By: Alexi Gusso

Steve Sviggum has a new project.

The University of Minnesota Humphrey School fellow and former Regent and republican Speaker of the Minnesota House is partnering with a Somali organization to teach members of the Somali community about state government.

Isuroon, a Minneapolis-based organization dedicated primarily to Somali women’s health issues, asked Sviggum to host a series of workshops to teach Somali men and women about the Legislative process. The first of these workshops was held Friday night.

Fartun Weli, Isuroon’s founder, organized the event in hopes that the new knowledge will inspire the Somali community to become more involved in government matters that shape their lives.

“Most of us are new immigrants,” she said. “We just want to understand how Minnesota is governed.”

In the last legislative session, Weli testified for a bill she helped author that would have granted Isuroon $170,000 for work on eliminating reproductive health disparities among Somali women.

The proposal was included in the health omnibus bill, but fizzled due to a loophole in the language, she said.

Weli’s unfamiliarity with the legislative process was the “biggest barrier” she faced while trying to get the bill passed, she said.

“We realize that with the legislative bills, we really don’t know what to do,” she said. “Someone has to teach us.”

During the two-hour training, Sviggum introduced Legislature basics, including the process of passing a bill.

At the end of the session, he handed out booklets with information about the state constitution and assigned homework for attendees to complete before the next training, which is not yet scheduled.

“If you hang with me one more time,” he said, “you will know enough to be able to go to St. Paul … and pass a bill.”

-For more about this program, pick up Monday’s Minnesota Daily.