Kris Nelson Community-Based Research Program Fall 2022 Semester Projects

Organization: MN8

Currently there is a lack of formalized knowledge about Khmer Americans in Minnesota despite the fact that Hampton, Minnesota is home to the largest Cambodian Buddhist temple in the world outside of Cambodia. 

From fall 2021 to spring 2022, we worked with members of Wilder Research’s Pro Bono Research Program to conduct the first-of-its-kind Community Needs Assessment of the Cambodian American community in Minnesota. We co-created a mixed-methods project that included a statewide analysis of available data on Cambodian Americans in Minnesota and up to 20 interviews with Cambodian Americans about immigration, food insecurity, health insurance, and language abilities. We seek to build on the quantitative research initiated at Wilder Research because the Cambodian Minnesotan profile compiled was a state-level data snapshot.

Organization: Midwest Skateboarding Alliance

All public parks offer benefits of greenspace, recreation, socializing, and safety. Skateparks accomplish this in particular for youth. Modern, state-of-the art skateparks are a tremendous draw for youth and skateboarders of all ages, providing mental, physical and social benefits and a point of pride for the neighborhood. Yet they are too often placed within suburban, predominantly white, high-income areas already privileged with similar amenities. The goal of this project is to address this bias and inherent inequities by capturing and centering the needs and concerns of BIPOC, homeless, underserved or marginalized youth living in or frequenting one of either two communities that are currently working with MSA on the design, development, and positive activation of a skatepark.

This project is crucial for solidifying the primacy of BIPOC and underserved youth among all potential users of the skateparks that MSA is currently advancing. This project will ensure that city and park decision-makers do not minimize the needs and concerns of the youth and will help to underscore the long list of benefits to these young people, their families and their community from a state-of-the-art skatepark in their neighborhood.

Organization: Renewing the Countryside

Farmland access is identified as the biggest challenge for emerging farmers—particularly Black and Brown farmers—in developing viable businesses and growing capacity for community resilience. While finding affordable land to lease or purchase is part of the challenge, an additional challenge is understanding the policies, codes and ordinances that regulate what can be done at county, city and township levels. Through our work and that of our partners working on farmland access, we regularly see emerging farmers either get stuck because of regulations that impact their farm or see them making decisions that could have expensive repercussions because they do not know of or do not understand the local regulations. Examples include required setbacks from property lines, disposal of gray water from washing vegetables, and building permits for farm structures. By identifying these policies and regulations that impact emerging farmers, researching solutions and guidelines, and making this information available to farmers and to local governments, we can help emerging farmers successfully navigate these regulations, and identify patterns that will inform us of what needs to be done—and who needs to be engaged—to advance greater farmland access to emerging farmers.

Organization: Twin Cities Community Agricultural Land Trust

Despite the accrual of conservation benefits from long-term urban agriculture and farmers’ commitment to conservation, and the many resources dedicated to conservation in Minnesota, many Minnesota urban growers are pushed into environmentally wasteful practices as a result of insecure land tenure and lack of resources. The bulk of farm production in the Twin Cities region occurs on land rented year to year, while urban agriculture policy is complex and often deems urban food cultivation an interim land use, disincentivizing economic investment in conservation. 

Many metro and state organizations and agencies have resources or land that could more easily be accessed by community farmers and gardeners. Building on a 2022 policy review conducted by TCALT for Ramsey County that identified a substantial list of resource holders, this project assembles easier resource/land access methods. This CURA assistantship will follow up with identified agencies and organizations to workshop application processes and pilot support projects.