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Commentary: Why More Students Are Skipping School

My Minnesota Youth Council committee created a survey that was completed by 227 high schoolers in Minneapolis, mostly from Washburn and Edison High Schools. The results are telling: students are missing school because the education system is not meeting their needs.

Minnesota Woman Crosses the Namib Desert

    Many of Concha Fernandez del Rey's friends told…

Photo Gallery From the Conejo Rally

  On Saturday, May 9, Minnesotans gathered at the…

Talk & Do: Mothers in Greater Minnesota Call for Anti-Racist Education and Accountability (Part 1)

Yes, kids will be kids, “until you teach a child what they can and cannot do, and then they're going to be a different kind of kid.” By humanizing school systems, kids can “show up as whole people, not scared, not timid, and not head on a swivel — learning is not taking place in those situations, when we're just trying to get through a day.”

YOUTH: How Do We Apply Community to Housing Solutions?

"By 16, I was sleeping in my own truck. When I turned 18, I bounced between my car, my grandfather’s house, and unstable rentals."

One Family’s Journey Into Building an Intentional Community

Twin Cities Family Cooperative uses consensus for decision-making, which is common in cohousing communities compared to more general cooperatives. Households own a share in the community rather than owning a unit. As such, they can move spaces as family needs change. Monthly operating dues are based on a percentage of the household’s income regardless of the space.

ACTION: What You Can Do About Homelessness

Sindy Mau has been work with people experiencing homelessness for years. Here are her suggestions of how everyone — individuals, employers, landlords, and social service agents — can help resolve the housing crisis in small but big ways.

A Conversation With Jewelean Jackson

"We have the resources to address it. What we lack is political will. Still, I believe in perseverance. I’ve seen legislation pass by a single vote. I’ve seen young people fight back against unfair housing practices and win. I’ve seen what happens when people refuse to give up. So, as long as I’m here, that’s exactly what I intend to do."

FUTURE FORWARD: A Solution to Youth Homelessness 

As a member of the youth delegation connecting with legislators this year, we are recommending development of a pilot program to identify, renovate, and repurpose vacant buildings into affordable housing for youth, with dedicated funding allocated in the next state budget cycle.

COMMENTARY: Compulsory Safety — What Black Rural Families Need

"The systemic failure at the heart of the issue: The lack of consideration for Black children in Minnesota's education system has produced generations of predictable and preventable harm."

Third Act Turns Up the Heat on ICE Affiliations

“Turn Up the Heat: Melt the Companies That Profit from ICE and DHS” is a national boycott with a local chapter of Third Act — which was co-founded by climate activist Bill McKibben to mobilize people over age 60 through community organizing, digital communication, and targeted campaigns.

What I Am Building For Homeless and At-Risk Teens, and Why

"Inspirations for Aspirations is my answer to the question that haunted me through foster care: Where do kids like me go when there's nowhere safe to land? Now I'm building that place — the sanctuary I needed, designed by someone who understands what these youth are surviving because I survived it too."