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cwcmail@culturalwellnesscenter.org / Tel. 612-721-5745
Anthony Taylor speaks on Our Journey to Dreamland at La Rive Condominium
Culture as Cure — From Health Equity to Education, Government, and the Economy
From those early conversations in Powderhorn, the Cultural Wellness Center began to develop a model—a process—that moved far beyond healthcare. A model that listens, studies, co-creates, and transforms. It's not a program. It’s not a transaction. It’s a public health framework that restores human capacity to build community.
We applied this to education. We asked: What does it take for Black youth to thrive in school—not just avoid failure? The answer wasn’t just academic rigor—it was rites of passage, cultural literacy, connection to family and elders, and the power of intergenerational storytelling.
From elementary school in Saint Paul to youth internships in urban farming, food literacy, and financial literacy, we’ve built pathways for over 1,000 youth per year to move from cultural disconnection to confident leadership.
We applied the same model to civic engagement. In Ramsey County, through Kujichagulia 2.0, we helped reclaim public policy as a shared space—putting Black community voices at the center of decision-making. Today, departments across the county—from health to housing—routinely integrate community feedback into their budgets and policies. This isn’t outreach. It’s power-sharing.
And then we asked: What would it mean to apply this same model to economic mobility?
At the Community Health Hub, over 170 participants increased their annual income from an average of $13,000 to over $41,000. How? Through coaching, entrepreneurship, trades, IT, healthcare training—and above all, a sense of belonging. Human capital. Cultural capital. That’s the infrastructure we’re building.
From Bricks to Belonging — Real Estate as Public Health
Now, we arrive at Dreamland on 38th.
We didn’t stumble into real estate by accident. We got into it because we kept seeing the same pattern: amazing developments that looked beautiful on the outside… but left the neighborhood’s people behind.
Homeownership didn’t increase. Educational attainment didn’t budge. Health outcomes worsened. Eventually, families were priced out, gentrified, erased.
Anthony Taylor speaks on the Journey to Dreamland
Where It All Began — Asking a Different Question
In 1994, right here in South Minneapolis, a two-year initiative funded by Medica and Allina sought to understand a brutal disparity: Why were Black babies dying at such high rates?
The Cultural Wellness Center didn’t ask that question. Instead, we asked: Why did the babies who lived… thrive?
And that small but radical shift changed everything. We learned that Black babies born into environments of cultural connectedness—surrounded by doulas, elder guides, birthing teams, and breastfeeding support—did better. Thrived. Not just survived.
That insight formed the basis of the People’s Theory of Sickness: that individualism, loss of culture, and loss of community make people sick. When we restore cultural connection, we unleash wellness—mental, physical, spiritual, and economic.
Photos from Journey to Dreamland 8-7-2025 at La Rive Condominium. Stay tuned in - More photos to come.
So we asked again: What if real estate was designed not to displace people—but to grow them?
Dreamland is the answer to that question.
It is the first anchor in the 38th Street Thrive Cultural District. It’s not just a building. It’s a physical manifestation of our process:
- A cultural health center where doulas, reiki practitioners, and nontraditional healers of color can train, launch businesses, and serve their communities.
- A library and archive space where youth and elders alike can research their own history—and the histories of Somali, Hmong, Jewish, Muslim, and Latino neighbors.
- A community gathering place, where rites of passage, business coaching, wellness classes, and shared meals all live under one roof.
- And a business incubator, where food entrepreneurs use our commercial kitchen to grow sustainable, culturally rooted businesses.
With 5,000+ annual visitors, over 60 new jobs, and dozens of new or expanded Black-owned businesses, Dreamland will transform economic outcomes—but not at the cost of culture.
Photos from Journey to Dreamland 8-7-2025 at La Rive Condominium. Stay tuned in - More photos to come.
What Makes This Different — The Principles That Drive Us
Here’s how we define development:
**People are agents of their own well-being.**
We build capacity, not dependency. The “spark” is already inside the community—we help ignite it.
**Culture is a measurable, investable resource.**
Cultural wellness isn’t abstract. It produces results: healthier babies, higher incomes, increased homeownership, stronger families.
**Development must measure impact within a 1-mile radius.**
If those who live nearby aren’t better off after the project, then we have failed.
**2% of every project should be dedicated to building human capital.**
Not just buildings. People. Relationships. Skills. Capacity. That 2% ripples across generations.
**Ownership and belonging are essential outcomes.**
We want families to own where they live, not rent forever. When people have a stake in place, they fight for it. They grow with it.
This is public health real estate development—and it’s changing the region.
**Development must measure impact within a 1-mile radius.**
If those who live nearby aren’t better off after the project, then we have failed.
**2% of every project should be dedicated to building human capital.**
Not just buildings. People. Relationships. Skills. Capacity. That 2% ripples across generations.
**Ownership and belonging are essential outcomes.**
We want families to own where they live, not rent forever. When people have a stake in place, they fight for it. They grow with it.
This is public health real estate development—and it’s changing the region.
Former Senator Jeff Hayden expresses his support for Dreamland on 38th
A Call to Invest in the Future
The Cultural Wellness Center isn’t new. We’ve been quietly shaping the field for 30 years—training healthcare systems, coaching city and county leaders, mentoring philanthropists, and birthing a generation of community-rooted changemakers.
The leaders Minnesota needs are already here. Many were shaped by us.
Now is the moment to scale that work. Dreamland on 38th is shovel-ready. $7.2 million has already been committed. We need your investment to close the remaining $4.5 million gap and break ground in 2025.
This isn’t charity. It’s vision. It’s strategy. It’s how we build a future where every baby, every elder, every entrepreneur, every family is part of the healing and the wealth we deserve.
So I ask you to stand with us. Invest in Dreamland. Invest in community-rooted development. Invest in the region’s only public health real estate model designed by and for the people who’ve carried the heaviest burdens—and who now deserve the highest returns.
We’re not building a building.
We’re building a future. Together.
Senator Bobby Joe Champion expresses his support for Dreamland on 38th
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What Can I Do?
We Can Do This, Together!!!
Brother Repa Mekha describes where we are in our Journey to Dreamland and what we need to reach the finish line.
Dreamland Café Reimagined
This capativating documentary explores the history and importance of Dreamland on 38th. The conversation with Retired WCCO News Anchor, Don Shelby and the Cultural Wellness Center's Historian, Anthony Taylor takes you on tour of the history and racial policies and practices in South Minneapolis to the rise and restoration of Dreamland.
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