The Coalition of Asian American Leaders (CAAL) and the University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) released a report last week with qualitative data covering economic wealth within Asian communities in Minnesota.

The report, titled “Redefining Wealth Through Communal & Cultural Assets,” is based on stories from focus groups, interviews and community surveys with 228 Asian Minnesotans. This report includes experiences that provide context to quantitative data contained in CAAL and CURA’s first economic report on Asian Minnesotans, published in 2018 and titled “Invisibility Perpetuated: the Complex Economics of Asian Minnesotans.”

“We want this research to be applicable to the community, that it will be accessible to the community and that it’d be written in a form that communities can use as tools for advocating for themselves,” said KaYing Yang, the CAAL director of programs and partnerships. “But at the same time, to inform policymakers that they understand that there is this community-centered lens.”

Through the Kris Nelson Community-Based Research Program, the two organizations worked together to deepen research by disaggregating data — or breaking down data into subgroups or subpopulations — on Asian Americans, explicitly highlighting the nuances of topics surrounding economic wealth and education.

“[Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders] are not a homogenous group, which is why it is important to disaggregate data, both to unmask the disparities that do exist within the community and provide a more accurate picture of the economic experiences of the population,” the report reads.

Many participants in the report revealed that resource-sharing practices among Asian Minnesotans are standard and appear in different forms. The report also revealed that Asian Indians have nearly four times as much household income as those who are Burmese.

By not adequately reflecting the variation of lived experiences of Minnesota’s Asian communities — from more recent Karen refugees to Asian Minnesotans who have lived in the U.S. for a decade or longer —  aggregated data perpetuates the model minority myth, the report read. The model minority is a myth stereotyping Asians as a homogenous group that has overcome adversity and achieved socioeconomic success compared to other racial and ethnic groups.

“We were really making this [research] part of the community so that they could feel heard — because they’re the ones who have lived it, so they are the ones who will know the best about it,” said Kshitiz Karki, a CURA graduate research assistant. “We made sure that their voices are heard, and we did justice to their voices.”

The report includes 11 recommendations, key term definitions and community photos. The partnership between CAAL and CURA began about two years ago, and both organizations plan to continue working together into the future.

“What I … appreciate about CAAL is they really are in alignment with CURA’s mission of producing research for the public good, and that informs public policy,” said Vanessa Voller, coordinator of community-based research at CURA. “All of the research that we’ve done with them has had direct, immediate implications for public policymakers and ultimately the very communities that they serve here in the Twin Cities.”

The report recommends that financial institutions identify and integrate cultural values, such as the shared family obligation for elder care, and cultural assets, like resource-sharing practices.
The report also recommends investing more in affordable multifamily housing.

“People often say, ‘Well, we don’t see Asian people being homeless,’” Yang said. “It’s because we live in multigenerational housing … so you do not see homelessness, but you may see houselessness. That’s the difference between this community.”

The “Invisibility Perpetuated: the Complex Economics of Asian Minnesotans” report defines multigenerational households as at least three generations living in the same home.

Yang said CAAL will work with policymakers, financial institutions and community organizations specializing in economic growth to push for change that includes creating resources tailored to the needs of Asian Minnesotans.

Several law students are advocating for greater measures to ensure their mental health and well-being during the pandemic, including changing grading curves in recognition of the challenges of online learning.

The University announced in early December it would only allow undergraduate students on the Twin Cities campus to switch to or from the pass/fail grading system.

On the same day of the pass/fail announcement, Garry W. Jenkins, dean of the Law School, sent an email to reaffirm that the Law School would not make any changes to its grading policy.

According to Jenkins’ email, an abrupt change to grading might disadvantage students who worked hard to improve their grades and could create barriers to employment, as many law schools across the country have not implemented pass/fail options for the fall.

Students petition for understanding during the pandemic

Third-year law student Amanda Tesarek said she is advocating to change the grading curve for final grades this fall, especially for first-year law students, to be more generous considering the added challenges of online learning. Tesarek is also the president of the Law Council, which serves as a liaison between the University’s Law School administration and law students.

According to William McGeveran, associate dean for academic affairs in the Law School, larger classes — usually the classes that first-year law students are required to take — are graded on a curve. Smaller classes like seminars and clinics, usually for second- and third-year law students, do not have a curve, McGeveran said.

McGeveran said the Law School would not opt to change the grading curve for the same reasons it would not implement pass/fail grading for law students. Adding changes to the grading curve would introduce “arbitrariness” and unclear grading standards as well as affect a student’s future with employers, he added.

Shantal Pai, a third-year law student, wrote a petition to make a statement mandatory on student transcripts to indicate to employers the semesters that coincided with the pandemic.

“This petition was a demand for recognition that this is not normal,” Pai said. “A demand for the Law School to take some leadership in supporting students who are going through this thing that’s not normal, who are going to be affected by this in the future.”

In response to Pai’s petition, Jenkins’ email said the Law School will add a formal statement about the impacts of COVID-19 on students to the quartile ranking statement for the class of 2021, 2022 and 2023. The quartile ranking statement is a document that lists the grade point average range for each quartile and is provided to all employers who recruit from the Law School. The quartile ranking statement is also available on the school’s website.

But some students said the statement on the quartile ranking is not the same as having it on students’ transcripts. Employers will more likely see their transcripts than seek a quartile statement, students say.

Law school administrators disagree, stating that quartile ranking is readily available to employers.

“We think that employers actually rely on, as much or more on, our information document about our grades in the Law School, including the quartiles. And the career center provides it to all of our employers that list through us,” McGeveran said. “So, we actually think it’s more accessible than the transcripts.”

Some uncomfortable asking for mental health day

In November, Tesarek sent out a survey for law students about mental health. The survey asked students if they felt comfortable taking a day off for mental health, whether there are adequate mental health resources on campus and if they felt the Law School cared about their mental health.

Almost 70% of law students disagree or strongly disagree that they feel comfortable taking a necessary mental health day, according to the survey results. 40.5% of students disagree or strongly disagree that the Law School is helping students’ mental health during the pandemic.

“Getting penalized or punished for lack of attendance based on mental health requirements, I don’t think that is something students should be worried about,” McGeveran said. “And clearly based on this survey, we need to do [better to communicate] about that.”

Tesarek sent an email to the dean’s office at the Law School with the mental health survey results and student concerns about COVID-19, and she asked to meet during winter break to set up a plan for the spring semester.

“We have the data now to back up what we’ve known all along, which is that mental health is hard for law students as it is,” Tesarek said. “And this pandemic is only making that worse, and what the law school is doing right now is not adequately responding to the increased demand for the support that students need.”

Response from law school deans

This semester, the Law School launched a weekly student newsletter that highlights administrative updates, opportunities to connect with the community and mental health resources. The law school also partnered with Ten Percent Happier, a health and wellness app, to secure 500 free subscriptions for students, said Erin Keyes, assistant dean of students at the Law School.

In the next couple of months, the Law School will work alongside student leaders to plan and create opportunities for the spring to address student concerns, Keyes added.

“There’s always more that can be done,” McGeveran said. “We’re trying really hard. But being a law student is really difficult in ordinary times, and it’s exceptionally difficult in COVID times. There’s just no doubt about that.”

During the pandemic, the Community-University Health Care Center (CUHCC) has been doing what it has historically done: adapting to fit the changing needs of its surrounding communities in the Phillips neighborhood.

When the University of Minnesota founded CUHCC in 1966, it became the first community health center in Minnesota, providing health care to children from low-income families in the Phillips neighborhood where it is located.

Over the years, CUHCC has evolved into a clinic that provides healthcare that centers patients and their needs. In addition to offering physical and mental health services, the clinic provides domestic violence services, as well as free legal counsel. University students in medical fields can also train at the clinic to serve marginalized communities.

CUHCC implemented new efforts during the pandemic to adhere to COVID-19 safety guidelines, helped distribute food and provided COVID-19 testing at different locations, like public housing.

Sara Bolnick, director of advancement at CUHCC, has served at the clinic for the past seven years. She said the clinic is constantly changing and morphing to address the changing needs of its surrounding community.

As more American Indians came to the Phillips neighborhood in the 1970s, the clinic employed community health workers who represented American Indian tribes. Later in the ‘80s, the neighborhood continued to change with a wave of immigrants coming from Southeast Asia. During this time, a Hmong woman established one of the first advocacy services at CUHCC to address domestic abuse and sexual violence for members of the Hmong community in the Phillips neighborhood and Twin Cities.

“Being abused can be really isolating, … and seeing that you have a victim advocate and a lawyer on your side fighting for you in court is a big comfort to the clients,” said Maddie Mouanoutoua, a CUHCC victim advocate.

When East African immigrants, including Somali, Oromo and Ethopian communities, settled in the surrounding neighborhoods in the ’90s, CUHCC expanded mental health services to address the trauma of those who fled war and devastation.

In the early 2000s, Latino immigrants, primarily from Mexico, Ecuador and Venezuela, began to settle in the Phillips neighborhood. Currently, the highest population served at the clinic is Black American.

To reflect the clinic’s patient-centered mission, as a federally qualified health care center, the clinic’s board is majority patient-led.

When the pandemic hit, the clinic worked to modify the space to accommodate for social distancing and make sure patients and staff felt safe, according to Bolnick. CUHCC held COVID-19 screenings and testing outside of the clinic, and patients waited in different areas of the clinic based on their symptoms.

“We quickly restructured our entire clinic and care delivery model yet again,” Bolnick said. “In a sense, we are pretty prepared, I think, to really successfully adapt to the changes COVID has brought.”

Mary Clare Baldus, program manager for adult case management and advocacy program, has worked at CUHCC for more than 28 years. She said her clients who were already anxious experienced heightened anxiety due to the pandemic.

Between March and April, Bolnick said, “It was just all hands on deck.” She added that the clinic had limited personal protective equipment and few COVID-19 testing kits for several weeks. To create more space for social distancing, the clinic turned its large meeting room into a second waiting room.

The clinic started telehealth visits and services for patients, mostly through phone call appointments. Baldus said many clients were relieved not to be asked to come in person for legal or medical services, but some patients either faced barriers accessing the necessary technology for telehealth services or were unfamiliar with the technology.

From June to August, CUHCC partnered with community organizations and clinics to start COVID-19 testing at different locations, such as The Cedars, a Minneapolis housing high-rise, home to many residents who come from low-income or immigrant backgrounds.

“We really wanted to bring the spirit of our clinic outside of the walls,” Bolnick said. “That’s what we’re hoping to do in an ongoing way, even once COVID is done. I think this is really what we’re hoping to build off of in the lessons that we’re learning from this time.”

The University of Minnesota School of Dentistry administration hosted an online town hall on Oct. 26 to address dental students’ concerns about COVID-19 safety.

From the start of the pandemic, many dental students worried about having required in-person exams, limited safe spaces to study and eat as well as an overall lack of student involvement in decision-making.

Students said they had to buy their own personal protective equipment for labs, or PPE, and had no choice but to cluster together in enclosed spaces in order to watch lab demonstrations closely.

Though the town hall meeting answered student questions and introduced new initiatives to address COVID-19 concerns, administrators are working to implement solutions to lower risks for contracting COVID-19.

“We recognize that, for our students, this academic year is presenting unique and unprecedented challenges,” said School of Dentistry spokesperson Maureen Lovestrand in an email. “As students have questions or concerns, the School’s Office of Student and Resident Affairs is a resource for academic and career counseling, academic support or tutoring, understanding policies and procedures, and helping connect students with student groups, as well as mental health resources.”

Ongoing student concerns

The School of Dentistry gave first- and second-year dental students five disposable masks for the fall semester labs to save the PPE for the upper class dental students, who take care of patients at the University’s dental clinic.

First- and second-year students said faculty members told them to wear the five masks until they were “ripped” or “soiled,” according to a second-year dental student who wanted to remain anonymous due to fear of academic retaliation.

While many dental students said it was important to prioritize available PPE to the dental students working with patients and health care workers, there was still a need among first- and second-year students.

“I bought facial shields because you could find them anywhere now … all these places are selling them,” the student said. “But the school keeps claiming they don’t have the money to get them for us, after they increased our tuition … I don’t understand where this money is going.”

According to a presentation at the town hall meeting, in-state tuition at the School of Dentistry increased by around $7,200 between 2019 and 2020. Since 2016, the in-state and out-of-state tuition has continued to increase for dental students.

Keith Mays, the School of Dentistry’s interim dean, sent an email on Oct.14 to dental students about several reports of students not wearing masks or social distancing in non-clinical areas of Moos Tower, like common spaces and hallways.

The email also addressed reports of some dental students “being dismissive to staff and faculty” when asked to put on their masks.

“Your actions reflect you, your fellow classmates, your school, and our profession. This is a time for us to lead by example and demonstrate our commitment to our campus, patients, and school,” read the email from the interim dean.

But some dental students said these incidents were likely a result of having limited safe and socially distanced spaces to eat. Class scheduling gives students a long break in between labs and many dental students stay on campus to eat, study and watch lectures instead of going home.

First- and second-year dental students are separated into smaller lab groups to avoid large gatherings. For example, on certain days of the week, students in groups A and B attend lab from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. then take a three-hour break before returning to lab from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m.

Some dental students said their classmates who are commuters or student-parents have trouble staying on campus all day. During these breaks, some dental students said they saw a staff member taking pictures of students without permission when they were eating in the hallways.

As winter approaches, many dental students worry that safe and socially distanced spaces will become even more limited.

Another second-year dental student, who wanted to remain anonymous due to fear of academic retaliation, said he could have been one of the students reported for not wearing a mask. While sitting in a lecture hall in between lab sections, he and three other students ate with their masks down while being socially distanced.

“Even though we followed the official policy by social distancing and avoiding large gatherings, sitting in a room that was supposed to be reserved for us, and making sure we were sufficiently apart before deciding to take off our mask to eat, a single out of context glance may have contributed to the sending of Dr. Mays’ email,” the student said in an email.

Two second-year dental students, Lauren Moe and Riley Schulz, worked together to resolve the class scheduling issues with the School of Dentistry’s administration. Before the fall class schedules were released, they raised concerns and provided alternatives.

“I had similar concerns that the schedule was resulting in people having weird chunks of time on campus where they had to be here if they commuted more than 10 minutes and a lot of interaction between groups when they were intentionally trying to separate us. So those things were concerning to me, so I brought that up to administration,” Moe said.

Moe and Schulz shared the two alternative fall schedules to second-year students so they could vote on what they preferred. The majority of second-year students voted to have a different fall schedule. However, the School of Dentistry did not implement these alternative fall schedules.

“We did present these ideas to the administration before our schedule was finalized and in some cases, we either heard responses of, ‘Oh, I’m going to direct you to this person instead of me,’ or we just didn’t hear responses, which was many times the case,” Schulz said.

For the upcoming spring semester, Moe and Schulz said the School of Dentistry has been more receptive to hearing student feedback about the class scheduling.

“As far as the administration, I do think that they’re trying to remedy that now, but they’re doing it in time for spring semester when we’re still kind of left hanging as we go into winter now in this fall semester, where we’re spending it indoors time with classmates,” Schulz said.

Responses from School of Dentistry

In 2016, the School of Dentistry experienced a budget crisis, including a deficit of $3,620, according to the town hall meeting. This year, the School of Dentistry predicted another deficit of $5,795, as a result of losing revenue from clinical visits.

“[2016] was a pretty significant time for us. We were no longer [able] to do certain things like overhead and hiring. … And we, at the end of the day, did not close any programs and we were able to clean some things up and get back on track,” Mays said.

At the town hall meeting, Mays introduced a new tuition plan called a “pseudo cohort tuition model” in an effort to stabilize tuition because of the pandemic. The model aims to increase tuition specifically for first- and second-year dental students and freeze tuition for third- and fourth-year dental students. Currently, the model is in the early stages of approval by the University and Board of Regents.

Along with the new tuition model, Mays introduced other COVID-19 initiatives at the School of Dentistry. Sven-Ulrik Gorr, interim associate dean for academic affairs for the dental school, is leading a “COVID-19 Fatigue Workgroup” to review recommendations on the “well-being of the SOD community.” Additionally, a space committee has been formed to identify safe spaces available for students to have lunch and study while socially distanced.

In the last 15 minutes of the town hall meeting, Mays and Gorr answered questions from the dental students. One student asked if Mays felt there was a tension between students and the administration.

“I think that there’s a lot of tension and concern for people and by people,” Mays said. “I think when you put all of us together in this kind of tense time, it’s just tense. But I don’t think it’s about students versus administration.”

Two University of Minnesota graduate students started a national mentorship program for undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds that is set to kick off on Nov. 14.

The Next-Gen Psych Scholars Program’s first event will take place online and introduce mentors and mentees as well as feature a speaker panel. The 2020 Tri-Psych Graduate Student Diversity Fund provided $1,000 to kickstart the program in an effort to provide opportunities for students to diversify psychology fields.

The two graduate students behind the program, Meriah DeJoseph and Kate Carosella, worked together to coordinate and apply for the grant. In October, they received the money to start the program, Carosella said.

“That gave us a month and a half to pull this mentorship program together in order to be helpful for those people who are applying this cycle,” said Carosella, who is a first-year Ph.D. student studying clinical science and psychopathology research.

The mentorship program will consist of online informational sessions and small group workshops to prepare mentees applying to graduate school as many application deadlines are Dec.1.

Carosella added that many mentees are still undecided about applying to graduate school this upcoming year and are considering other options.

Since October, more than 250 mentees and 75 mentors across the nation have joined the mentorship program.

“They’re from all over the place, which I found just really inspiring that we were able to get such reach on this program and that it was so well received,” Carosella said. “That was something that made me happy.”

DeJoseph is a first-generation student, meaning she is the first in her family to earn a four-year degree. She said she grew up in a low-income community that lacked many of the resources she needed to be fully prepared for college or graduate school.

She said she struggled during her first two years in college to adapt to the coursework, and felt that some low grades during her first two years might compromise her chances of pursuing higher education.

Despite those early challenges, her two mentors she gained from working at New York University supported her and encouraged her to apply to graduate school.

The mentors “taught me how to advocate for myself and not apologize for the challenges I faced – they were open about the many challenges they faced themselves and in doing so made me feel like I belonged in academia,” DeJoseph said in an email. “This is the kind of support I’m hoping [the Next-Gen Psych Scholars Program] brings to other prospective PhD students who have been historically underrepresented in psychology.”

Romulus Castelo, a second-year Ph.D. student and mentor in the program, immigrated to the U.S. with his family from the Philippines when he was 10 years old. He said he had different interests before pursuing a psychology major and a minor in neuroscience. It was not until he attended undergrad that he learned about the possibility of doing a Ph.D. program, he added.

“A lot of the success that I’ve got now and my admissions to graduate school, I think I will certainly attribute to a lot of the mentors that I’ve had help me,” said Castelo. “It motivated me to be on the other side now and serve as a mentor to pay it forward.”

Anita Kwashie, a fourth-year Ph.D. student and president of the Association of Multicultural Scientists, is also a mentor in the program. As an international student, she said, unlike domestic students, she had to hustle for opportunities because of restrictions on her visa.

“I never really had a Black professor that didn’t explicitly teach something related to Black history,” Kwashie said. “I went through my entire education career without having visible proof that someone who looked like me could do what I wanted to do.”

African Americans and Black Americans are three to four times more likely to be misdiagnosed with psychotic disorders than white people, according to an article in the World Journal of Psychiatry. Despite comprising 13% of the U.S. population, only 4% of psychologists are Black.

“I think this program is trying to democratize psychology and basically say that not only do we want to eradicate systemic barriers that prevent people from getting involved in psychology research, we also want to show that psychology will be stronger for including more people and not weaker,” Kwashie said.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated where Meriah DeJoseph attended graduate school.

Clarification: Parts of Meriah DeJoseph’s interview have been edited after publication to add more context to her experience of applying to higher education.

The story has also been updated to more accurately reflect the number of mentees in the program.

In response to the prohibition of guests in residence halls, Swipe Out Hunger — a student group that collects and redistributes unused guest swipes from students with meal plans — is looking for different ways to support food accessibility for students.

For the past three years, Swipe Out Hunger has hosted donation drives for students to donate unused meals to hundreds of students experiencing food insecurity. This year, the organization was unable to host its annual donation drive due to COVID-19 restrictions. To help Swipe Out Hunger make up the shortfall, the University of Minnesota allocated some funding, but it wasn’t as much money as the organization expected.

On Aug. 24, President Joan Gabel sent out a University-wide email announcing that M Dining would donate the money amounting to Swipe Out Hunger’s donations from previous years to the on-campus food pantry, Nutritious U Food Pantry.

“Because no outside guests are currently allowed in the residence hall dining facilities, we were asked by the University to eliminate the guest meal program from students’ meal plans,” read an email from Chris Elrod, senior marketing manager for M Dining and Aramark. “We look forward to continuing the program as soon as the campus returns to regular operations.”

Swipe Out Hunger was not involved in the decision to suspend the donation drive, said UMN Swipe Out Hunger co-president Trey Feuerhelm.

The University donated to Swipe Out Hunger but the money will go towards Nutritious U Pantry for students experiencing food insecurity to have access to groceries.

Feuerhelm had a meeting in September with M Dining to plan together and discuss the donation to the Nutritious U Food Pantry. When he asked about the amount of money the University would donate, he said it was significantly lower than expected.

Swipe Out Hunger is allowed to collect up to 1,000 meals a semester, and the estimated cost for a student meal is $6 to $8. Though Feuerhelm expected to have a donation of $6,000 to $8,000, the University donated $2,000 to the on-campus food pantry.

The $2,000 donation was estimated based on the cost of food and density of campus this semester, according to an email from M Dining and University Services. Minus additional costs, like labor and supplies, student meals typically cost $2 to make. In 2019, Swipe Out Hunger collected more than 1,700 meals from unused guest swipes.

“When they told us $2,000, we were kind of surprised in the sense that because we were just expecting to get the full equivalent amount of money, because that’s what the email stated,” said Feuerhelm. “However, the $2,000 actually only covers the food costs.”

The donation does not include additional costs like maintaining the dining hall, kitchen and labor.

During the meeting, Feuerhelm and M Dining discussed negotiations to alter the program to increase the limit of donation swipes, have donation swipes available earlier in the semester and other plans.

Gigi Otten, co-president of UMN Swipe Out Hunger, said despite not covering additional costs, the group is grateful for the University’s donation because it contributes to covering the cost of the food. “We’re working really hard to find an alternative, so we can help as many students as possible,” she said.

A couple of weeks ago, Swipe Out Hunger branches met with the Office of U.S. Senator Tina Smith to discuss the intersection of mental health and food insecurity on campus. Smith introduced a bill titled “The Emergency Grant for College Students Act” to authorize a grant program to help college students in unanticipated emergencies without needing to pay.

“[The office of U.S. Senator Tina Smith] understood that we could use support even if it wasn’t financial. And they were really responsive to see how they could help us in ways that were realistic and achievable,” Otten said.

By the end of the month, Swipe Out Hunger will be meeting with M Dining again to plan for the next semester and continue advocating for students experiencing food insecurity.

“We have been going beyond dining and going beyond the University to express the needs and the impact of food insecurity on college students and the reasons why food insecurity exists on college campuses,” Feuerhelm said.

Student Counseling Services at the University of Minnesota has added new counseling affinity groups to support LGBTQ+ students and students of color navigating their identities amid the pandemic and increased social upheaval.

The new counseling affinity groups will meet virtually this fall on a weekly basis to bring together students with shared identities to foster connection and empowerment.

The first affinity group, titled “Coping, Supporting, & Healing in the Face of Anti-Asian Discrimination,” was designed to support Asian and Asian American students amid rising anti-Asian racism and xenophobia in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Facilitators later decided to expand the services and include more affinity groups that are specific to students of color.

“We’re dedicating some of these affinity spaces to specific BIPOC student communities in particular, because we know that a core component of health and wellness is feeling that our identities are acknowledged, affirmed, valued, and celebrated,” Alexa Fetzer, groups coordinator and staff psychologist for Student Counseling Services, said in an email.

The new affinity groups include spaces for Black and African American students, LGBTQ+ students, Asian and Asian American students and mixed race students. Facilitators helped in the early stages of the process to envision and help create partnerships for the new groups.

Counseling services collaborated with a variety of programs at the University, including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Program, the Aurora Center for Advocacy & Education, TRIO Student Support Services, the Asian Pacific American Resource Center and Boynton Mental Health. Staff from these programs with shared identities corresponding to each group fill the role of facilitators.

“It has been inexplicably beautiful to bear witness to moments of aliveness that come to someone’s eyes in hearing another share how they feel or a story about their life and respond with ‘Wow, I’ve felt that way too!’” Alex Montes, an affinity group facilitator and clinical social work therapist, said in an email. “To be witness to unspoken connection and affirmation is like nothing else.”

Third-year student Justine Mattson regularly attended a counseling group last spring and summer. As a mixed-race woman, Mattson said she has dealt with racial impostor syndrome, the feeling of not fully belonging to her race or heritage.

“I definitely walked away with a lot more confidence in what my place is in the LGBTQ community and the BIPOC community,” Mattson said. “It was really a sense of belonging and understanding.”

Mattson stopped attending group counseling due to scheduling conflicts but also to open up another opportunity for a student to join after getting the support she needed.

“Group therapy … it’s not what you’re picturing in your head. It’s a positive space to talk about your day, roommate drama, big societal stuff. It can be anything from your anxiety and racial identity,” Mattson said. “I would just hope people walk away a little more open towards the idea.”
Existing virtually, the groups have also been more accessible to students, Fetzer said in the email.

“We hope the creation of these affinity group spaces can be a flexible way to address these challenges … students who are located outside of MN may still access these affinity groups, at a time when they are likely really needing increased social support,” she said.

The Aurora Center also offers virtual support groups for students to meet and talk about trauma, recovery and healing after relationship violence, according to its website.

There is a high number of students who expressed interest by signing up for group counseling, said Vesna Hampel-Kozar, director of Student Counseling Services.

“Ensuring that BIPOC students have access to these spaces and messages is always important and always needed- and this access is especially important and especially needed for BIPOC communities now, in the face of increased and acute experiences of racism, racial violence, and injustice,” Fetzer said in the email.

A University of Minnesota professor in the College of Design created a platform to share stories of communities through buildings and places in the Twin Cities where the George Floyd protests occurred.

On an online platform called “Landscapes of Hope,” professor Tasoulla Hadjiyanni catalogued more than 200 buildings in the Twin Cities neighborhoods. Each building on the website is accompanied by a photo and story collected by Hadjiyanni that indicates the building’s significance in the community. Hadjiyanni said she wanted to do more to serve the community through storytelling and to show students the impact the “built environment” can have in achieving social and racial justice.

In a couple months, the platform will be accessible as a map, so viewers can see the locations along with their stories.

“I wanted to help people see a way forward. I felt that Minneapolis has a lot of disparities, but at the same time, it offers us a lot of solutions as to how we can move forward,” said Hadjiyanni. “We just need to know where to look.”

One of the featured buildings on the platform is Springboard for the Arts — a nonprofit organization based in Minnesota that supports artists and small business owners from marginalized communities. In the last couple of years, the organization worked on transforming a used car dealership into a space for the community. The space included rooms for events, offices and places for creating art.

Three weeks after opening in February, staff members had to close the building due to the pandemic. On May 28, riots caused a small fire and broke windows in the Springboard for the Arts’ building in St. Paul. The sprinkler system in the building stopped the small fire from spreading.

“It was really hard. And I [want to] reinforce the truth that human life, racial justice, addressing the systemic racism and systemic anti-Blackness in our community is way more important than any property,” said Laura Zabel, the executive director of Springboard for the Arts.

The surrounding community played a major role in giving feedback to design the space. The architect, James Garrett Jr., incorporated the feedback and a local construction company, Flannery Construction, would go on to build the space, Zabel said.

Cookie Cart, another featured building, is a nonprofit organization in the Twin Cities that provides teens with employment and leadership opportunities. Despite the pandemic, Cookie Cart continues to provide those opportunities for teens virtually.

When the organization covered its windows, the Cookie Cart’s teens came out to paint the plywood to express solidarity for racial justice.

“For us, especially, we wanted to put art on the plywood, and we wanted to make it into something beautiful,” said Taylor Lubich, the marketing and communications senior manager at Cookie Cart. “[And] that showed that we were standing with our community, that we weren’t closing off.”

The Norway House is also featured on Hadjiyanni’s platform. It is a central hub for connecting the U.S. to contemporary Norway arts, business and culture. This year, the Norway House held their largest fundraising event online and donated a portion of the proceeds to rebuild Lake Street.

During the riots, community members helped each other look after the buildings in their neighborhood.

“We join our Ventura Village neighbors in solidarity in the fight against social injustice. … We are thankful to our neighbors from the American Indian Community who watched over our corridor of Franklin Avenue, including Mindekirken and Norway House each night,” an email from Norway House leaders said.

Hadjiyanni said she hopes to expand the platform to cover protests across the country and the world.

“Gathering the stories, though, help[ed] me … get to know so much more about family-owned, immigrant-owned, Black-owned, women-owned businesses and how our city has so much to offer in terms of becoming a role model for how other cities around the nation and the world can work towards ending systemic racism,” said Hadjiyanni.