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Community Sketchbook

Renee Barron
Community Sketchbook

Identifying who’s poor in Minnesota and why

By Cynthia Boyd | 04/06/12

More than half of Minnesotans between ages 20 and 75 will experience at least one year in poverty. 

commission to end poverty in minnesota logo
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St. Paul conference ponders provocative questions about poverty

By Cynthia Boyd | 03/30/12

A key question for the conference: Is there the will to end poverty?

Ojibwe People's Dictionary
Community Sketchbook

Amazing ‘talking’ dictionary project helps preserve Ojibwe language

By Cynthia Boyd | 03/28/12

A new online resource called “The Ojibwe Peoples Dictionary” opens doors to the sounds and context of the indigenous language.

Prof. Louis Mendoza
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U of M’s Chicano Studies Department turns 40

By Cynthia Boyd | 03/22/12

Department looks to future and holds steady despite economic pressures at university.

Alicia Frosch
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These remarkable and inspiring teens beat the odds

By Cynthia Boyd | 03/19/12

The Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota awarded scholarships to these young people for overcoming extreme adversity.

Demand grows for communal garden plots for immigrants
Community Sketchbook

Demand grows for communal garden plots for immigrants

By Cynthia Boyd | 03/15/12

Gardening affords far more than healthy vegetables when it comes to low-income, immigrant communities. 

Commissioner Lucinda Jesson
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Jesson attacks GOP ‘Welfare Reform 2.0’ plan

By Cynthia Boyd | 03/06/12

Gov. Mark Dayton has not spoken about the proposal inching through the Legislature, but his Department of Human Services commissioner isn’t holding back.

Cans of food
Community Sketchbook

What’s the official definition of being poor in America?

By Cynthia Boyd | 02/24/12

New federal guidelines say a hypothetical family of one adult and two children making $19,090 or less is now officially poor.

Map showing segregation in charter schools
Community Sketchbook

Twin Cities charter schools fail to deliver promised gains, study claims

By Cynthia Boyd | 02/24/12

Report says Twin Cities charter schools underperforming comparable traditional schools.

Deb Konechne of the Minnesota Coalition for a People's Bailout leads other prote
Community Sketchbook

‘Welfare Reform 2.0’ moves ahead, but met with anger at Legislature

By Cynthia Boyd | 02/23/12

Advocates say the wide-ranging legislation is needed to eliminate waste and fraud.

Fresh garden vegetables
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Rice County’s struggle to provide food and health-care benefits for needy

By Cynthia Boyd | 02/21/12

County officials face a “staggering amount of work’’ with a backlog of requests for renewal of benefits.

Woman reading to her child
Community Sketchbook

Family Academy’s ‘cradle to career’ effort under way in north Minneapolis

By Cynthia Boyd | 02/17/12

Program seeks to close achievement gap by focusing on early language and literacy development and parenting skills.

Example advertisement from Hunger-Free Minnesota
Community Sketchbook

Hunger campaign targets new poor and the elderly

By Cynthia Boyd | 02/13/12

Only 65 percent of eligible Minnesotans and 41 percent of eligible seniors age 60 and older receive food assistance, according to the folks at the Minnesota Department of Human Services.

Community Sketchbook

Facing budget cuts, 12 counties consider collaborating to deliver human services

By Cynthia Boyd | 01/30/12

There's an effort afoot in southeast Minnesota that could have 12 counties collaborating on their delivery of human services.

Community Sketchbook

Facing budget cuts, 12 counties consider collaborating to deliver human services

By Cynthia Boyd | 01/27/12

There's an effort afoot in southeast Minnesota that could have 12 counties collaborating on their delivery of human services.

Community Sketchbook

Julie Landsman: Talking about race in the classroom

By Cynthia Boyd | 01/26/12

An interview with the author of "A White Teacher Talks About Race," who will speak Friday in St. Paul at an event organized by a group convened to address the achievement gap.

Community Sketchbook

As local programs get more federal money, homeless vets find homes

By Cynthia Boyd | 01/24/12
A new report shows homelessness among veterans in Hennepin County is declining because of programs that help vets like Wes Winkelman.
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Helping Minnesota's homeless kids: Studying services that work

By Cynthia Boyd | 01/20/12
Research usually looks at the effects of programs for homeless adults, but this new study focuses on services that help homeless children.
Community Sketchbook

Local college fair highlights Historically Black Colleges and Universities

By Cynthia Boyd | 01/13/12
Anoka-Hennepin district teacher Kerwin Bell says many students of color yearn for a sense of community that those institutions provide.
Community Sketchbook

Hunger Beat Down: 5,000 drummers sound the alarm about starvation

By Cynthia Boyd | 01/11/12
Celebrated Twin Cities percussionist Marv Dahlgren is asking drummers to pick up their sticks to call attention to the world's 925 million starving and malnourished people.