Apply Today - Deadline September 12

Potential participants should fill out an application form. Because space is limited, we will contact you shortly after the application deadline to schedule an interview or confirm your enrollment.

Apply now for Neighborhoods Now!

Neighborhoods Now! Fall 2022 Program Calendar

The course is October 24-28 from 10am - 3:00pm each day conducted virtually. The course will…

The Kris Nelson Community-Based Research Program at the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) builds the power and capacity of community-based organizations to create social change through partnerships with the University of Minnesota. We match the research and technical needs of organizations with student research assistants to carry out community-defined and -guided projects. CURA works with organizations selected for the program to create shared understanding…

CURA's Neighborhood Organizing and Leadership program is looking for Black, Indigenous and People of Color to participate in a free training to support and assist them on their journey toward leadership. We are looking for Black, Indigenous and People of Color who want to create change and fight injustice in their community through neighborhood board membership.

The Board Representation Leadership Training for Black, Indigenous and People of Color will be Wednesday, May 11, 2022, 5:30pm - 8:30pm via Zoom virtual…

Passion Project is a film project to initiate dialogue and collective action around the creative labor industry in Northeast Minneapolis. Created by and for BIPOC cultural workers who have a connection to Northeast Minneapolis, the film will document local cultural workers’ lived experiences and individual creative practices, and provide new spaces for mutual aid, resource sharing, and education around collective organizing in arts industries.

Prisons Ain’t Peace is an abolitionist, youth-centered public narrative shaping project. It’s based on the premise that Minneapolis youth deserve communities that are capable of ethically serving young people—that is, without a reliance on imprisonment and carceral violence. Pushing back on the current tough on crime moment in Minneapolis, Prisons Ain’t Peace is a zine that makes a case for youth prison abolition using philosophical, historical, and discourse-based methods. 

The ancestral practice of the Ohunkankan (“Making relatives by telling the stories”) is an inclusive and time-honored way for Dakota people to renew our relationship with Ina Makoce (Mother Earth) and all our relations by gathering together for the seasonal community theatrical sharing of mythic and contemporary stories. Participants will build and showcase their growth and learning of Dakota language and dramatic performance skills in devised community Ohunkankan, a staged storytelling production featuring an all-ages cast of Dakota language learners and speakers, at the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary in St. Paul, a sacred site of great significance known to Dakota people as Wakan Tipi…

Last Friday, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter announced the formation of a 41-Member Rent Stabilization Stakeholder Group. The Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) has been selected to convene this group with CURA Director Edward Goetz and CURA Director of Community Based Research C Terrence Anderson acting as lead facilitators. The group will meet February through May to consider improvements and enhancements to rent stabilization in St. Paul. A final report will be completed by this summer. The rent stabilization ballot measure was approved by voters 53% to 47% in the election last November.

Apply Today - Deadline February 21

Potential participants should fill out an application form by the February 21 deadline by visiting: http://z.umn.edu/nnow. Because space is limited, we will contact you shortly after the application deadline to schedule an interview or confirm your enrollment.

Apply now for Neighborhoods Now!

Neighborhoods Now! Spring 2022 Program Calendar

The course is April…

Dr. Brittany Lewis, CURA’s senior research associate, has been named a 2021 Community-Engaged Scholar. Dr. Lewis directs CURA’s large-scale community-based action research agenda advancing interdisciplinary public scholarship in urban studies, African American studies, gender studies, and public policy while maintaining her role as a community activist and thought leader.

The President’s Community-Engaged Scholar systemwide award program recognizes up to ten scholars—faculty or professional academic or administrative employees (P&A)—each year for exemplary community-engaged scholarship in their respective field(s) of inquiry. From a competitive pool of Community-Engaged…

Hennepin County Board of Commissioners approved a contract with the Center of Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) to establish an Anti-Displacement Workgroup related to the design and construction of the METRO Blue Line Extension light rail. This action to invest in anti-displacement is intended to support corridor residents, businesses, and equitable development in the corridor.

Workgroup will comprise diverse perspectives

With community input, the project team designed an initial work plan, and local groups submitted proposals for the contract. A committee with corridor community and business…