ReCAST Updates

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April 5, 2019

Advisory Team Updates

Apply to be a part of the ReCAST Minneapolis Advisory Team

The ReCAST Minneapolis Advisory Team is comprised of a group of individuals representing organizations, City of Minneapolis staff, government agencies, and other stakeholders to define, implement, and evaluate ReCAST’s work. In the first year of the Advisory Team, members were instrumental in helping ReCAST complete the Community Needs and Resource Assessment, develop the strategic plan, and implement one of the first buckets of work called the Capacity Building Institute. In the second year, the Advisory Team has helped move other bodies of the work forward and has been a critical thought partner in how it moves forward.

As we enter the third year of the grant, we are looking for community residents to serve on the ReCAST Community Advisory Team from February 2019 – September 2019.

This application is due by Tuesday, April 9 to ReCAST Minneapolis.

Advisory Team Application

Next Advisory Team Meeting

The next advisory team meeting will be held on April 23, from 5:30-7 p.m. at North Regional Library (1315 Lowry Ave N).


Year 2 Annual Reports Have Arrived!

The ReCAST Team submitted the annual report of the second year of the program to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA) recently. The report has been printed and is ready for distribution in community. If you would like to receive a copy of this annual report, please email ReCASTMinneapolisInfo@minneapolismn.gov to request a copy. 


Healing and Training

Capacity Building Institute

Our new slate of trainers for the Capacity Building Institute: Voices for Effective Change, Abdi Ali, Healing Light Illuminated, People Serving People, and Melissa Olson. Not pictured: Simmons Consulting, Kente Circle, and Minnesota Peacebuilders Institute. Scheduled trainings are listed below with information on registration. Other dates will be announced soon!

  • 11th Annual Community Empowerment Through Black Men Healing Conference
    Samuel Simmons Consulting
    June 20 & 21, time to be announced
    Metropolitan State University
    More information & registration

Oral History Project

Working with 4000 More Creative, we will capture the raw audio stories of 90 elders who have lived in the Penn/Plymouth area over the last several decades. 4000 More Creative has contracted with several community leaders and youth to help them with this story-making.  

In this phase, we have partnered with community organizations to host and convene space for elders to tell their stories. As the dates for each of the partner sites events are confirmed, we will post them here:   

  • Liberty Community Church: Saturday, April 27, 9 a.m.-noon (3700 Bryant Ave N)
  • Northside Residents Redevelopment Council: Saturday, April 27, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (2001 Plymouth Ave N)

We currently have 42 stories and will be collecting the remaining 48 through the spring. Are you one of the 48? Find out how to participate here.   


Opportunities for Community Involvement

Racial Equity Community Advisory Committee Open Positions

Applicants will advise the Racial Equity Steering Committee on the creation and implementation of the Racial Equity Action Plan, and provide an annual evaluation report to the community on the City's progress addressing racial inequities and closing racial disparities.

  • Resolution 2017R-499: Establishing the Racial Equity Community Advisory Committee to serve as an advisory board to the City Council, Mayor and City Departments on City policies, practices, budget and other matters that it determines to be appropriate, related to addressing racism and racial inequities and promoting racial justice and racial equity in the City enterprise and in the City as a whole.

Find more information and the application

Blueprint Approved Institute Opens Application Period\

A Request for Applications (RFA) for the fifth cohort of the “Blueprint Approved Institute” (BPAI) is available online at the Minneapolis Health Department’s grants website starting today, March 25, 2019.   BPAI helps a select number of agencies to build capacity through monthly community trainings on issues relevant to youth violence prevention and general organizational capacity.

As part of BPAI, participating agencies will receive $3,000 to support their participation in the training sessions as well as a $3,000 micro-award to implement a youth-led, violence prevention project, for a total award amount of $6,000. Selected agencies will be eligible to send up to three individuals to participate in the cohort.

The completed Blueprint Approved Institute applications are due no later April 12, 2019 at 5:00 P.M., via email health@minneapolismn.gov..  Subject Line: Blueprint Approved Institute RFA.

Paper and mailed applications will not be accepted; please do not mail or drop them off to the City of Minneapolis Health Department. They will not be accepted.


Resources and Events

Resmaa Menakem's 5-Day Free E-Course on Racialized Trauma

Research in Action and Innovation: Building Capacity with Black Women

The Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) and the Black Women's Wealth Alliance (BWWA) is proud to announce a new and innovative partnership to help strengthen housing stability among Black women. CURA and BWWA will work in partnership with Black women who have experienced or are experiencing housing instability over 12 months.   This pilot program under the guidance of Dr. Brittany Lewis, aims to promote positive economic, social and health outcomes for women and children in their care by strengthening the capacity of Black female caregivers through empowerment training and wealth building skills, in partnership with the BWWA.  

Program components include:

  1. Educational training and access to healing and financial services that each participant needs to resume conscious control over their own housing stability and,
  2. Technical skills to co-produce research-informed solutions that will not only help individual participants, but transform the knowledge gained from the program into strategic action around housing instability in an effort to stabilize themselves and to eliminate future housing disparities within the larger community.

Benefits of the program to participants:

  • A full-year program where each participant is paid for 8 hours of their time each month where they will evaluate, reassess, and invest in their housing needs while utilizing their experiences with housing instability to inform the group's action research agenda.
  • Each participant will complete a health, financial, and housing assessment that will help them create their own individualized plans of action with the help of one-on-one coaching with access to alternative healing services.
  • Each participant will learn about different housing models while connecting their own experiences with housing instability within the larger context of urban housing history and policy.
  • Each participant will execute an action research project that requires that they become the researchers and collect and analyze data to tell the story of housing instability that they believe is most important. They will then produce a report or a policy agenda that aims to change a policy or practice that is hindering housing equity for Black women and their families.

The Black Women’s Wealth Alliance is currently hiring two positions to support this work:

  1. Housing Coordinator
  2. Health & Wellness Coordinator

Applications are due on Friday, April 12th please click on the postings for more details and please share with your network.

If you are interested in being a resource or a sponsoring ally to this pilot program please reach out directly to Dr. Brittany Lewis at lewis965@umn.edu.

The Owning Up: Racism and Housing Exhibit has moved!

If you missed the exhibit at the Hennepin History Museum, its new home is in the Sabathani Community Center gallery space.

On May 2nd from 6:00 to 8:30 PM, The Sabathani Community is hosting an opening event for the exhibit in its new home and will also be raising funds for the center.\

The Sabathani Community Center provides essential social services to the southside area of Minneapolis including a food shelf, clothing closet, job training, and tax preparation services. All proceeds from this event will go towards supporting Sabathani in providing resources for the community.

Make sure to get your tickets and join us for a fun night of entertainment, performances, and a silent auction.

Owning Up: Racism and Housing in Minneapolis explores the history of racial housing discrimination in Minneapolis through the stories of three black families. The exhibit demonstrates the lasting effects of structural discrimination and aims to counter the enduring idea of Minneapolis as a model metropolis.

Grab your tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/owning-up-exhibit-opening-and-fundraiser-at-sabathani-tickets-58756810201

Facebook event and updates here: https://www.facebook.com/events/355378591733498/


About ReCAST Minneapolis

The Resilience in Communities After Stress & Trauma (ReCAST) Minneapolis Program is funded through a multi-year grant from the Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). ReCAST Minneapolis is intended to assist high-risk youth and families, and promote resilience and equity in communities that have recently faced civil unrest through the implementation of evidence-based violence prevention and community youth engagement programs, as well as linkages to trauma-informed behavioral health services. SAMHSA created the ReCAST Program to support communities that have lived through demonstrations of mass protest in response to police-involved shootings of unarmed African-American males. 

For more information, please email ReCASTMinneapolisInfo@minneapolismn.gov.

This update was developed [in part] under grant number 1H79SM063520-01 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The views, policies, and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of SAMHSA or HHS. 


For reasonable accommodations or alternative formats please contact ReCASTMinneapolisInfo@minneapolismn.gov or
by phone: 612-673-2958. People who are deaf or hard of hearing can use a relay service to call 311 at 612-673-3000. 

TTY users can call 612-673-2157 or 612-673-2626.

Para asistencia 612-673-2700, Yog xav tau kev pab, hu 612-673-2800, Hadii aad Caawimaad u baahantahay 612-673-3500.