Cultural Diversity & Inclusiveness

Introduction

Creating an inclusive community organization that welcomes and builds upon the gifts of all.

Overview

This section includes cultural diversity training resources, as well as a wide variety of culturally-specific resource organizations and immigrant associations.

Page Index

  • Key Issues
  • Common Problems and Solutions
  • Successful Strategies
  • Annotated Web Resources
  • Topic Library
  • Sub-Topics and Vendors


    • Key Issues Related to this Topic

  • Cultural and ethnic diversity is an asset valued by neighborhood residents. With much of Minnesota looking and sounding homogeneous, many residents of Minneapolis and St. Paul neighborhoods value the opportunity of living with people of diverse ethnicities, cultures and languages.

  • Welcoming the gifts and talents of all is the key to a strong block and neighborhood. Residents who develop relationships of trust among their diverse neighbors have a greater sense of safety and their blocks become safer as well (according to a Harvard study of 400 block clubs in Chicago.)

  • Residents of color often have strong neighborhood networks. Long-term neighborhood residents of color, as well as more recent arrivals from other cities or countries, often develop strong informal support networks in their neighborhoods and city-wide through their extended families, churches, and immigrant associations. Neighborhood staff and volunteers can link up with these informal and formal networks to help residents of color find out about the resources, activities and opportunities available to them through their neighborhood association. If a cultural community lacks an accessible gathering place in your neighborhood, help them to find one.

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    Common Problems and Solutions

  • Neighborhood associations and district councils often struggle to involve residents of color. For many neighborhood groups, their volunteer base often is found among home-owners, who have a long-term financial stake in the neighborhood. Renters (of all backgrounds) often do not identity themselves as much with their geographic neighborhood. While more and more families of color are buying homes in Minneapolis and St. Paul, many families of color find it difficult to buy a home because of credit barriers, and other issues. Because more families of color rent, rather than own their home, they often feel less of a long-term tie to their neighborhood and are less likely to get involved with their neighborhood association or district council. However, even when people of color become home owners, many of the barriers listed below make it less likely that they will become active with their local neighborhood association.

  • Language and cultural differences can pose barriers to participation. New immigrants who do not speak English as a primary language and who have customs different than the mainstream, experience additional barriers to getting involved with their neighborhood group.

  • Differences in the internal authority structures of ethnic communities can also cause barriers to participation. Members of different ethnic groups have very different ways of relating to authority. Not everyone participates in the way European Americans do. The assumptions of how decisions are made and how communication happens are very different for each ethnic community. The culturally-specific resource organizations listed in the MCN’s Resource Directory can provide your neighborhood group with valuable guidance on how to best engage with the organizational structures of the ethnic groups that live in your neighborhood.

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    Successful Strategies

  • To find new members, go to them. Everyone feels more comfortable on his or her own home turf. Neighborhood volunteers can contact residents of color in places they feel comfortable in- over back fences, and front steps in public schools & parks, at churches, temples, mosques and cultural associations. Ask the families about their concerns and hopes for the neighborhood to spark a conversation.

  • Identify and support the “bridge builders” in your neighborhood. Develop a list of bilingual residents who are available to translate at neighborhood meetings or for one-on-one translation with residents. Make use of the students of color and bi-lingual students attending the schools and/or colleges in your area to help with your outreach. Encourage the residents of color involved with your neighborhood to apply to participate in the leadership development programs available locally. Make use of the training, outreach and organizing resources of the organizations listed in the MCN’s Resource Guide. Often times culturally-specific service providers and self-help groups are willing to do joint outreach projects and programs with local neighborhood associations, and can become a co-applicant in a grant request with your organization.

  • Share your success stories of inclusive organizing with others. During 2002 the Minneapolis Center for Neighborhoods conducted interviews with Twin Cities neighborhood groups to find out the methods and strategies they have found successful to include neighborhood residents of all ethnicities in their civic improvement efforts. Please call the Center at 612-339-3480 to find out how to offer your ideas to Doroth Mayer, the consultant who is coordinating the “Exploring Inclusive Organizing” project.

  • Work for changes in wider systems to ensure justice for all.

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    Annotated WebLinks

  • Resources for new immigrant communities
    International Institute of Minnesota   09/17/01
    Clearinghouse organization for new Americans

  • Resources on antiracism and inclusion
    National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation   06/14/04
    National resources for training and information

  • Research publications with a local focus
    Urban Coalition   06/14/04

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    Library

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    Vendors by Sub-Topic

    African American  
        African American Adoption and Permanency Planning Agency
        African American Family Services
        BIHA Women in Action
        BIHA Women in Action
        Black Ministerial Alliance
        Black Pages of Minnesota
        Black Storytellers Alliance
        Bradley & Associates
        Coalition of Black Churches/ African American Leadership Summit
        Collaborative Movement for Improvement
        Communities of Color Institute
        Council on Black Minnesotans
        Exodus Community Development Company
        Freeport West
        Frogtown Family Center
        Hawthorne Ministerial Alliance
        Inner City Youth League
        Institute for Minority Development
        Institute On Race and Poverty
        INTER RACE
        Kwanzaa Community Fellowship Church
        Macedonia Baptist Church
        Martin Luther King / Haley Q Brown Center
        Minneapolis Urban League/ Administration
        Minneapolis Urban League/ Adult & Family Services
        Minnesota Council of Nonprofits
        Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
        Mt Olivet Baptist Church
        NAACP Minneapolis
        NAACP St. Paul
        National Association of Minority Contractors
        North Community YMCA
        Park Ave. Methodist Church/ Cornerstone Ministries
        Sabathani Community Center
        St. Paul Urban League
        Stairstep Initiative
        The City, Inc.
        The Stair Step Initiative
        The Urban Coalition
        Turning Point
        Ujima Creations
        United Citizens Commission
        Urban League (St. Paul)
        Walker West Music Academy


    African Immigrant  
        African American Family Services
        Confederation of Somali Community in MN
        Council on Black Minnesotans
        Ethiopians in Minnesota
        Hope Community, Inc.
        Horn of Africa
        PEACE (Parents of East African Common Efforts)
        Somali Community of Minnesota
        Somalia Communities of America
        Somalia International Relief Organization
        Sudanese-American Community Development


    American Indian  
        Ain Dah Yung (Our Home) Shelter
        American Indian Family Center
        American Indian Housing Corporation (AIHC)
        American Indian Policy Center
        American Indian Services, Inc.
        Center School, Inc.
        Division of Indian Work -Minneapolis Council of Churches
        Full Circle Institute
        Indian Affairs Council
        Juel Fairbanks Chemical Dependency Services
        Little Earth of United Tribes
        Migizi Communication Inc.
        Minneapolis American Indian Center
        Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center
        St. Paul American Indians in Unity
        St. Paul American Indians in Unity
        The Center School
        The Circle
        The City, Inc.
        Upper Midwest American Indian Center


    Asian/ Pacific Islander  
        Asian American Press
        Asian American Renaissance
        Asian Pages
        Asian Women United of Minnesota
        Association for the Advancement of Hmong Women in MN
        Batica and Associates
        BIHA Women in Action
        Center for Asian and Pacific Islanders
        Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans
        Glenwood-Lyndale Community Center
        Hmong American Mutual Assistance Association
        Hmong American Partnership
        Hmong Cultural Center
        Hmong Minnesota Pacific Association
        Lao Family Community of Minnesota
        Lao Parents and Teachers Association
        Lao Youth Society of Minnesota
        Southeast Asian Community Council
        Southeast Asian Refugee Community Home (SEARCH)
        Tibetan American Foundation of MN
        United Cambodian Association of Minnesota
        Vietnamese American Association
        Women's Association of Hmong and Lao


    Clearinghouse Organizations / Leadership development support programs  
        ACORN
        Communities of Color Institute
        Community Leader Development Program- Family & Children's Service
        Community Stabilization Project
        Institute On Race and Poverty
        INTER RACE
        International Institute of Minnesota
        ISAIAH
        Minneapolis Urban League/ Administration
        Organizing Apprenticeship Project
        The Future Now
        The Voice in Phillips
        Wilder Foundation- Services to Organizations


    Diversity Training  
        Minneapolis Neighborhood Revitalization Program
        Pillsbury Neighborhood Services- Theater
        The Future Now
        The Midwest Academy
        Ujima Creations
        Wilder Foundation- Services to Organizations


    ESL/ ELL Centers  
        Center for Asian and Pacific Islanders
        Centro Cultural Chicano
        Hmong American Mutual Assistance Association
        Hmong American Partnership
        Hmong Cultural Center
        Hmong Minnesota Pacific Association
        Immigrant Woman's Advocacy Project
        Minneapolis Public Schools- ELL
        PEACE (Parents of East African Common Efforts)
        United Cambodian Association of Minnesota


    Latino/ Chicano  
        BIHA Women in Action
        Casa de Esperanza
        Centro Cultural Chicano
        Centro de Familias Latinas
        Centro Legal Inc.
        Chicano Latino Affairs Council
        Chicanos/Latinos Unidos en Servicio- CLUES
        CreArte- Chicano Latino Art Center
        HACER- Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment through Research
        Hispanos en Minnesota
        Incarnation House
        ISAIAH
        La Familia Guidance Center
        La Opportunidad, Inc.
        Lyndale Neighborhood Association- Mujeres Latinas en Accion
        Resource Center of the Americas


    Rusian/ Eastern European  
        Jewish Community Action
        Jewish Family Service of St. Paul
        Jewish Family Services
        Jewish Vocational Service


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