-designing

• DMC EDA: Public realm along the 2nd Avenue corridor from 2nd Street to 6th Street (Soldiers Field.)

Diversity Council Civic Equity Focus Area

• Diversity Council: Civic Equity is the realization of a society where all individuals receive equitable access to resources, protections, and opportunities. Each person enjoys: (a) equal treatment under law, both through law enforcement and the judicial system; (b) equitable access to and representation in the political process; and (c) equal opportunity to engage in the design of and benefit from inclusive public policy.

Diversity Council Health Equity Plan

• Diversity Council: Health Equity is the attainment of the highest level of wellbeing for all individuals, regardless of personal or social determinants of health. Health Equity requires social, economic, and environmental conditions that result in full access to opportunities that lead to healthy lives.

Executing on Planning 2 Succeed: Rochester 2040 Comprehensive Plan

• City of Rochester, MN: Rochester is a growing community and that growth is anticipated to continue. Growth and change presents both opportunities and challenges. Long-range planning is needed to position the City to address its long-term needs; to be resilient; to support changing demographics; and to address housing demand, multi-modal transportation needs, growth in jobs and visitors, and more; while working with finite resources. Rochester’s long-range planning effort, referred to as “Planning to Succeed” or P2S, will update the City’s Comprehensive Plan.

Mayo High School School Within a School (SWS)

• Mayo High School: Help at-risk students succeed in school and life.

Regional Video Projects

• Journey to Growth Partnership: The Regional Community Video project is collaboration between Journey to Growth (J2G) and SE MN Together. Over the past 18 months a committee of regional leaders have been meeting on a regular basis discussing ways to promote a unified message about our Southeast Minnesota region. These meetings led the team to travel throughout the region. It was discovered each community had fascinating unique features, from how the town was formed to how the town has changed. SE MN Together (SEMNT) has been hosting regional meetings throughout Southeastern Minnesota. J2G and SEMNT discovered they were on a common path in regards to marketing our region and decided to collaborate on the Regional Community Video Project (RCVP). The goal of the Regional Community Video Project (RCVP) is to further move us towards becoming a more connected and cohesive region while celebrating our uniqueness through creativity and storytelling.

Rochester Racial Justice Toolkit

• RRJ: The Toolkit is a compilation of articles, guides, news, videos, social media, and other tools from several online sources on racial justice and Black Lives Matter activism. The site is a work in progress with ongoing updates and contributions to each section. Please contact us with any suggestions or resource contributions! The Toolkit is an online social justice resource rooted in a committment to radical love and service to the Rochester, MN community. ​

Sustainability and Resiliency Action Plan

• City of Rochester, MN: The Sustainability and Resiliency Action Plan will focus on five key areas - Vibrant Neighborhoods, City for Health, Transportation, Resilient Economy, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions - highlighting economic, environmental, and social resiliency strategies that can help guide the city on future decision making. This will better prepare the community for foreseen and unforeseen impacts from disasters, but also strengthen the community through successes.

Youth Mediation in Rochester Public Schools

• Mediation and Conflict Solutions (MCS): A mediation program offered by Mediation and Conflict Solutions (MCS) for RPS students

America Community for Health

• DMC EDA: Interlocking between DMC, Olmsted County and Rochester City and Community organizations to ensure social impacts are factored into DMC project evaluation process and City Comprehensive Plan (P2S).

Diversity Council Education Equity Plan

• Diversity Council: Educational Equity exists when all individuals are fully prepared for the roles of their choice, regardless of personal or social circumstances. Educational Equity requires systems of support that result in full access to opportunities that lead to personal growth.

Food, health and culture intersections: Community-Led, Health Equity Structural Intervention Initiative

• Diversity Council: Forming coalition to apply to the grant. The purpose of this Research Opportunity Announcement (ROA) is to solicit applications from community organizations to develop, implement, assess, and disseminate co-created community-led, health equity structural interventions, in partnership with research organizations, that intervene upon structural factors that produce and perpetuate health disparities.

For a Better Us

• Rochester Area Family Y: A plan to: Being a great partner, Strengthening communities, Advocating for the Y, Inspiring others, Providing leadership, Volunteering your time, treasure, and talents

Improve health insurance coverage for minority groups in Southeast Minnesota

• TBD: While MNsure boasts of plummeting uninsured rates among Minnesotans, a closer look shows that certain minority populations who have been left behind, in particular Latinos

In City for Good (In the Shadow of Growth)

• In the City for Good Steering Committee: City for Good is coalition of eight Action Groups addressing deficiencies in the DMC plan: Living Wages, Transportation, Affordable Housing, Sustainability, Social Services, Education, Social Justice and Historic Preservation.

Locks of Compassion

• Catholic Charities: Considering a lock is defined as a device that restricts access and confines, you may wonder how it can possibly be associated with compassion. But, did you know a lock can also be a symbol of promise, enduring friendship and love? A lock links and unites one to another. In many parts of the world “love locks” attached to bridges and even metal trees have expressed uniting one to another. The “Locks of Compassion” project will re-create a symbolic expression of unity regarding a spirit of compassion for the refugee children and families we serve. With a gift of $10 you will be provided a lock to decorate with signs, symbols, and words of compassion.

Page Amendment

• Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis: Constitutional amendment to make it a right for every child have access to quality education. Every child deserves a quality public education.

Pathways Toward Prosperity and Well-Being Program

• Olmsted County Community Services: Using $525,000 in state grant funding from the state, Olmsted and Dakota counties are seeking to create a model aimed at helping families out of poverty. Instead of providing individual programs for children and others for their parents, the project will look at family needs as a whole and work to create a path to support two generations at once.

Project FINE (Focus on Integrating Newcomers through Education)

• FINE: FINE brings together resources and workforce solutions from across an 11-county region in Southeast Minnesota that promote inclusivity. Training sessions will also be held for employers on best practices for hiring and retaining diverse employees.

Prosperity Initiative

• Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation: The Prosperity Initiative promotes inclusive entrepreneurship and business growth for entrepreneurs who identify as Black, Indigenous or people of color (BIPOC). The program provides regular education, coaching and business resources to BIPOC business owners in SMIF’s 20-county region.

RCTC/Perkins Collective Impact

• Rochester Community & Technical College: Collaborating with RCTC to strengthen Career and Technical Education: The Perkins V Federal Grant for Career and Technical Education (CTE) provides funds for approved Career and Technical Education programs. In Minnesota, funds are distributed on the basis of state-approved career and technical education programs and appropriate teacher licensure. Programs are administered under Minnesota Rules Chapter 3505 and the federal Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V).

Rochester A City of Compassion (RocCoC)

• Rochester MN A City of Compassion: Help Rochester to be a more compassion city via the following 3 Focus areas: (1) Honoring and supporting compassionate thought and action already existing in our community (2) Growing a culture of compassion as a binding force in our community (3) Creating opportunities for meaningful participation in compassionate actions

Rochester Area Foundation: Listen, Learn and Act in support of Racial Justice

• Rochester Area Foundation: Rochester Area Foundation has signed on in support of the Commitment to Racial Justice that was crafted by the Rochester Nonprofit Consortium. Together, we stand in solidarity with those who seek justice and racial equity. We have committed to listen, learn and act in support of the following:  addressing the policies and practices that influence racism, structural bias and inequity;    connecting to resources, organizations, and best practices to apply a race equity lens; and   building capacity within our organization and community to promote social and economic mobility and wellbeing for all residents.

SE Mn Together: A regional community growth initiative

• Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation: Southeast Minnesota Together is a regional collaborative network of organizations and individuals developing and pursuing strategies to address our workforce shortage. SE MN Together also seeks to strengthen regional connections and build local capacity in communities across the region, which can be leveraged to address other social and economic issues affecting Southeast Minnesota. .

Thriving by Design – Rural & Urban Together - One Minnesota Equity Blueprint

• TBD: A statewide gathering of Minnesota residents to begin and follow-thru on a six-month process – Minnesota Thriving by Design - to create a statewide comprehensive policy agenda and socioeconomic contract – the One Minnesota Equity Blueprint - for achieving rural-urban and racial economic equity and inclusive growth.

Update Intercultural Cities Initiative (ICI) Index

• City of Rochester, MN: The Intercultural City Initiative is a bold effort on the part of a wide variety of organizations and individuals to align the collective power, creativity, expertise, and energy of our cities toward a future of inclusive growth. Inspired by the comprehensive and coordinated approach of the Council of Europe Intercultural City program, Minnesota’s Intercultural City Initiative is focused on using high leverage influence strategies to realize this future faster.

WSU Education Village

• WSU: Our bonding request is a bold, responsive plan to renovate three buildings and environs (Wabasha Hall, Wabasha Rec and the Cathedral School) into an Education Village of the future that will be designed with integrated, flexible, state-of-the-art learning and teaching spaces. Labs, classrooms, offices, meeting and community spaces will take a cohesive, sensible form and provide space for the extraordinary preparation of extraordinary teachers and school professionals.

Building Out Community Mobilization Resources Coalition

• Diversity Council: Purpose: Change power dynamics to create a pluralistic and intercultural community where all people benefit equitably. Goal: Create equitable access to community resources and civic involvement.

Creating a 21st Century Community Space

• Diversity Council: A Place for All. Third Sector's shared space concept would provide a common entry point to community resources through its "front door" concept. Seeking 40,000 - 50,000 sf of public space for 3 core uses.  Community Cultural Center providing interactive gathering spaces for civic engagement, education, celebration.  Community Front Door offering a centralized entry point for individuals seeking access to community resources and activities.  Nonprofit COOP functions as the enterprise, funding general operations for the entire facility while creating operational efficiencies for NPOs.

Digital Equity IT Infrastructure

• Rochester Area Nonprofit Consortium: Increase access to and effective use of technological devices and programs among communities experiencing barriers in the Rochester area. To do this, we will generate immediate and longer-term solutions related to the following barriers to access: 1) technological devices/hardware with appropriate software installed (computers and tablets); 2) affordable, reliable internet; and 3) culturally appropriate education to support digital literacy.

Diversity In Action Initiative

• Diversity in Action: Program to assist students that aren’t necessarily college bound with getting into areas that don’t require a 4 year degree. He has links with employers looking for young people who are interested in being plumbers, carpenters, electricians and etc. He is looking at how to work within the schools here in Rochester to expose young people to alternative careers. I thought that the two of you might be a good connection since quite a bit of his consideration would be working with youth from diverse backgrounds as well as supporting educators in working with the students.

Envisioning a 21st Century City: Regional Issues, Global Perspectives

• Diversity Council: Diversity Council is presenting a series of talks to invite region thought leaders, decision makers and stakeholders to an evening of conversations and learning to support Diversity Council's effort to spark multi-cultural transformation impetus for SE MN.

Food for Thought for Diversity Wellness

• Diversity Council/Lotus Foundation: Food and nutrition is important to all people. Access to nutrition is especially important to marginalized groups. This project educates people how good food can be made available. This project will promote and help identify affordable, good tasting, nutrient-rich foods" to difference cultural groups. Taking into account: (1) embracing cultural traditions (2) learn from each other (3) combine with other healthy living ideas.

Identification and intervention for adverse childhood experiences in our local community - A Study

• Olmsted County Public Health Services, Rochester Public Schools, Mayo Clinic: To develop local ACEs screening and intervention programs for children and evaluate the impact of these new intervention programs on the mental health and developmental trajectory in children.

Legal Defense Fund

• First Unitarian Universalist Church: We propose that a legal defense fund be established, to be used to provide legal assistance to persons at risk of detention and expedited removal by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) branch of Homeland Security.

Love Music, Hate Racism - Minnesota

• TBD: TBD

Pathways to Equity

• Community Mobilization Resource Coalition (CMRC) / Diversity Council: Pathways to Equity works with marginalized populations to build integrated navigation solutions at the community level. It establishes, compensates, trains, and nurtures liaisons and navigators within ethnic populations who are charged with forming enduring relationships with and increasing cultural understanding among service providers, civic structures, and businesses.

Rochester Intercultural Economic Exchange (RICE)

• OpenBeam.net: Many Rochester groups have individual efforts to increase cultural and trade relationship with emerging global markets. These efforts can be made more effective if coordinated and they receive a local leadership sponsorship from local governments and business leaders. Rochester-MN with its DMC initiative is in a unique position to play a brokering role.

Tech Solutions to confront global pandemic threats

• openBEAM.net: An OpenBeam concept to offer technology enablement to propose and support a multi-phase effort to make fundamental lifestyle change to transform the community ecosystem to be more resilient in the new reality of a global pandemic environment that is expected to be us with for many years to come.

The Rochester Early Childhood Education Hub

• Alliance of Chicanos, Hispanics and Latin American--Rochester: The Rochester Early Childhood Education Hub works to bridge at-risk children and families with existing educational service providers.

enCounter Poverty

• Diversity Council: enCounter Poverty is an experiential tool that exposes individuals to the challenges of poverty in our community in ways that build empathy and lead to action. We're looking for volunteers to 1) participate in developing our scalable model and 2) plan programs and activities.

Asian Pacific MN Complete Count 2020 Project (Completed)

• Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans (CAPM): Previous Census efforts have identified “hard to count” communities, including Limited English Proficient (LEP) individuals, immigrants and refugees, and children under the age of 4. Given what we know about our API communities statewide, our Council believes that a complete count committee dedicated specifically to our community is in the interest of the state of Minnesota. Therefore, we invite you to join the API Complete Count Committee (CCC), to ensure that all API Minnesotans participate fully in the 2020 Census.

Bias/Hate Crime and Incident Response

• Olmsted County Human Rights Commission: To execute an effective community response to bias/hate crimes and to bias/hate incidents that supports the victims and victims' families.

Build Back Better Request for Proposal

• United Way of Olmsted County: We are issuing this Request for Proposals to establish partnerships and offer core mission support for culturally specific organizations that advance the health, education, or financial stability of communities impacted most by the health and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. We will prioritize proposals from agencies serving and led by Black, Indigenous, people of color, and immigrant/refugee communities. Proposals from agencies serving and led by other communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 are also eligible to apply.

CDI Bridges

• Community Interfaith Dialogue on Islam (CIDI): The bridges already exist. Let's CROSS them!

Closing referral disparities (resolution agreement with Office of Civil Rights)

• Rochester Public Schools: Need to close the disciplinary gap. Black and Hispanic students are referred to the office at a significantly higher rate when compared to white students and Asian students. Black and Hispanic students receive In-School-Suspensions at a significantly higher rate when compared to white students and Asian students. Black and Hispanic students receive Out-Of-School-Suspensions at a significantly higher rate when compared to white students and Asian students.

Collaborative Leadership Fellow Program

• CLF: Strengthen community capacity for collaborative leadership, and Ensure succession of community leadership invested in multi-sector solutions to complex community issues.

Collider Inclusion Open Entrepreneur Ecosystem Navigator

• Collider Coworking: A three-phase solution to empower underserved entrepreneurs and to reduce the isolation and stressors of entrepreneurship through the creation of an Ecosystem Navigator Program. Navigators will serve as personal guides, meeting one-on-one with entrepreneurs to better understand their personal and professional needs as well as work to connect each entrepreneur with the appropriate events, services, and people they need to help individual entrepreneurs overcome their unique barriers to success.

Community Cultural Center

• Journey to Growth Diversity and Inclusion Committee: A physical place/space for interactions among diverse groups

Community Leaders Creating Change

• Diversity Council: Community Leaders Creating Change (CLCC) is a leadership training program that aims to help close that gap between the diversification of our local population and our community leadership—and to prepare those from majority groups to work effectively in a diverse environment.

Community Networking Group (CNG 2.0)

• openBEAM.net : Rochester area is fortunate to have many private, public and non-profit organizations engaged in serving the community. To make these efforts even more effective, we need a "clearing house" or coordination hub to allow sharing of ideas, requirements and plans.

Compassion Studies

• Rochester Community & Technical College: The new Compassion Studies (HUM 1500) course will explore compassion as a subject of academic inquiry--emphasizing both its timely and timeless aspects including notable historical traditions and thinkers, as well as contemporary figures and findings. Some key questions considered in this course include what is compassion; do humans have a duty to be compassionate; and why does compassion matter, to whom and to what? The course will also feature readings, discussions, videos, and lectures that address compassion as it relates to diverse subject areas.

Conquerors Boxing

• TBD: More Than Conquerors is a new boxing program being offered for kids and young adults in the Rochester area.

Diverse Interests Round Table

• Rochester-area Chamber of Commerce: The strength and stability of a community comes from the recognition and inclusion of its diversity. The Diverse Interests Round Table provides an open-minded environment that allows for the sharing of triumphs and failures, challenges and opportunities, best practices and necessary changes. By connecting with, learning from and doing business with one another, we can change the dynamics of our economy and grow together.

Diversity in Business Initiative

• Rochester-area Chamber of Commerce: SUPPLIER DIVERSITY INITIATIVE MISSION, SUPPLIER DIVERSITY MEMBER DIRECTORY, CERTIFICATION ASSISTANCE RESOURCES

Diversity in Business Resource (DIBR Registry)

• Journey to Growth Diversity and Inclusion Committee: An electronically formatted resource to provide information and contacts targeting diverse individuals interested in starting a business in our J2G region

Healthy Immigrant Families

• Rochester Healthy Community Partnership (RHCP): Description Immigrants and refugees arrive to the United States healthier than the general population. But, the longer they live in the U.S., the more likely they are to approximate the cardiovascular risk profiles of the general population, including increased rates of obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and heart disease. Two reasons for the development of these diseases are low levels of physical activity and lack of access to healthy foods. The reasons for these behaviors are complex, and include many social, economic, environmental, and cultural factors.

Integrated Recreation, Education, Living Space (iREL) Rochester Family Y 2020 Plan Concept

• Rochester Area Family Y: Plan for the next 50 years of the Y in Rochester Area to contribute to: Healthy Living, Social Responsibility and Youth Development.

Journey to Growth Plan

• Journey to Growth Partnership: A strategy to address the challenges and opportunities necessary to grow the Rochester region's economy. Create a regional brand and communications platform Create Leadership Teams to oversee development of the Rochester Area's target business sectors Formalize a best-practice startup acceleration program at the May Clinic Business Accelerator Develop a comprehensive graduate-retention program Identify, enhance and promote capital-formation resources Conduct a regional workforce gap Form a coalition to create a regional talent retention and attraction campaign Pursue regional transit service for high-volume weekday commuting periods etc ...

Legacy Arts and Cultural Heritage

• Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC): Preserve and honor the cultural heritage of Minnesota, provide education and student outreach on cultural diversity, empower communities to build their identify and culture

Minnesota Compass

• Wilder Research: Minnesota Compass is a social indicators project that measures progress in our state and its communities. Led by Wilder Research, Minnesota Compass provides nonpartisan, credible information and tracks trends in topic areas such as education, economy, workforce, health, housing, and a host of others. Data and analysis on www.mncompass.org gives everyone in our state – policymakers, business and community leaders, and concerned individuals who live and work here – a common foundation to identify, understand, and act on issues that affect our communities.

Next Gen Community Information Sharing System (CISS)

• Hack-a-thon: Help identifying requirements and architectural implementations for the open-source version of the CISS system.

RISE: Rochester In Support of Everyone

• Diversity Council: The Diversity Council conducted the RISE project in 2000, interviewing representatives from Rochester's largest ethnic groups to learn about their experiences and the obstacles they face in our community. Based on the results of the focus groups and additional research, the Diversity Council developed an overview of Rochester's largest minority groups: their history, their culture, the assets they bring to our community, and the challenges they face when they arrive.

RPS Student and Family Engagement (SAFE) Program

• Rochester Public Schools: The RPS SAFE (Student and Family Engagement) Program is a college and career readiness program that meets the social-emotional and academic needs of Hispanic, African Heritage, and other students of color with risk factors. This program supports successful transitions to high school and post-secondary education through empowering middle school and high school youth to develop college, STEM/CTE (career and technical education), social-emotional, and life skills as they work on their evolving career roadmaps.

Race Exhibit in SE MN

• Diversity Council, Rochester Public Library, Luther College: Race Exhibit becoming a travelling show at SE MN to spark awareness and conversations about race.

Social Justice Coalition

• Diversity Council: Explore to build a coalition of organizations with shared intention to advance the rights of all individuals in the region, convening around the desire to build awareness and collaboration,improve responsiveness, and help one another thrive.

Spark!

• Diversity Council: The Spark! workshops are a series of 13 lessons that build respect for human difference among K-12 students. Spark! is a partnership between the school district and the community. In our innovative model, trained community members representing the diversity of our community present workshops for each grade level at every school once a year. As students progress through their education, they begin with basic concepts such as 'same & different' and move to challenging discussions of discrimination and respect in areas such as disability, race, body size, social class, gender and sexual orientation, and religion.

The Diversity Business Partnership Initiative

• TBD: Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) (Mankato and Rochester), Latino Economic Development Council (LEDC); African Development Center (ADC) Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF). Dollars Available: $190,000 Total or $95,000 per year (July 1, 2015 – June 30, 2016; July 1, 2015 – June 1:1 Match Required (Believe In‐Kind can count) Program: A 2‐year, 3 component pilot partnership program designed to coach and teach both business resources to support the start and expansion of minority owned companies and provide transformational leadership to influence community and work place engagement. Client profile: A business which is at least 51% owned, operated and controlled on a daily basis by one or more of...(name). According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, minorities own more than 4.1 million firms and account for nearly $700 billion in revenues.

The Landscape of My Familiar: A documentary photography project

• Mieke Strand Photography: Within this landscape, I am documenting the old and new. The project is a record of this time of change, and my contribution toward weaving the stories of new Minnesotans into our welcoming but wary culture. I am making photographs of Minnesotans in small towns across the state, which will be paired with my subjects’ stories and personal histories. The photographs include the Americans of European ancestry I grew up with and immigrants from the Somali, Mexican and the Hmong diasporas, among others.TBD

Travelling While Black: The Green Book Project

• History Center of Olmsted County: The project is planned for Black History Month (February) 2019. It will utilize seven components to illustrate, educate, and allow visitors to vicariously experience discrimination and racism. The planned components are: 1) two full-size diorama displays, 2) a video history of travel-related discrimination experienced by Rochester residents, 3) an exhibit of Floyd Cooper’s art, 4) a personal appearance by Floyd Cooper, 5) commercially-produced videos relating to The Green Book, 6) interactive digital displays, and 7) the history of racism in Rochester, Minnesota.

We are More

• Journey to Growth Diversity and Inclusion Committee: A visual display of the economic and human diversity that comprises the 8 county J2G region. Theme: "We are More" Develop a showcase collage of pictures from communities and cultures highlighting regional locations and sources. Use the model similar to the "Race Exhibit"

Women in Leadership & Development (WILD)

• Rochester-area Chamber of Commerce: Women in Leadership & Development believe it is incredibly important to be aware of what we have to offer and gain together as women. Through our WILD programming, we provide an opportunity to grow, learn, and support one another. Women's Round Table Atypical Tea Mentorship For more information about Women in Leadership & Development events, please contact Workforce Development and Education Director, Julie Brock or call (507) 424-5687.

diVerse Spoken Poetry and Spoken Word

• Diversity Council: Spoken words in poetry.