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Danielle Walchuk
Regional Development Planner
December 14th, 2016
Embracing Change
Strengthening Communities in Rural America
2021 NADO Annual Training Conference
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Alejandra Bejarano
Pat Branstad
Sue Harris

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South
Central
Minnesota
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Labor
trends
◦ Higher seasonality & turnover among
workers of color compared to other
workers.
◦ Underrepresented in these industries:
◦ Finance and Insurance
◦ Management of companies & enterprises
◦ Professional, scientific, & technical services
◦ Education
◦ Arts, entertainment, & recreation
◦ Public administration

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Labor
trends
◦ Labor market segments are like
“sandpits”
◦ Low-wage jobs offers less upward
mobility
◦ Race and gender mobility gaps
hold some workers back
◦ Traditional pathways from low to
high-wage work are expected to
disappear.

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Minnesota’s labor shortage
MINNESOTA’S LABOR SHORTAGE. RealTime Talent. October 2016, Erin Olson, https://www.realtimetalent.org/research-2/mnlaborshortage/

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Minnesota’s labor shortage
MINNESOTA’S LABOR SHORTAGE. RealTime Talent. October 2016, Erin Olson, https://www.realtimetalent.org/research-2/mnlaborshortage/

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Partners

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St. James
MN
○ Railroad town
○ 150 years old in 2020
○ Rural
○ Industry – Food processing
○ Settled by northern european
immigrants
○ Shift in demographics last 35-40
years - Mainly Latinx

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Demographics
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○ City population – 4,750
○ Stable population due to
immigration
○ Nearly 38% non-white
○ School 51% non-white
○ Free and reduced lunch 56%

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Latinx
Community
White
Community
Late 90s: The Spirit of St. James
Unity / Unidad
Mid 2000s: Horizons – Poverty Reduction
Leadership Plenty, Study Circles
Latinx Leadership:
Convivencia Hispana
2016 Presidential Election
Next Steps for Action Joint
Meeting
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Past Community Efforts to Address Changing Demographics
Region 9
Forum on Race
Spring 2017
S
C
H
O
O
L

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IT’S TIME TO TALK: FORUM ON RACE
Region Nine Development Commission
Greater Mankato Diversity Council and the YWCA

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“This process can feel
awkward and somewhat
painful. It might be not the
conversation people want to
have. It’s not going to be the
answer for everything, but
with it has come an
intentional space for people
to work together, and work
on themselves, for a better
community.”
– Julio Zelaya

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UNITING
CULTURES
UNIENDO
CULTURAS
August 2017
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Past History New Efforts Community ready for
action

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Mission
Statement
To create community
where acceptance
and belonging,
community pride and
ownership, and
celebration of diversity
are the way we are
together
○ To celebrate the cultural and ethnic
diversity in St. James
○ To get to know one another’s story
○ To educate ourselves and others
about the diverse cultural heritage
in the community
○ To facilitate community dialogue
with local law enforcement

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Efforts in
the past
four years
Community Efforts
◦ Education and celebration of cultural
and ethnic diversity
◦ Building bridges through trusting
relationships
◦ Support of Convivencia Hispana
◦ Equity work
Organizational Development
◦ Intercultural competency
◦ Sustainability
◦ Building capacity for increasing social
capital

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Education and Celebration of
cultural and ethnic diversity
Multicultural Fiesta

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“One of the beautiful things
for people is to show their
kids, grandkids, where they
come from. We don’t want our
ancestors to die.”

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“Before [these
events] we felt
excluded...
Now we can say
that we feel
included.” ~Julieta

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Education and Celebration of
cultural and ethnic diversity
Culture Through Cuisine

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Salvadoran Mexican Guatemalan Scandinavian
Culture Through Cuisine

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Learning one
another’s stories
Community Conversations

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Learning one
another’s stories
Your Story, My Story, Our Story

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Your Story, My Story, Our Story
“This puts a face on the word
immigrant.”
“Each of us has a story.”
“Each story is unique, there isn’t
only “one” immigration story.”

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“We didn’t have anything. No
money. We had the dream to
survive...the ones after us have to
know their roots. Many of us will
be gone but we have to leave our
legacy of pride of where we come
from...our customs, our values, that
fighting spirit.”
“We’ve shared our stories and that’s allowed
us to be more humanized”
Your Story, My Story, Our Story

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“When I first got here I felt as a
little grain of sand; no one really
gave importance to myself or my
culture. Maybe we come from
different continents and
different situations but we have
something in common that has
propelled us to be here, that we
are immigrants. Now I feel a part
of you.” ~ Marta
Your Story, My Story, Our Story

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Rural
Equity
Learning
Community
○ Operating in a multicultural
context - intercultural competency
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○ Building capacity
within the
community

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Multicultural
Context
○ Language
○ Decision Making
○ Meeting Norms
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Building Capacity
To Increase
Social Capital
○ Expanding our
stakeholder base
○ Supporting other
community
organizations
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Convivencia
Hispana
○ Scholarship Support
○ Mentoring and
organizational support
○ Golden Age
○ Day of the Dead
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Edad de Oro
Golden Age

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Day of the Dead
Día de los Muertos

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Equity work
○ Working Out Loud
Circles: Becoming Anti-
racist
○ Community Education
EDI programming
○ Equity Summit
○ Social Justice Scholarship
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Challenges
○ Cultural differences
○ Financial Resources
○ Focus and Prioritization
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We envision a culture of
inclusion where all individuals
feel respected and valued, are
treated fairly, and have equal
opportunity and responsibility
to excel in community and life.
We create spaces to grow as individuals and community
through sharing, learning, collaboration and
action to unite people and to remove barriers
to equal opportunity and responsibility
in community and life.
Mission
Vision
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Challenges
○ Sustainability and changing
leadership
○ Pushback from within
community
○ Social capital loss
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Successes
○ Recognized as leaders in equity,
diversity and inclusion efforts
○ Trusting relationships and true
friendships
○ Sense of belonging in community
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“For the first time in 25 years we feel
included in this community...to feel
included is the ability to contribute.”

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Successes
“The beautiful thing is that we’re
getting together and working
towards a better direction for the
community.
We feel like a bridge in the
community. We want that bridge to
widen so more people can walk
across it.”
~ Everado
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Ripple
Effects
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School District
Equity Team Social Justice Club Staff Development
Teachers of
Color
School strategic plan
Fiscal host:
Uniting Cultures/
Uniendo Culturas
And Convivencia
Hispana

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“We realized that silence is not
going to be acceptable or the
norm anymore” ~ Briar Lenz
Black
Lives
Matter

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Community Response
“White Fragility”
monthly discussion
Local
Sponsorships of
Equity Summit

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Community Response
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City
- Bilingual
publications/
signage
- Support for
Equity Summit
- Support for
Latinx businesses
and entrepreneurs
- Handyman’s
Certificate
Broad base support for families
with food insecurity:
○ Backpack - High School Food Pantry
○ Family Food Giveaway
○ Support for Food Shelf
*

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Local Latinx group - Convivencia Hispana
*Student scholarships
* “Our Golden Age”
*Partners in the community Art
Place project and helped to
design our “new” Plaza
*Received Department of Health
grant for Covid Education and
Immunization outreach

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“New” Downtown Mural - A special story of Immigration in St. James

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Sharing
our Story -
Paying it
forward
○ Story Map - Rural Immigration
Network
○ MN Equity Map - Growth & Justice
○ Satellite host site for statewide
Overcoming Racism Conference
○ Welcoming Community Project
Advisory Board and TRUE Tuesdays
partner
○ Spark Innovation: Museum on Main
Street traveling exhibit (2023)

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Lessons
Learned
○ Get to know one another; build
relationships
○ Work starts with individuals
themselves
○ Recognize one another’s cultural
lens
○ Network with others
○ Don’t wait to have “all your ducks
in a row” – just start!
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There are two ways to do this work - imperfectly, or not at

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HOW TO START
○ JUST DO IT
○ Don’t wait until you have all the answers and a perfect plan
○ Build on past projects
Engaging community stakeholders
○ Identify, invite, listen, ask and engage
Build trusting relationships
○ Listen
○ Engage community leadership and gatekeepers
○ People change positions and leadership changes
○ Keep reaching out: renew connections and nurture them

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What can an RDC
do?

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○ Resources
■ Technical assistance
■ Grant writing
■ Community development expertise
■ Funding sources (Regional, state and
federal)
■ Data & analysis
○ Partnerships
■ Foundations, non-profits, experts,
community liaisons.
○ Training and mentorship
■ Strategic planning
RDC as a
catalyst for
equity

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○ Internal training and research
■ Intercultural Development Inventory
(IDI) Qualification
■ DEI toolkit and resources
○ Review and update internal policies
○ Staff buy-in & commitment
○ Board and commission makeup
■ Youth & minority commissioner
Building
internal
capacity

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RESOURCES

53.
Danielle Walchuk
Regional Development Planner
December 14th, 2016
Thank you! Questions?
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54.
Danielle Walchuk
Regional Development Planner
December 14th, 2016
https://tinyurl.com/2021NADO-resources
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