FDC: Building Communities

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Building Communities

This presentation and discussion explores the role of stories in our lives as individuals and communities. There are stories of all kinds: personal narratives, jokes, rumors, myths and legends. We will explore how stories shape our thoughts, feelings and actions, and how stories build or destroy communities. We will talk about stories we need for the future of our communities and global village.

For Mbele's previous presentation please click on the above title and it will take you to "When Africa Meets Faribault".

Joseph L. Mbele, who teaches in the English Department at St. Olaf College, is the author of the book, Africans and Americans: Embracing Cultural Differences, available online at http://www.lulu.com/content/105001 or by sending an email to info@africonexion.com

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PROTEST

My protest shall be:

To act with kindness when faced with hatred,

To plant a flower, raising beauty as my shield against the ugliness,

To share my food, because others are hungry,

To write a letter, instead of wringing my hands helplessly,

To cry tears of grief and anger, so numbness cannot overtake my heart,

To refuse to fall for false reassurances and the tempting comforts of ignorance,

To contribute my voice in outrage, when others are forced into silence,

To immerse myself in the courage of others, when mine fails me,

To speak the truth as I find it, humbly aware that it is

not the whole truth,

And, when I do not know how to love my enemies, to find a way to love their children.

Reverend Lynn James

LEADERSHIP ATTITUDES, by Harlan Cleveland

In his book Nobody in Charge, Harlan Cleveland suggests the steepest part of the leadership learning curve and the management of complexity is not skills but attitudes..............

1. Intellectual curiosity, an interest in everything because all things really are related.................

2. Interest in what other people think and why they think that way...............

3. A sense of responsibility for envisioning a future that is different from a straight-line projection of the present. ("Trends are not destiny.")............

4. A hunch that most risks are there to be taken..........

5. A mindset that crises are normal, tensions can be promising, and complexity is fun...........

6. A realization that paranoia and self-pity are for people who don't want to lead.............

7. A sense of personal responsibility for the general outcome of your efforts..........

8. "Unwarranted optimism"--the conviction that there must be some more upbeat outcome than would result from adding up all the available expert advice

Faribault/Northfield Census - 2004-2006

(Information can be sought at "http://www.lmic.state.mn.us/datanetweb" www.lmic.state.mn.us/datanetweb, the state demographers office, the Education MN website, etc.)

The four largest immigrant communities in Faribault are: Latino, Somali, Cambodian, and Sudanese. There are smaller numbers from an additional 12 language groups represented in the schools.

Faribault, 709 of 4035 students (2004-2005 school year) spoke a language other than English at home (17.6%). In Kindergarten, those numbers were closer to 25%.

In Northfield, 280 students of 3835 (7.3%)

Major languages:

Faribault: Spanish (555 students), Somali (54), Cambodian (48), Nuer (17) . 16 languages other than English are represented.

Northfield: Spanish (239), Vietnamese (8) , Russian (7). 14 languages other than English are represented..........Latino: (Mexico, Honduras, Cuba, Panama, Guatemala, Peru, other. Also included are Mexican-American families who identify themselves in the census as Hispanic)

While Census 2000 estimates list the Latino population in Rice County at 3117 (5.5% of total of 56,665), a closer local look suggests that the population could easily be double that. The latest information from the Chicano-Latino Affairs Council of the State records data as “within a 15 mile radius of the population center.” Under those criteria and using 2000 Census data, Faribault is listed as having the second largest Latino population cluster in the state (4,084), following Minneapolis/St Paul. Northfield follows as third (3,488). (It is unclear to what extent an overlapping of those areas affects the numbers)

Somali: The Somali community seems to be growing with new refugee families arriving. Public Health reports that between 120-125 new refugee individuals arrived in Rice County during 2006, the majority being Somali. Estimates of the number of Somali residents in Faribault is around 500.

Cambodian: The Cambodian families tend to have a longer history here, having arrived in the late 70s and early 80s for the most part. The number of Cambodian students in the school district is declining as they graduate

Sudanese: The Sudanese community seems to experience a lot of movement, with people moving to and from their communities in Nebraska. The community here is not real large at this time

Population pyramids show that while the pyramid for all races in Rice County is rather broad at the top with respect to age, the pyramid for Hispanics shows very few over 60 and a broad base of children under 10

(Prepared by Bob Kell, Welcome Center, 507-333-5036, welcome@hickorytech.net)

FDC

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Building Communities

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Faribault/Northfield Census - 2004-2006

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