APA MN Recognizes Carver County Partnership Project with Outstanding Student Project Award
Community Leaders Launch “Week of Action for Housing Rights” in the Brooklyns
On October 23, community leaders launched a Week of Action to advocate for Housing Rights in the cities of Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center. The upcoming local elections, in which people of color in the two cities are set to make historic gains in local representation, present a great opportunity to push these issues to the top of policy priorities. Among other things, organizers used the week of action to highlight the lack of access to quality affordable housing.
ANPI grantee makes an affordable and mobile artist residence
Artist Tia-Simone Gardner’s tiny house/studio space is officially under construction. Gardner is a 2016 Artist Neighborhood Partnership Initiative (ANPI) grantee who realized that the affordability and mobility challenges she faced finding a live/work space as a young artist were not unique. The artist loft spaces (combining spaces for living and working) that have popped up around the Twin Cities are slightly more affordable than what you find on the open market, but they are often available only for rent and can still be out of reach for unestablished artists.
Student Profile of Lawrence Karongo
Call for Letters of Intent to apply for 2017-2018 RCP partnership
The Resilient Communities Project (RCP) at the University of Minnesota (U of MN) is now accepting letters of intent from cities and counties that wish to apply to be RCP’s community partner for the 2017–2018 academic year (July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018). The selection process is competitive, and the partner community must support the effort through dedicated staff time and a local financial contribution. Download complete application instructions here.
Job Opening: CURA Community Program Manager
2016-2017 Faculty Interactive Research Program Awards
Alisha Volante and her Research on the Rondo Neighborhood & African American History in St. Paul
Alisha Volante wasn’t always passionate about the past. She grew up learning Black history by reading Angela Davis, W.E.B. Dubois, and Malcolm X. But the monotony of high school history class disenchanted her about the relevance of history to her life and the lives of those around her. But something changed when she entered college.
Staff and Program Updates, April 2016
In October of 2015 the Hennepin-University Partnership (HUP) hosted a mixer event at the University of Minnesota’s Weisman Art Museum that engaged about 60 University staff and faculty and Hennepin County staff around issues of mutual interest. This event was designed to encourage University faculty and County staff to apply for a Hennepin-University Collaborative Grant.
Hennepin-University Partnership Receives W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award
By Colin Calvert
The Hennepin-University Partnership was one of four university programs to receive the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award this year.
The Minnesota Prison Doula Project: Supporting Incarcerated Pregnant and Parenting Women
The Center for Urban and Regional Affairs is excited to announce that the Minnesota Prison Doula Project is now housed at CURA’s offices. The Minnesota Prison Doula Project is a perfect fit for CURA because of the hands-on programmatic work by the Program Director Erica Gerrity and Program Coordinator Rae Baker combined with a strong research component added by Dr. Rebecca Shlafer. Learn more about the history and work of the Minnesota Prison Doula Project below.
Disrupting Poverty with Mentoring Young Adults
by Monique Linder
The name “Disrupting Poverty” was selected about midway through the impact study that I conducted for Mentoring Young Adults (MYA), a St. Paul–based organization that provides crisis management for vulnerable adults. I was in the midst of a critical discovery period of measuring MYA’s case data and interviewing key funders, service providers, and clients. With all of MYA’s impactful work, the title “Disrupting Poverty” just made sense.
Raising the Standard of Living for Workers While Raising the Standard of Care for Clients
Neighborhoods Now!: Plotting a Course for change
In 2014, CURA staff met with six community-based organizations to better understand their priority issues. Among these issues, we identified four overarching topics: collaborations; people and places; systems change; and organizations. As part of CURA’s mission to support place-based organizations to successfully take on local issues by developing the skills of community organizers and leaders, we developed an extensive training program called Neighborhoods Now!
Nelson Program Annual Report Highlights Four Semesters of Community-Based Research
Summer 2016 Community Based Research Request for Proposals
2016-2017 Faculty Interactive Research Program Call for Proposals
The Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) invites proposals for our Faculty Interactive Research Program. The purpose of the program is to encourage University faculty members to carry out research projects that involve a significant public policy issue for the state or its communities, and that include active engagement with groups, agencies, or organizations in Minnesota involved with the issue.
MESI Evaluation Training Scholarships from CURA
Do you ever need to show your impact? Do you need to build your organizational capacity to evaluate your work?
Graduate Research Assistantships Currently Available
Last Updated: 1/14/2016
Community organizations receive the support of a student research assistant (undergraduate or graduate) to work on a project defined and directed by the community organization. Student research assistants are supported by the community supervisor, CURA Program program staff, and—if the student wishes—faculty mentors. Click on the assistantship posting link if you're interested in learning more about the opportunity.
Neighborhoods Now! celebrates the conclusion of Neighborhood Issues Organizing
