Health Equity Network Grantees

Grantee home location: Hennepin County

Project area: Brooklyn Park and NW suburbs of Hennepin County

Round 2 grantee

ACER's goal is to advocate to improve the data infrastructure in the ACER catchment area to better understand communities, and their stories on access barriers to health care, and improve data-driven programming for health initiatives and access for the African Diaspora. Create a coalition/work group with the following action items: improving health data collection tools, advocacy for improving or culturally tailoring existing data tools (SHAPE) to increase community participation in Brooklyn Park, and NW suburbs of Hennepin County (improve data collection methodologies), and advocacy for improving data tools.

Grantee home location: Isanti County

Project area: Metro region

Round 1 grantee

African Growers and Producers Alliance (AGAPA) will connect African farmers in Minnesota to one another, the land, community, and through cultural farming. Connect AGAPA aims to increase the number of African farmers through community meet and greet events, sharing cultural significant seeds and plants, create a health equity council. Insights into the health inequities related to farming or not farming/gardening in Minnesota will be collected and shared. Project designed on advancing relationship identities and community health stories among African Immigrant farmers. Includes leadership and capacity building trainings. 

Grantee home location: Hennepin County

Project area: Hennepin County

Round 1 and 2 grantee

The Annex Teen Clinic received a round one grant to strengthen our organizational capacity to support BIPOC leadership within our organization and pilot an innovative Health Equity Professional Development Training program. Through continued support from the Minnesota Department of Health Regional Health Equity Network with a round two grant, the Annex Teen Clinic will amplify existing relationships and partnerships to complete sustainability planning that will allow us to move from pilot to scale. We seek to embed learnings into practice to achieve system-wide changes that advance health equity. The Annex Health Equity Professional Development Training series will strengthen healthcare practitioners and public health professionals' ability to live boldly within their values and positively impact BIPOC youth in Hennepin County.

Grantee home location: Hennepin County

Project area: Metro area

Round 2 grantee

The Metro Food Justice Network is a diverse group of passionate and dedicated community members, organizations, and stakeholders committed to building a more just and equitable food system through collaboration, sharing power, and resources. MFJN will develop and strengthen relationships between our regional food justice partners, deepen participation and leadership in metro area food justice efforts by people most affected by food-related health inequities, and sustain these relationships through collaboration towards systems change. 

Grantee home location: Kandiyohi County

Project area: Kandiyohi County

Round 2 grantee

Identify key partners in older adult health equity work, and engage in conversations to begin participating in ongoing meetings focusing on building relationships and health equity with rural older adult populations. Bring together partners from various communities such as migrant, immigrant, aging, LGBTQIA+, and religious and race-diverse groups -- collaboration is key; the project aims to connect agencies, and community leaders to brainstorm and develop strategies to increase health equity. Health equity data analysis focuses on identifying barriers to accessing primary care, and social determinants of health for geographic areas and also includes cultural competency and implicit bias training components. Conduct internal health equity assessment, including policy review, education, and implementation. 

Grantee home location: Bois Forte Band of Chippewa

Project area: Nett Lake and Lake Vermillion

Round 2 grantee

Offer ways to unite the community and educate on the importance and value of cultural and traditional practices and teachings. Facilitate opportunities for community members to gather and connect, including connecting Tribal youth with Tribal teachings by Elders. Community groups will co-design resources that will provide community members with information on services where they can find help to meet their needs. The goal is to strengthen the Nett Lake and Lake Vermilion communities through improved communications and awareness of available services. Community members will learn traditional activities and foods that will improve health.

Grantee home location: Stearns County

Project area: Stearns County

Round 2 grantee

The goal is to strengthen the leadership capabilities and resilience of the target community members by implementing community cohorts to nurture capacity and leadership skills among African immigrants and refugees through a quarterly cohort of individuals/leaders. Empower community members to actively engage in decision-making processes affecting their health and well-being. Collaborative efforts with local community partners like CentraCare Community Health team will play a pivotal role in ensuring our community members have the knowledge and resources to make informed health-related decisions.

Grantee home location: Wright County

Project area: Metro region

Round 1 and 2 grantee

Care Resource Connection has developed and facilitated a series of community health forums to help identify Trusted Community Messengers in Anoka County. These messengers have brainstormed, identified, and continued planning strategies and developed efforts to increase health equity in their communities. The goal of this project is to collaboratively address health inequities and connect and educate partnering agencies with community leaders from migrant communities, immigrant communities, aging populations, the LGBTQIA+ community, and various diverse religious and race identifiers. The Health Equity Data Analysis (HEDA) focused on barriers to accessing primary care, social determinants of health for this geographic area, and the factors of health equity therein for all populations who face health inequities. Continued extension of the use of Community Health Workers and to embed with numerous fire and public safety agencies within our Community Health Model to address health equity in targeted populations. Includes an educational cultural competency series, implicit bias training, and community belonging components.

Grantee home location: Saint Louis County

Project area: Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, Carlton County, Cook County, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Lake County, Saint Louis County

Round 1 grantee

The Carlton-Cook-Lake-St. Louis Community Health Board will partner with a data equity firm to provide a regional, cross-sector data equity training. Partners invited to the training include local public health, tribal public health, school staff, healthcare workers, academic partners, coalition members, and more. This training will provide knowledge and shared language for community partnerships to embed data equity principles into new and existing work. More equitable data can lead to more equitable data-driven decision making. Regional staff will continue conversations around data equity with local public health and partners. Regional partners will also participate in data equity coaching sessions that will apply the data equity framework to our largest regional health survey.

Grantee home location: Ramsey County

Project area: Saint Cloud, Stearns County

Round 1 grantee

Goal: Working to address inequitable health systems access for the Somali community in St. Cloud through language-accessible community listening sessions and informational media. Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) St. Cloud, in partnership with Stearns County Public Health Department, will host language-accessible community listening sessions moderated by CVT staff where Somali community members can freely communicate to CVT St. Cloud and the county health department barriers they face in accessing healthcare and other community health services, as well as proposed steps to increase accessibility. Resulting information will be used by both CVT St. Cloud and Stearns County Health Department to inform future programming to ensure systemic health inequities are addressed. Where appropriate, CVT St. Cloud will develop and release Somali-language media programming to quickly address health access and equity concerns brought by the community at listening sessions. This work will center community voices and needs while illuminating barriers to health equity, which will allow CVT St. Cloud and Stearns County Health Department to begin appropriately adapting programming to address these inequities going forward.

Grantee home location: Clay County

Project area: Moorhead

Round 1 grantee

Goal: To implement strategies of "Inclusive Moorhead" that build health equity through relationship building, community healing, community navigators, community education and conducting a substance use health equity assessment. Clay County Public Health will work to build health equity through Inclusive Moorhead, a program of Resilient Moorhead. Digital storytelling and Inclusive Moorhead community engagement will deepen relationships and promote healing among and between diverse people. Providing training on positive community norms will support organizational capacity to create change by focusing on the science of the positive. Community Navigators will expand access to services for New Americans. A Health Equity Data Assessment focused on substance use disorder will identify problematic community conditions and identify opportunities for change.

Grantee home location: Hennepin County

Project area: Mankato, Minneapolis, Rochester

Round 1 and 2 grantee

Comunidades Organizando el Poder y la Accion Latina (COPAL) will use relationship and confidence-building strategies with communities across the state to increase health equity among Latines. Central to this effort, COPAL will enlist and train local, respected community leaders to become Promotoras de Salud (“Health Promoters”) who will discuss COVID-19 and influenza prevention measures and vaccination benefits with families. COPAL’s diverse communication platforms will serve to amplify the messaging of Promotoras and local health experts to get accurate epidemiological information to Spanish-speaking Minnesotans. Create a community health committee with community leaders from the areas we serve. These efforts will focus on decreasing health disparities felt most acutely by Latines and other Minnesotans of color and will be concentrated in the Twin Cities, Mankato, Rochester, and the surrounding areas. 

Grantee home location: Becker County 

Project area: Becker County, White Earth

Round 2 grantee

CornerStone Community and Youth Center will build health equity by improving community connections and strengthening organizational and community capacity. The grant activities include: 1) Shifting power to give youth control over their programming, budget, and community engagement decisions 2) Improving policies through an organizational policy assessment, relationship building, and education with the F/V School and community partners to improve health equity of youth 3) Strengthening community partnerships through storytelling and relationship building to implement cultural and person first solutions that meet the needs of diverse youth including Indigenous and LGBTQIA+ 4) Engaging White Earth cultural leaders to work with youth and community members to implement healthy environmental and cultural considerations into Wannigan Park supporting youth and the rest of the community in Frazee.

Grantee home location: Dakota County

Project area: Dakota County

Round 2 grantee

Engage community members and partners in conversations regarding health and access to healthcare, barriers to care, brainstorm solutions to make healthcare more accessible, and the impact of SDOH on health. Information gathered on barriers to accessing care will be shared with others to identify strategies to support the community's health best. Information/data will be shared with all relevant county public health departments, statewide and local organizations, elected officials, and other interested parties. Data sharing will strengthen relationships and collective understanding of how to address and remove barriers to accessing care and improve the quality of health care.

Grantee home location: Des Moines Valley

Project area: Jackson County

Round 2 grantee

Des Moines Valley Health and Human Services (DVHHS) aims to strengthen organizational and community capacity to advance health equity by hiring a Community Coach, developing an internal Health Equity Quality Improvement team, and creating a shared understanding of health equity and the social determinants of health among key community partners. The Community Coach will provide the agency with critical insight into cultural values and perspectives that will enable DVHHS and community collaborations to create inclusive and welcoming spaces for these individuals to participate in meaningful ways. DVHHS will also work with the Community Coach to engage hard-to-reach populations and members with lived experience to support equitable representation from the communities served on community collaborations, advisory boards, community councils, and community workgroups. Internally, the development of the Health Equity Quality Improvement Team will create a sustainable infrastructure for the assessment, creation, implementation, and evaluation of health equity-promoting policies, procedures, and programmatic changes. To support the success of health equity initiatives and capacity building within the organization, the agency plans to work with a technical assistance partner to provide training to DVHHS leadership and the newly formed Health Equity Quality Improvement Team to increase knowledge and skills in organizational health equity, diversity, and inclusion strategies and principles. DVHHS will also work to improve the community's capacity to advance health equity in a rural setting by providing technical assistance support to collaborative community groups and partners to increase understanding of health inequities experienced in rural communities and the social and environmental determinants that perpetuate those health inequities. This will give the community partners the foundational knowledge, skills, and buy-in to identify community structures, policies, practices, cultural norms, and values that may impact health equity in the region. In addition, by creating opportunities to learn and problem-solve together, this plan aims to improve the quality of connections and relationships among community partners and community members with lived experience.

Grantee home location: Crookston

Project area: Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, Polk County, northwest region

Round 1 grantee

Don’t Call Me Josephine (and the Respecting Voice Collaborative) will engage Native and non-Native community in the evaluation of recently completed talking circles about safety; centering Native voice in the portion of Anishinaabe territory known as Northern Minnesota. Don’t Call Me Josephine is partnering with Tribal members from Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, as well as Polk County Public Health, and a range of additional community partners to re-engage Native and non-Native community in the development and evaluation of “Respecting Voice” tools, resources, and programming. In 2022, our original team responded to a regional call to center feminine voice, when addressing environmental safety. Following an equitable decision-making process, the recently expanded team is now re-engaging community, and emphasizing Native voice in the evaluation of the 2022 conversations, which evolved into a series of talking circles. These circles were designed with Anishinaabe Elder guidance. This same guide is now leading the incorporation of Indigenous methods for evaluating our talking circles. Non-Native voice (e.g., Latinx, Asian, Black, and White) is being intentionally included, as we consider the intersections of our communities; where we started, where we’ve been, and how we might move towards conciliation. A second Anishinaabe Elder is leading the recording of our digital story, which will be shared broadly. The story will review the historical context of Respecting Voice, follow its evolution, and consider its future, as directed by community voice, and highlighting Native voice. Both Native and non-Native community from the surrounding regions will be invited to join a hands-on and culturally informed conversation, guided by the digital story. Individuals, families, and professionals will explore the ways in which safety was monitored, during our talking circles, according to emotional experiences and respect; and consider possible applications to their own work and lives.

Grantee home location: Saint Louis County

Project area: Southern Saint Louis County

Round 1 grantee

The Duluth Area Family YMCA will embed a Community Health Worker who is strengthening relationships with community partners, connecting individuals and families to external health and well-being resources, reviewing operating procedures through an equity lens, and increasing the visibility and accessibility of free community health programming FOR ALL. This work includes increasing the knowledge and use of a new online resource system that will allow individuals and advocates to easily find local well-being resources across the region. Through this work, historically marginalized communities will be able to improve their overall health and well-being in a manner that benefits them on a personal level.

Grantee home location: Saint Louis County

Project area: Duluth

Round 1 grantee

The Lincoln Park Social Determinants of Health (LNPK SDOH) project builds upon a one-year planning process co-led by St. Louis County Public Health and the community-based organization Ecolibrium3 in Duluth, MN, to address the extreme health disparities in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. The project expands partnerships and tools recommended by the LNPK 156 Social Determinants of Health Accelerator Plan in the domains of equitable transportation, food access, social connectedness, healthy housing, and community-clinic linkages. Key activities include a community summit, integration of community voices into street design, launching of anti-displacement conversations, and development of resource navigation to assist in healthy and resilient home improvements.

Grantee home location: Hennepin County

Project area: Statewide and eastern North Dakota

Round 2 grantee

The Epilepsy Foundation of Minnesota will strengthen our organizational capacity to advance health equity by identifying partnership opportunities with Federally Qualified Health Centers, researching best practices and the infrastructure needed to effectively engage Community Health Workers (CHWs) in the education and support of Minnesotans with epilepsy, and building the intercultural competence of the EFMN staff and board. Using the information gathered through these three elements, EFMN will create a comprehensive Health Equity Plan to embed equity throughout the organization. The plan will include updating internal policies and practices and launching a strategy to utilize CHWs to perform proactive outreach and provide culturally relevant education and support to Minnesotans impacted by epilepsy from historically marginalized communities.

Grantee location: Hennepin County

Project area: Metro area

Round 2 grantee

Gifts for Seniors will expand and strengthen relationships with its 140+ aging services partners to assess digital inclusion and online health equity programming for older adults. Access to devices, affordable internet, and digital literacy education are essential for remaining connected to one’s community. Gifts for Seniors will visit with the local public health department(s) for each of the nine counties served to amplify how digital equity can play a role in reducing health disparities. These community discussions will lead to collaborative strategies for addressing systemic inequities and developing co-created digital solutions for alleviating social isolation while improving overall health and well-being. Visit techforseniors.info for more information.

Grantee home location: Ramsey County

Project area: Duluth, Rochester, Willmar, Twin Cities Metro Area

Round 1 grantee

The Hmong Shaman & Herb Center will: Develop shaman and shamanistic practices into mainstream healthcare practices in order to address inequities amongst the Hmong population. Examine system structures, policies, practices, along with Hmong American community’s Concept of HEALTH, cultural norms and values, in order to create an inclusive social and physical environments that recognize the Hmong Cultural Healers playing a key role in promoting good health for all people and communities. Reach Hmong elderlies through enhanced COVID response and education efforts around vaccination and vaccine hesitancy. Hmong Seniors focus groups in partnership with public health partners. Pop-up vaccination clinics at Hmong Senior Centers. Develop Hmong Cultural Healer Circle (HCHC) to connect and build capacities among Hmong Shaman and Herbalists to engage with public health entities at the local, regional and state levels.

Grantee home location: Alexandria

Project area: Douglas, Grant, Pope, Stevens, and Traverse counties

Round 1 and 2 grantee

Horizon Public Health's Year 2 of the Regional Health Equity Network project is dedicated to building strong relationships and enhancing partnerships within our community. We will continue conducting additional community listening sessions in our counties to identify priorities and initiate key strategies. Our primary goal is to amplify community voices and break down barriers to health and well-being for our community members.

In parallel, we are actively building capacity within our internal teams to effectively analyze and disaggregate data using the Results-Based Accountability framework. Utilizing the Results-Based Accountability framework and data disaggregation, we will be better equipped to collaborate with target populations, tailoring our efforts to their specific needs and ultimately improving health outcomes within our communities. This tool will also enable us to enhance transparency in our work and ensure accountability for the community health improvement efforts taking place across our communities. Horizon Public Health remains committed to fostering a healthier, more equitable future for all.

Grantee home location: Martin County

Project area: Faribault and Martin counties

Round 1 grantee

Human Services of Faribault & Martin Counties, in collaboration with Minnesota State University, Mankato Department of Applied Health Science, and the Center for Rural Behavioral Health, will work jointly to strengthen understanding of poverty among our agencies, our local community partners, and the future public health workforce. The goal is to increase awareness of the systemic challenges that foster poverty and create barriers for individuals to obtain support. We will host Bridges out of Poverty training that examines poverty through the individual, institutional, and community/policy lens. We will collect data to develop an agency Health Equity plan so we can embed learnings into practice and reduce barriers for persons experiencing poverty.

Grantee home location: Waseca County

Project area: Le Sueur and Waseca County

Round 2 grantee

The counties of Waseca and Le Sueur will develop and complete a Health Equity Data Analysis focused on Mental Health needs. This project will determine where resources and support are needed within the community. A Health Equity Data Analysis on mental health will allow insight into more than just the social determinants of health so that needs in the community are being addressed and allocated. This project will carry out community engagements and meetings to allow for an effective reach of community-based interventions. It will also provide insights into the socio-demographic, geographic, and economic factors influencing mental health disparities. This will ensure access and equity in mental health services, outcomes, and promotion for the entire community. 

Grantee home location: Meeker County

Project area: Meeker, McLeod, and Sibley counties

Round 1 and 2 grantee

Meeker-McLeod-Sibley Community Health Services is working to strengthen organizational and community capacity to advance health equity locally by improving the quality of connections and relationships among partners and creating a sense of belonging for community members. The work is multifaceted and includes hosting a community workshop built around belonging, utilizing local organizations to reach communities most impacted by health inequities, and hosting conversations about needs in our communities. The goal is to create the infrastructure to promote a welcoming community across the three counties.

Grantee home location: Beltrami County

Project area: Northern Minnesota

Round 2 grantee

Mewinzha Ondaadiziike Wiigaming (Mewinzha) is an organization that was established in 2014 to provide maternal child health and family wellness services to American Indian community members in northern Minnesota. The main objective of the organization is to help American Indian families achieve mino-bimaadiziwin, which means living well, having good health, and leading a good life. Through the regional health equity network grant, Mewinzha intends to model how integrated and coordinated care can be accomplished and supported for health equity in the region. The project's ultimate goal is to strengthen and amplify partnerships and networks for holistic, integrated health and wellness services, intending to improve health equity outcomes for American Indian relatives in Northern Minnesota. To deepen our connection with regional partners, Mewinzha aims to model a care coordination and pharmacy-sharing agreement, increase its billing infrastructure for traditional healing, and amplify existing relationships and partnerships to advance health equity. Mewinzha will develop and implement a marketing and communications plan to promote awareness of existing and emerging integrated health services.

Grantee home location: Minneapolis

Project area: Minneapolis and surrounding area

Round 1 grantee

Goal: Co-imagine, co-create, and build dynamic community spaces for queer and trans health equity. The Minneapolis Health Department (MHD) will partner with the local community organization, Our Space, to co-imagine, co-create, and strategize to build dynamic community spaces for queer, trans, and LGBTQIA+ folks, specifically centering BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) folks. One of MHD’s values is to invest in a healthier and more equitable community while exercising leadership in public health. We will achieve this by creating the infrastructure and relationship with local communities as they pioneer their health equity stories and journey. By working with communities in facilitating conversations and strategizing to create a common operating model and data and information picture (often desired, but missing, when having conversations of health equity and public health), this project will serve as a seed and nexus for future health equity work between the city of Minneapolis and the queer and trans community of Minneapolis, and greater Minnesota.

Grantee home location: Hennepin County

Project area: Statewide

Round 1 grantee

The Minnesota Community Health Worker (CHW) Alliance (the Alliance) will connect and strengthen the health equity network the Alliance has already established. Project activities include connecting the Alliance with the Regional Health Equity Networks, Minnesota Community Health Boards, and Minnesota Tribes. The Alliance will also undergo a Health Equity Organizational Assessment and a strategic planning process, enhance the website as a clearinghouse for CHW strategies, and continue to work to integrate CHW positions across Minnesota.

Grantee home location: Hennepin County

Project area: Statewide

Round 2 grantee

The Minnesota Public Health Association (MPHA) project will build new and stronger connections between MPHA and rural health leaders in Minnesota to inform policy and advocacy, training, and strategic planning priorities. The project goals are to: 1. Establish a network and relationships with public health leaders and stakeholders in all regions of Minnesota; 2. Conduct listening sessions and interviews to collect data; Analyze data to create a report with recommendations to guide actions to improve rural health in Minnesota; and disseminate reports and present findings to public health stakeholders, MPHA, and local public health partners. The communities served by our project include rural Minnesotans, especially those most impacted by health disparities due to socioeconomic status, disability, race, gender, language, and other structural forms of oppression.

Grantee home location: Morrison County

Project area: Morrison, Todd, Wadena counties

Round 1 and 2 grantee

The Morrison-Todd-Wadena Community Health Board (MTW CHB) is implementing a health equity organizational self-assessment utilizing the toolkit developed by the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative.  This assessment will look at health equity within our community health board and include a staff survey, collaborating partner survey, and focus groups to identify a baseline measure of staff capacity, skills, and areas for improvement.  Using the assessment results, the MTW CHB will revise its strategic plan and develop strategies to advance and embed health equity practices and principles throughout our community health board.

Grantee home location: Mower County

Project area: Mower County

Round 2 grantee

Mower County Health and Human Services will expand its Community Health Worker program, which connects individuals and families to services in our community. The Community Health Worker will offer interpretation and translation services, provide culturally appropriate health education and information, and generally help the people get the services they need to succeed in our community. Mower County Health and Human Services will also partner with the local Welcome Center, which provides advocacy, client, and language services. Through our partnership, we will be able to expand interpreter services so non-English speaking individuals in our community can access disability, mental health, health, or substance use services.

Grantee home location: Hennepin County

Project Area: Metro area

Engage and strengthen relationships with administrators from Native American organizations from across the Twin Cities region to learn about and support the health, social service, and community-based services available to American Indian people. Create opportunities for Native American organizations to promote their initiatives, improve community connectedness and social cohesion, and strengthen community partnerships to support sustainable community development. The goals are to connect American Indians to resources in their communities, enhance inter-agency support and coordination between Allina Health, and NACDI, amplify the utilization of web-based projects, and ensure that community engagement is widespread by having quarterly reviews tracking our website, and social media engagement.

Grantee home location: Nobles County

Project area: Nobles County

Round 1 grantee

A diverse group of Community Stakeholders are convening monthly to engage in transformative work based upon a SOAR (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results) analysis that further inspires community member engagement and heightens awareness of health equity issues. Based upon the SOAR analysis, top priority areas will be selected in order to address barriers to disparities within our communities. A broader understanding of disparities will be obtained through presentations by individuals currently facing health equities and other relevant topics by subject matter experts.

Grantee home location: Rochester

Project area: Olmsted County

Round 1 grantee

Olmsted County is committed to continuing to understand, identify and address institutional and systemic barriers that may impede access to opportunities for successful community health. In 2020-2021, a county-wide food security assessment was conducted to better understand the strengths and opportunities in the community regarding access to food. The assessment unearthed many findings, but the number one recommendation from the assessment was to create a county-side food security coalition, thus the Olmsted County Food Security Coalition was created. Funding will be used to support a professional facilitator to build a solid foundation for this new coalition. One Olmsted, Olmsted County’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) countywide initiative, is working with a design team consisting of eight community members representing lived experience of county services and programs. The design team’s goal is to help form the structure and future goals of a new One-Olmsted Community Council. The community co-design engagement process is type of human-centered design to create opportunities and structure for shared decision-making.  Olmsted County will implement the co-design engagement process to give voice to those with lived experience on future initiatives focused on youth mental health and cultural liaisons in the parks.

Grantee home location: Hennepin County

Project area: Statewide

Round 2 grantee

The project aims to create awareness, educate the community, and provide resources and support around the intersections of domestic violence, culture, and unresolved trauma. Planning for a culturally specific curriculum regarding domestic violence and unresolved trauma through targeted groups hosted by partner community-based organizations, also in partnership with Hennepin County Public Health. OLM's leadership, board members, and key volunteers are also impacted by unresolved trauma. The goal is for partner organizations to recruit individuals to serve as potential trainers in the train-the-trainer model who will deliver the curriculum more broadly and continue to build and strengthen community partnerships.

Grantee home location: Hennepin County

Project area: Hennepin County

Round 2 grantee

Pillsbury United is a pioneering community impact agency with over 140 years of service deeply rooted in Minneapolis. Our work comes alive in our four neighborhood centers, six social enterprises, community development corporations, and partnerships beyond. By leveraging the frontline care of our trusted and trained community health workers (CHWs) across multiple sites, our goal is to connect partners committed to health equity across geographies and demographics and to amplify our relationships by building a community coalition to address mental health and substance use disorder inequities among our Black, East African, and Latinx communities. Among other partners, we look forward to strengthening our relationships with the Minnesota Department of Health, Hennepin County Public Health, and Hennepin County Human Services through staff training and other activities.

Grantee home location: Hennepin County

Project area: Hennepin County, metro region

Round 1 grantee

Increase awareness and provide health and wellness information and COVID-19 vaccinations to the African-American Community through our POP-UP Wellness Villages. Engage junior and senior high students across the Twin Cities in culturally sensitive health and wellness discussions and COVID-19 informational sessions.  Create and disseminate social media and traditional media messages to educate the African Community, and the community at large about health disparities and the importance of getting vaccinated as a way to protect your health and your community.

Grantee home location: Hennepin County

Project area: Seven-county metro area

Round 1 grantee

Develop a Community Advisory Board to Harness Community Expertise at the Youth and AIDS Projects (YAP). YAP aims to develop a Community Advisory Board with membership from people who represent the communities YAP serves: communities of color, those impacted by HIV, and/or members of the queer community. The Community Advisory Board will provide guidance and feedback on YAP programming to ensure that YAP’s services are youth-centered, focused on community advocacy and collaboration, and ensure YAP’s sustainability and growth. The Community Advisory Board harnesses community expertise and resilience to identify and mitigate structural and social barriers that foster unequal health outcomes for marginalized groups and works toward EHDI goals by granting more agency and autonomy to communities who experience the greatest risk of HIV, while at the same time providing a formal infrastructure for youth living with HIV to participate in decision-making that affects their health care.

Grantee home location: Faribault

Project area: Rice County

Round 1 grantee

Rice County Public Health will connect with trusted community members to co-create a Health Equity Advisory and Leadership (HEAL) Council. The long-term goal of the council is to advance health equity. The council will work on identifying formal and informal communication channels used by our populations most impacted by health inequities so that Rice County Public Health can shift our messaging and outreach to better reach the public. In doing this work, we will be adding one Community Health Worker who is bilingual in Somali and English. This individual will be a member of the HEAL Council. To strengthen our community’s understanding of the value of this work, we will contract with our local community health center to offer community seminars on implicit bias and health inequities.

Grantee home location: Traverse County

Project area: Traverse County

Round 2 grantee

We aim to enhance clinic services to at-risk adolescents/young adults who are impacted by mental health, addiction, and obesity in the Wheaton community. Sanford Wheaton Medical Center and our proposed project are located in a rural community that has experienced an increase in low-income/ poverty households. Since COVID, the community has seen a rise in depression, anxiety, and isolation. To fully address identified community concerns, we plan to focus our project as a Clinical Services for At-Risk Youth and a Mental Health Project. Through our project scope, we aim to assess and plan for a model of care to meet community needs. Plan to also simultaneously focus on mental health community concerns by addressing measures of depression, anxiety, and suicide risk.

Grantee home location: Hennepin County

Project area: Hennepin, Olmsted, Rice counties

Round 1 grantee

Somali Community Resettlement Services of Olmsted County (SCRS) will find and establish relationships with home- and community-based services (HCBS) service providers in Hennepin, Rice, and Olmsted counties who can provide culturally specific care and resources for elders, persons with disabilities, and their care providers in the East African community. Improve quality of connections and relationships between clients and medical practitioners through cultural awareness education & accessing needed resources. We will publish and distribute a provider listing in native languages within the community through walk-in service requests at our office in Minneapolis, Faribault, and Rochester, as well as distribute these resources at public forums held monthly at local mosques.

Grantee home location: Sherburne County

Project area: Sherburne County

Round 2 grantee

Sherburne County Health and Human Services (SCHHS) has contracted with Culture Brokers to set a baseline understanding of the DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging) work that has occurred and is occurring within the agency and help identify areas for operational improvement. Culture Brokers will lead the development of a consultancy plan, assist our agency in completing an inclusiveness assessment, and develop an equity framework through a strategic plan. Culture Brokers will support progress tracking and provide coaching and support to hold staff accountable for the work and help carry out the strategic plan. While executing the strategic plan, our agency staff will obtain learning sessions, receive quarterly progress reports, and participate in continuous action planning. The goal is to institutionalize what works, plan for improvements, and build a team of internal DEIB consultants who can continue to support the agency’s DEIB efforts. Culture Brokers will track DEIB operations and compare them against the 2023 baseline to make informed decisions about the next steps in the agency's DEIB journey. SCHHS will update DEIB policies to reflect the department's new level of development with this work. SCHHS will take ownership of the DEIB efforts from the consultants and fully transition the Equity Strategic Action Plan (ESAP) to the internal leadership team, ensuring that the structural framework for this work continues beyond this project. Engagement with community partners throughout this project will help strengthen collaboration and support for long-term impacts.   

Grantee home location: Marshall

Project area: Lincoln, Lyon, Murray, Pipestone, Redwood, and Rock counties

Round 1 grantee

Goal: Expansion of Cultures on the Prairie event to include an additional day of training. The Cultures on the Prairie has been focused on sharing stories and experiences of those with diverse backgrounds in our communities. The additional content will include a simulation titled “Killing Fields,” giving participants the opportunity to recognize the experiences of the Cambodian survivors who resettled in Southern Minnesota. Partner with Wilder Research to conduct focus groups with specific populations in our community. The goal will be to better understand populations that historically have greater health inequities. Focus groups will be conducted with the following: Somali, Hmong, Latinex, Karen, American Indian, LGBTQI+, as well as persons with physical/mental challenges. Will hold poverty training workshops in an effort to create an understanding of the dynamics that cause and maintain poverty from the individual to the systems level. The goal is to provide a workshop for up to 100 community leaders, providing concrete tools and strategies to alleviate poverty, including incorporating a training certification for those interested in providing the training on an ongoing basis.

Grantee home location: Stearns County

Project area: Stearns County

Stearns County Human Services (SCHS) will strengthen our organizational capacity for health equity through targeted learning and development initiatives, prioritizing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB). To achieve this, we will actively involve community partners with diverse lived experiences to lead training sessions for SCHS employees. These sessions will aim to increase awareness of our cultural values and their impact on our inclusivity efforts while exploring strategies for promoting health equity. Following these sessions, SCHS is committed to integrating the principles into our daily operations to foster a culture of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging within SCHS. This commitment will, in turn, contribute to advancing social equities throughout our community.

Grantee home location: Bemidji

Project area: Beltrami County

Round 2 grantee

United Way of Bemidji Area works with local partners to establish a Beltrami Area Behavioral Health Learning Community. Fifteen area professionals will be selected for a seven-month Learning Community designed to center and amplify the wisdom of Indigenous practices for a more holistic approach to behavioral health services. Participants will learn from Indigenous teachers, a process in circle, and practice integrating learning in culturally meaningful ways. Goals include: 1) Establishing a shared, foundational understanding of local Native American beliefs, values, and the impacts of colonization; 2) Developing a better understanding of Native American experiences with the behavioral health care system and the concept of decolonization of that system, and 3) Identifying and planning actionable changes needed within Learning Community members' work and respective systems.

Grantee home location:  Granite Falls, Upper Sioux

Project area: Upper Sioux, Yellow Medicine County

Round 2 grantees

The Upper Sioux Community will collaborate and co-create a plan to broaden the use of cultural practices to support positive health outcomes among Tribal members.

Grantee home location: Hennepin County

Project area: Statewide

Round 2 grantee

WellShare International, in collaboration with the local clinical systems and public health agencies, will empower local traditionally marginalized communities to advocate for their own needs in behavioral and preventative healthcare. WellShare will host listening sessions with the Somali, Nuer, and Hispanic communities to produce a regionally specific report on the communities’ preferences and perceived barriers to obtaining behavioral and preventative healthcare services. In addition, WellShare CHWs will offer free health equity training to local medical providers and empower community leaders as expert consultants who will bring their community's voice directly to regional medical systems.

Grantee home location: Winona County

Project area: Winona County

Round 1 and 2 grantee

Continue to build upon the cultural competency of the HUB Network to improve health equity in the service area by providing cultural competency training to the HUB Network to increase knowledge of best practices in serving diverse needs in the service area. Receive training regarding working with individuals with lived experience, followed by consultation to create an intentional design for the advisory committee, along with facilitation of monthly committee meetings.

Grantee home location: Duluth

Project area: Hillside neighborhood, Duluth

Round 2 grantee

The Healthy Hillside Vision is a grassroots, neighbor-to-neighbor co-designed vision to address the health inequities in the Hillside neighborhood. This project moves the vision to the next phase by broadly sharing the neighborhood health vision as well as the experiences of residents to build understanding, empathy, and connection. The project will also build the partnerships, strategies, and connections to collaboratively implement the vision to create system-wide changes that advance health inequities. This work will include ongoing community engagement, leadership development, coalition building, and using arts tools to amplify community vision.

Grantee home location: Olmsted County

Project area: Olmsted County

Round 2 grantee

Zumbro Valley Medical Society (ZVMS) Street Medicine brings together physicians, medical students, and community partners to identify and create effective ways to improve care for people experiencing homelessness. We use a three-pronged approach to addressing inequities: (1) Provide direct care to people in their own environments; (2) Train the medical community to provide high-quality, compassionate healthcare outside of clinical settings; and (3) Advocate for changes in systems and processes that affect the healthcare that people receive. Our four RHEN projects will allow us to (a) Add individuals with lived expertise in unstable housing to our team, (b) Receive training and coaching in the delivery of trauma-informed care, (c) Study the impact of our Street Medicine training on medical students' mental models regarding homelessness and health inequities, and (d) Create guidelines for the development of recuperative care in Olmsted County.