On Dec. 11, 2019, the Council for Black Male Success and the Cultural Wellness Center held a Manhood Rites of Passage ceremony at the Minnesota Historical Society. The men, who ranged from 11 to 27 years old, completed an 11-week cultural self-study curriculum designed by the Cultural Wellness Center. The curriculum and the Rites of...
Serial entrepreneur and civil rights advocate Anthony Brutus Cassius knew the dreamers of his day needed a place to gather and plan, create and connect. Cassius first found that space at Foster’s Sweet Shop, where he and other prominent black Minneapolitans met monthly and strategized for civil rights in the 1930s. Among friends and fellow...
Seeing the Past But Not Captured by It: The Need for Cultural Healing This Summit will feature important presentations that change the perpetuated narratives around race and mental health to transform how the recognition, acknowledgement, and appreciation of cultural differences influences mental health care provision among people of African descent. Recognizing local knowledge and utilizing...
Our first Cultural Conclave on February 19, 2019 featured the learning and accomplishments of the Cultural Wellness Center’s fellows. It also marked an opportunity for new scholars to become engaged with us through a Year of Learning. This individualized leadership development process is framed around Cultural Self-Study and the Moving from Race to Culture curriculum but...
Register Now! What will happen at the Conclave? The Cultural Wellness Center has hosted fellows and scholars over our 23-year history. This event was developed to formally honor the work of these students, recognize their contributions, and provide a forum for them to share with potential future scholars the ways in which Cultural Self-Study has deepened,...
Cultural Wellness Center staff provide parent engagement, cultural education (such as African Drum and Dance, Rites of Passage, and Sports Science), educational navigation, and Elder coaching in four schools in the St. Paul Promise Neighborhood. In late 2017, school staff talked to our navigator about a second grader at Benjamin E. Mays Elementary who had been suspended...
The second cohort of Minnesota Change Network leaders began their year of learning with a two day retreat in late October. These twenty-one leaders share courage and a desire to transform their work, organizations, and community. Meet the members of Cohort 2!
Anthony Taylor talks about Cultural Wellness Center’s Slow Roll project, along with his many other health promotion efforts, and answers the question, “Why is Health So Difficult” in this compelling article by Kirk Waltenbaugh.
With support from Otto Bremer Trust, the Cultural Wellness Center is expanding and enhancing our model for adult basic education with the introduction of cultural-based learning modules and elder/instructor co-teaching structures. This expansion aligns with our overarching goal of establishing guidelines and a certification process for African-Centered Pedagogy and a Center for Cultural Learning.
