When we go looking for a dentist, what we will most likely find are White males. According to the 2014-2015 “Minnesota Dentists Workforce Survey,” 67 percent of dentists are male, 92 percent are White, and 0.7 percent are African American. A young African American woman from North Minneapolis has successfully challenged those odds. Shakeyla Barber was born in Robbinsdale, … [Read more...]
Community Profiles:
A space for feature stories about community members in the Twin Cities and beyond.
I believe in myself because my father and brother believed in me
Noah Branch is a 2017 Cecil E. Newman Scholarship recipient. His scholarship-winning essay appears below. Throughout my life, I have been blessed to have received a significant amount of tutelage, but in recent years there are two people who stick out in my mind as both mentors and inspirations for me: My father and my brother, Joseph. Both men have gone through great … [Read more...]
Former basketball star finds a way to give back
In late February, Northeast College Prep School paraprofessional Onika Craven invited me to speak to a classroom of fifth graders taught by teacher Kaylena Greenwell. Craven, who has been employed at the startup charter school since December, accomplished plenty on the basketball court while playing for Minneapolis Washburn in the late 1990s. Today, she’s using her … [Read more...]
My parents sacrificed so I could succeed
Sadiyo Dirie is a 2017 Cecil E. Newman Scholarship recipient. Her scholarship-winning essay appears below. When I first started speaking, my first word was Hooyo (mother) I have grown up in her arms: she sacrificed everything for me. She woke up every day early in the morning and made something warm to eat. Before I went to school she used to tell me don’t ever let … [Read more...]
Educator teaches grant writing — A do-it-yourself alternative
Nonprofits and educators are always looking for ways to increase funding for their programs, but many of them lack the skills to write the grants to secure those funds, leaving them to use some of their much-needed resources to pay someone else to do it. Jonathan C. W. Jones meets those needs through his workshops designed to give educators and nonprofit leaders basic and … [Read more...]