‘Health’ Archives
BACKYARD INITIATIVE: A Cultural Wellness Center community engaged model for improving health of communities, cultures, and corporate partners
In 2008, residents of South Mpls, the CEO of Allina, and African American, Native American, and European American elders from Mpls. and St. Paul, approached the Cultural Wellness Center”'s (CWC) Executive Director/elder activist and requested that CWC design the model of engagement for what is now known as the Backyard Initiative (BYI). Eight years later, the BYI model is in place. Each component of the initiative mirrors the CWC engagement design. The patterns and practices of the BYI are grounded in cultural knowledge and ways of knowing. Time dimensions and community development by Ahmed Azzahir is the primary research from which the CWC draws its core knowledge. Faculty of the CWC articulate, research and disseminate culturally specific understandings; analyze problems and thought patterns; and draft action plans for the BYI. The elder faculty members are facilitators, organizers, conveners, and hostesses of learning circles. They are a new generation of scholars and [...]
ReTHINK Your Drink ”” Every Sip Counts!
A partnership between the Backyard Initiative and the City of Minneapolis The BYI youth”'s interest in reducing sugary drink consumption was ignited by the Teens Entering Existing Networking Systems (TEENS) Project”'s (BYI”'s youth-oriented Community Health Action Team”'s) participation in the City of Minneapolis”' ReThink Your Drink, Every Sip Counts! campaign. The goals of this participation were: (1) expanding the reach of the campaign; (2) strengthening the relationship between the BYI and the Minneapolis Health Department (MHD); (3) increasing the presence of the BYI in the Midtown Global Market (MGM); and (4) continuing to bolster MGM as a community-owned marketplace and gathering space that fosters community health. In support of these goals, five members of the TEENS Project completed a 2-hour training with a MHD staff member and subsequently facilitated 3 health promotion activities in the community. At the project”'s end, a member of the [...]
