Born in 1943 in segregated Mississippi, Azzahir was raised in an all-Black community that supported collective purchasing and shared child care and collaboration. “We had to get along with each other. We had to watch out for each other,” she recalls. “The way that we related to one another gave us a greater resiliency and the capacity to stand up against outside forces.”

"If I could go back in time and talk to myself about my future life, I would tell "her" it's okay to have a disability and it is nothing to be ashamed of. It makes me who I am. It makes me extra special."

I didn’t know anything about goal setting, time management, or financial planning until I came to Minnesota and registered at Community Action Partnership for a two-year program called “Self-Sufficiency for Low-Income Families.”

“All human beings are stronger together,” says Arradondo-Russell, who oversees day-to-day operations. “The opposite of addiction is connection.”