Students of color now the majority at Minneapolis Community and Technical College: Can the school handle this much diversity?

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Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC) has one of the most racially diverse college campuses in the state of Minnesota. Unlike students at many other colleges and universities across the state that tend to attract a more elite student body, faculty members describe their students as “eager to learn.”First in a series. Next week: MCTC’s efforts to increase its faculty of color.But does this unique student make-up — unlike that of any other demographic area in the state — pose an equally unique educational challenge? And is it a challenge that the MCTC staff, faculty and administration are prepared to meet?Until May 29 this year, Dr. SooJin Pate was a member of the faculty on the MCTC campus. She began her employment with MCTC just a year ago in January, but by the end of the semester she felt that there were racial issues that needed to be addressed.Pate joined a coalition of teachers who, describing themselves as “concerned faculty,” wrote an August 2011 letter to the president of the college detailing their concerns. Continue Reading

Women ADVANCE to take the lead: A primarily Black Urban Women’s Movement is officially launched

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On Saturday, January 21, approximately 200 people — overwhelmingly women, predominantly African American, with a sprinkling of men such as U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison — met for the Urban Women’s Movement kickoff. Leadership in the Twin Cities, even within communities of color, has been predominantly male. The Urban Women’s Movement seeks to change that dynamic.The movement came about after a discussion between the president of the movement, Lissa Jones, host of KMOJ’s “Urban Agenda,” and Trayshana Thomas, co-chair of the event and formerly of Rep. Keith Ellison’s office, about the fact that there are no local or state-level politicians who are addressing issues of urban communities. The mission of the Urban Women’s Movement is to begin engaging women in the political process well before entering a voting booth, “so that we are shaping the ballot rather than responding to it,” Jones said.The kickoff event honored the work of women making change. Mother Mary Johnson, founder of From Death to Life, which supports families who lose their children due to violence as well as the families whose children commit murder, was presented the honorary Shirley Chisholm Award. Continue Reading

Leadership Forum reviews its progress

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On Saturday, December 10 on the 50th floor of the IDS tower overlooking the Twin Cities skyline, approximately 300 African Americans met for the sixth African American Leadership Forum (AALF), welcomed by moderators Chanda Smith-Baker and Aasim Shabazz.Since the last full forum gathering in June, AALF work groups have been continuing to meet for about two hours per month to further the agenda on their four focus areas: health and wellness; economic development; family, culture and spirituality; and education. Saturday’s meeting was a rally for support, providing an update on what has been achieved since June.In June, the group presented a “blueprint for action,” identifying the problems that needed to be addressed. Since that time, the education work group, which has probably progressed more rapidly than other groups, released A Crisis in Our Community: Closing the Five Education Gaps detailing what causes the achievement gap.“How weary I am of mainstream organizations and leaders, and yes, even funders, who think they know better than we do about how to heal our community,” said Karen Kelley-Ariwoola, AALF member and vice president of charitable philanthropy at the Minneapolis Foundation.“I have the privilege of sitting around a lot of tables on the issues of education,” Kelly-Ariwoola continued, “and of late I have taken great joy in saying, “Did you know that there are five gaps? [That] changes the dynamic of the conversation; it adds texture and context in a way that I believe only we can do about our own community.”The five gaps are:Preparation Gap: African American students who enter kindergarten less prepared because of low-income, less-educated parents. It notes that cultural identity and health issues impact academic achievement.Belief Gap: focusing on how the expectations of those involved with a student’s success — including the student — impact the success of the student.Time Gap: recognizing that most African American students function below their grade level.Teaching Gap: placing the best teachers with students that have the greatest needs.Leadership Gap: highlighting the importance of school administrators and principals.This 30-page document, along with the Education Work Group Strategic Plan Overview, details the AALF response to closing the achievement gap based on input from Eric Mahmoud, executive director of Seed Academy/Harvest Preparatory, one of the few schools in the state where African American children are performing at grade level based on state test scores.What have they done?What the forum does is take people who are involved in organizations through employment or volunteer avenues and link them with initiatives to further the forum’s agenda. Continue Reading