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The next ReCAST Advisory Team meeting will be held on June 18 from 5:30-7 p.m. at Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES - 720 E Lake St.).
We will be giving general updates for all of our current projects and will send out a detailed agenda in June.
Our division is excited to welcome two Urban Scholars that will be assisting our team in various sectors of our work!
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Mariah Cannon is an undergraduate student pursuing an Associates Degree in Business Management at Minneapolis College. They will support the transgender equity program. They will largely focus on support for the Trans Equity Summit which takes place in September. They will also conduct a reporting project on the history of the transgender equity movement over the last 50 years, the impact of our Transgender Equity Council (TEC) and Transgender Issues Work Group (TIWG), as well as the LGBT movement overall since the Stonewall riots in New York on June 28, 1969.
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LaLinda Xiong is pursuing a Master’s in Public Policy at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. She will support the ReCAST Minneapolis program. She will focus on developing the annual report for Year 3 of the grant, working closely with our team and our program evaluation consultants around executing a plan to collect data from several of you to inform the report.
400 Year Commemoration RFQ Now Open
This year marks the 400 Year Commemoration of Africans being brought to Jamestown, VA by the British and forced into slavery. While Africans had been enslaved in the Americas prior to this date, this commemoration gives us an opportunity to reflect on the lasting impact of this event, as well as to honor the legacy of resistance and liberation of African American people.
To honor this commemoration, the City of Minneapolis’ Division of Race and Equity is coordinating an effort to bring City staff and residents together to remember the histories of African American people, recover the stories of oppression, resistance, and liberation, and reimagine a future that is not predicated on the harm of African American people.
ReCAST Minneapolis is now accepting applications from individuals, organizations, and other interested parties to partner with the City as a part of this commemoration. Specifically, we are looking to fund commemoration activities throughout August and September, with a special emphasis on the Week of Resilience August 19 – 23. We hold this week sacred because August 20, 1619 was the day that the British brought 20 people of African ascent to the United States and enslaved them. While we request for vendors to think about the activities that can exist throughout August and September, we especially invite applicants who can host an event during the Week of Resilience.
We are accepting applications through June 17th at 5 p.m.
More information
Second Round of Funding Now Available for ReCAST Connect Funds
We are pleased to announce the second round of ReCAST Connect funds made available to providers within the City of Minneapolis.
The formation of ReCAST Minneapolis Connect started with our ReCAST Advisory Team, comprised of community members and partner organizations, who identified the importance of pinpointing the assets in community and building up the capacity of community cultural healers as well as mental health providers and agencies.
As a mental and behavioral health clinician, faith-based/ non-faith based healer or community cultural healer, we encourage your placement on the Minneapolis ReCAST Connect provider map. Services offered in community should be aimed towards youth, their families, and residents seeking resources before and after a traumatic event or for long term care. The services provided should improve behavioral health outcomes, reduce trauma, and support community change for more racially equitable outcomes. This will need to be documented in the evaluation forms provided to you from ReCAST.
As a provider on the ReCAST Connect map you are eligible to apply for ReCAST Connect funds. These funds are specifically designed to increase the capacity of providers for clinical and nonclinical support services, transportation costs, childcare support group facilitation, and participant stipends for attendance for healing circles, venting sessions, mediation circles, drop in support group; trauma informed, yoga, sage burning rituals, Reiki and other forms of healing work focused on the body, individual therapy, family therapy, and community healing activities or events but not entertainment.
ReCAST will be accepting applications May 15th through June 5th 2019.
Application and more information
Funding it limited to providers located and/or offering services in the identified ReCAST neighborhoods: Folwell, Harrison, Hawthorne, Jordan, McKinley, Near North, Sumner Glenwood, Webber Camden, Willard Hay, Bryant, Cedar Riverside, Central, Corcoran, East Phillips, Elliot Park, Longfellow, Midtown Phillips, Phillips West, Powderhorn, Seward and Ventura Village.
This week on Tuesday, City staff and community subject matter experts completed the second full day of work on the Public Safety policy priority of the Strategic and Racial Equity Action Plan. The session was facilitated using the Metrics of Urgency/Vital Few (MOU) process, which is a problem solving approach designed to identify where the City should invest resources to reduce the impact of violence for Black, Indigenous, Immigrant, and POC communities in the next three years.
For all three priority areas (below), with mindful intent to incorporate what was heard in both MOU and community dialogue sessions, City staff will be refining and developing the following components for the final plan to be adopted in July 2019:
- Strategic need with rationale
- Key lagging indicators (what tells us this should be prioritized)
- Problem statement (focused statement supported with data)
- 3-year SMART goals
- “Metric of Urgency” – (most critical indicator/s to measure progress toward the goals)
- “Vital Few” projects - 1-3 projects that will be invested in to impact goals
- Workplan (City department actions at high-level)
About the Strategic and Racial Equity Action Plan
The goal of the Strategic & Racial Equity Action Plan is to prioritize and guide City work to eliminate racial disparities in three targeted policy areas:
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Housing: Reduce involuntary displacement in rental housing for Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and Immigrant communities that are disproportionately impacted.
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Economic Development: Increase the entry and sustainability of businesses in Minneapolis owned by people of color, so that the disparity between Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and Immigrant communities and white people is eliminated.
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Public Safety: Eliminate the disproportionate impact of violence in Black, Indigenous, People of Color communities.
You can find more information on the Strategic and Racial Equity Action Plan on the City’s website. Additionally, if you’d like to provide input on any of the three policy areas of the plan, you can submit comments using the Strategic & Racial Equity Action Plan Community Survey or contact Melanie Plucinski at melanie.plucinski@minneapolismn.gov.
Seeking Applicants: Building Capacity with Black Women Pilot Program
The Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) in partnership with the Black Women's Wealth Alliance (BWWA) seeks to work with 10 Black women over 12 months who are disproportionately affected by evictions and housing instability. This full year program aims to explore building a radical housing and wellness framework with strategies that meet the needs and ideas of African American women and their families.
Participants will be provided with support to strengthen their capacity to be housing and wellness leaders through a series of empowerment training, civic leadership education, cultural wellness services and wealth building skills that promote positive economic, social, and health outcomes for women and the children in their care. In addition, participants will gain technical skills to co-produce research-informed solutions that will not only help individual participants, but transform the knowledge that they have gained into strategic community action for the benefit of the larger community.
This pilot program, under the guidance of Dr. Brittany Lewis, will provide program participants with some of the following benefits:
- 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.
Applications are due on Friday, May 28. Application form.
Center for Applied Research Solutions is Hiring!
Senior Research Associate/Associate Project Director
The Senior Research Associate/Associate Project Director is a leadership position that contributes to and directs the delivery of technical assistance and training for a federally-funded project initiative serving the mental health workforce of the western states and Pacific territories. The goal of this initiative it to provide TTA to adopt and effectively implement evidence-based practices across the mental health continuum of care. This individual will be responsible for building and maintaining ongoing relationships with the national center, funders, and other partner organizations. Well-qualified candidates must have experience in clinical mental health settings. The position has responsibility for: contributing to the development of products and resources; ensuring completion of assigned deliverables; conducting presentations on behalf of the organization; and coordinating with the national center, Advisory Group members, and clinical mental health partners.
- Strong understanding of mental health landscape and evidence-based clinical mental health approaches and practices.
- Advanced understanding of processes, requirements, and expectations for initiatives focused on building the capacity of the mental health workforce to implement evidence-based services.
- Experience working with local, state, tribal, territorial and/or federal agencies regarding mental health initiative planning, implementation, evaluation, sustainability, and/or policy.
- Excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills, including advanced presentation, facilitation, and writing skills.
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively with diverse and multi-cultural stakeholders and communities.
- Demonstrated experience overseeing project teams, scopes of work, and budgeting.
Communications and Social Media Specialist
The Communication and Social Media Specialist is responsible for assisting with communication coordination across multiple agency projects, with a focus on creating communication and social marketing plans for widespread awareness and dissemination of CARS projects and activities. This individual will recommend multimedia platforms and coordinate social media activities across projects and will take the lead in developing a social media presence for the organization. This position will work in coordination with agency Project Directors and Managers to develop project specific communications, e.g., blog and project newsletters, and will oversee the digital media monitoring systems, including social media tracking and analytics reports, to inform digital communications strategy. This individual will assist with the development of project marketing materials including project and company newsletters, event announcements, and other general material with minimal direction.
- Advanced knowledge of social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, and other systems.
- Understanding of audience analytic tools; strong understanding of social media platforms and trends and a proven track record of scaling those platforms.
- Ability to provide counsel on digital communications strategies with confidence and ease.
Both applications are due June 3rd!
Reentry Matters Group
This group is for women who have faced incarceration or are just being released from incarceration and inspiring motivated women. The purpose of the group is to gather as a group of women together on a monthly basis to have fun, inspire one another, learn from each other, and also come alongside those who may be struggling with reentry of everyday society. We may not all have it all individually but together we can have it and/or find collective ways to get it.
We will share a meal together and if transportation is an issue please DO NOT let that hinder you from coming. We will find ways to get your needs met so that you can be present. You will also have an opportunity to be matched with a Mentor in which you both can decide how that relationship develops and grows. Let’s make this possible for everyone who wants to be involved.
- Saturday, May 25, 1-5 p.m.
1904 4th Ave S
For the month of May (25) 2019 we will be creating our own autobiography in a box, This will be a self-written reflection of accomplishments of our own lives and of oneself. We will share some good food together and be surrounded by other likeminded WOMEN to support each other as a community! For more information and to RSVP contact Sierra Williams 612-558-9453.
Join the MN Department of Health for a Monthly Mental Well-Being and Resilience Learning Community
Sleep is an essential ingredient for mental well-being. The CDC reports that 30 percent, or 40.6 million, U.S. adults are not getting enough sleep. Insufficient sleep is linked to depression and memory problems, as well as other medical conditions. Two Minnesota organizations are tackling this problem to promote mental well-being. Crow Wing Energized (CWE), Mental Fitness Group developed A Guide to Healthy Sleep to educate people about why sleep is so important and how to get better sleep for every age group. CWE develop this guide in clinics, hospitals and schools across the county, and they have shared the tool online for anyone to utilize! Carleton College created Sleep Coaches, a peer-to-peer strategy to promote healthy sleep patterns. Students are also getting tools to help them sleep better- such as light boxes and ear plugs. In the design and implementation process, Carleton leaders learned about cultural perspectives regarding sleep that perpetuate insufficient sleep; they have begun to address these deeper factors that influence many students’ sleep behaviors. https://sleepfacts.org/college-sleep-coaches/ Join this discussion to learn about how you could implement these innovate strategies to promote sleep in your community or organization.
The Illusion of Choice: Evictions & Profit in North Minneapolis
Please join the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) for "The Illusion of Choice: Evictions and Profit in North Minneapolis" CURA Evictions Project Report Release Event and The Moving Walls of Minneapolis Art Exhibit Opening.
- Thursday, May 30, 3:30-6:30 p.m.
University of Minnesota Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center (UROC)
2001 Plymouth Ave N
*All events are first come, first seated. The ticket is to gauge interest in the event. Please arrive early to ensure a spot.
Registration and more information
5th Annual African Mental Health Summit
Seeing the past but not captured by it: The Need for Cultural Healing
This Summit will feature important presentations that would change the perpetuated narratives around race and mental health to transform how the recognition, acknowledgement and appreciation of cultural differences influence mental health care provision among People of African Descent. Recognizing local knowledge and utilizing community-based assets make it possible to provide culturally-sensitive and appropriate mental health services that meets the demands of those who need cultural healing.
- Thursday, July 11, 8 a.m. & Friday, July 12, 4:45 p.m.
Minneapolis Institute of Art
2400 3rd Ave S
More information and registration
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.
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