Each year, University of Minnesota graduate and undergraduate students compete in the U-Spatial Mapping Prize, a contest that celebrates design, data, storytelling and cartography through the use of maps. Paulina Vergara Buitrago who is part of CURA's Kris Nelson Community Based Research Program won the U-Spatial Grand Prize for Best Overall Map for her StoryMap “Roots in the Land…”, which traces the history, challenges and present-day stories of Black farmers across the United States and in Minnesota.
The project highlights Minnesota’s Frog Tree Farm as a case study, a Black-owned farm connected to the nonprofit Friends of Frog Tree Farm and among the state’s oldest continuously operated Black-owned family farms. Through an ongoing partnership with Central RSDP the farm was connected to CURA.
Central RSDP staff provide project management, research design, and technical guidance. CURA graduate students research and develop content for a digital Geographic Information System (GIS) story map. Art in the map was made by Briauna Williams through the Creative Justice Program.
