United Way of Steele County
Report date
April 2020
What has been most instrumental to your progress?
Intentional Social Interaction: UWSC sought to bring community members together to build relationships across difference - race, class, and culture - through intentional social interaction using the Marnita's Table model. Over two years we hosted 5 unique gatherings which were attended by 415 community members. Of those, 248 (60%) were people of color, and 182 (44%) were youth under age 24. Attendees sate with people they didn't know and with people who didn't look like them. Exercises were conducted to move people around the room, let us learn from attendees, and to give them a chance to see each other through new eyes. Many 'aha' moments were experienced by attendees. One of our 'games' illustrated that many new Owatonnans such as our Somali born neighbors, have lived in our community for more than 20 years but we still call them 'new' or 'not from here'. We learned that most people want to be invited to events in-person rather than by email or a flyer. Around the table we experienced the joy, sorrow, and intimate understanding that comes from hearing each other's stories, spontaneously told in their own words.
Providing a robust and inclusive meal or feast at each meeting/event: Food brings people together and when dietary inclusivity is practiced it is profoundly welcoming. For us specifically through our Event Training from Marnita's Table we learned that Authentic Welcome can be expressed and understood by providing a multicultural feast, with offerings from vegan to carnivore, sourced from local cooks from minority cultures and planned with the outcome of being inclusive to all joiners. The feast is intentionally and thoughtfully laid out and decoratively presented in order to create the atmosphere of comfort and welcome. Clear and intentional signage allowed all attendees to understand the food being offered. This specific concept of welcome is not widely practiced by planners of nonprofit or community events nor well understood by those who do not have food allergies or sensitivities, or cultural or religious restrictions. This concept of intentionally caring for attendees through dietary inclusivity was a breakthrough for UWSC staff and key volunteers, if not for the community and project at large.
Community conversations on a targeted, important community topic: in the second year of our grant term there was a major racial incident which erupted at the high school after harmful social media posts. This received national media attention and highlighted the need for intensive cross-cultural community attention and work. UWSC convened a committee of parents, students, school administrators, religious leaders, commissioners, and concerned neighbors to envision an intervention to disrupt the racial discord still happening in our community. Three 'Better Together' community conversations were held and facilitated by Bukata Hayes of the Greater Mankato Diversity Network to discuss the racial divide and what it means to be in community here. These meetings gave community members the opportunity to be guided in a difficult conversation, hear each other, and 1) understand previously unstated racial tensions; 2) define the kind of community we want to be in together; and 3) make a plan to bring that unified vision to reality. Attendees stated in our evaluation feeling hopeful, engaged, connected, and finally, inspired. 235 people attended these meetings 20% people of color.
Key lessons learned
It is well known that food brings people together but the way you provide food can either be a invitation or a barrier. When planned intentionally to include everyone regardless of food issues and preferences food brings people together, makes them comfortable, and allows for relationship building between diverse people. For nonprofits planning events, working with partners and determining a budget usually means choosing the cheapest or easiest menu - like pizza or sandwiches. We learned it is relatively simple to intentionally provide for all dietary needs and to make sure everyone who goes through the food line knows exactly what is in (or not in) each of the items. Something simple like clear signage removes the worry that someone might inadvertently eat something they can't or shouldn't. When you eliminate the barrier of food concerns a door is open for trust and true engagement.
We learned that it is a mistake to believe that people want to be divided in our times. In our experience with our events, people crave talking things out and understanding each other. They want to find reasons to become a tribe together. In our evaluations of each meeting, people expressed great thanks to have this platform to meet each other across difference, to see the 'sameness' between us all , and to talk about how we make connections with each other. So many who had racial trauma expressed the appreciation for a platform to share the pain and frustration of that lived experience. Those who heard the stories from our community for the first time appreciated the trust and candor of the tellers, vowing to make things different in the future. Most attendees said they would come to another event and that they would tell someone else about the event and their experience.
Reflections on the community innovation process
In light of changing social environment, partners joining and departing, and the elusive nature of community change the most important part of the diagram is the circuitous, twisting line between Identifying a Need to Community Innovation. Accepting this path means being patient and trusting the process enough to not give up and to know that it is a natural and needed part of community change. It is necessary to stop periodically and assess energy, momentum, adversity, opportunity, new information, and community will. Each of these conditions are mutable with a tidal effect on change. You have to stop and reflect; stop and build - then continue. Perhaps the path will be the one you envisioned and perhaps you will see a new one emerge.
Progress toward an innovation
We are definitely closer now. We intimately understand that people crave connection and just need opportunities to make those connections. We know they will accept personally delivered invitation to a wide variety of events. We know that when we break bread together that we also break down barriers to communication and understanding. We know that when we intentionally plan to include people across many forms of diversity, we can be successful. The Marnita's Table model of engagement taught us so much more than authentic welcome and food. We learned that people of color, low income people and those with disabilities are tired of doing survey after survey doesn't change the condition of living in our community. This form of inquiry can be considered invasive or even predatory or discriminatory. The experiential form of research we learned and conducted gives attendees agency in participation and offers them the ability to network and build relationships across race, class, and culture.
What it will take to reach an innovation?
to make additional progress we would need to build a deeper network of human capacity. Ultimately we would employ and empower a staff person to continue to engage and teach, and manage momentum. We would engage, recruit, and inspire a network of volunteers to be embedded in the process. Our community needs a steward for this work - a person to watchguard multiple community processes for compliance with better equity practices. Great things have been started but without someone to attend council or commission meetings, community boards, and other decision making meetings to remind leaders of our cultural lessons our forward progress may halt or reverse. It takes a consistent champion to break community decision making habits to create an environment of authentic welcome, inclusion and equity.
What's next?
The organizing committee for our community conversations has indicated they would like to continue with social justice work. We will convene them, envision further engagement, and seek community financial and other support for implementation. Partners who trained in the Marnita's Table facilitation method are still in the community and would love to continue to lead CommUnity Tables. Once we get beyond our social distancing restrictions we will have a better understanding of what events and gatherings CAN happen to bring our community together and move forward again.
If you could do it all over again...
I would have advised we develop one or two more key volunteers or supporters to become intimately familiar with and committed to our processes and strategies, We left ourselves vulnerable to our inevitable attrition. We started with broader participation and philosophical 'buy in' at the beginning of the project but many key stakeholders in our community became invested in other distracting projects, like the passage of the new high school bonding bill and other community projects. They didn't rejoin our efforts until the racial flare-up happened with the high school students.