News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Sunday December 21st 2025
Activist self-care
Daisy Buenrostro, with the Cultural Wellness Center Engaged Citizen Award presented to her at the Backyard Initiative All CHATS meeting, February 21.
By Khusaba Seka
When you think about how you started doing community work, what was the spark that started the flame? Maybe you don”'t have a specific memory. You just always could relate to the “underdog”? However, if I asked you, “Have you ever been close to burn out”, you can probably tell me exactly what extinguished the flame.
So many of the youth we engage in this work are on the right path but burn out before they meet their destination.   As I sit down with one young leader and discuss her future, this question comes to mind. How do we encourage her to continue the work her community is calling her to do without her giving up her youth or “separating her from the crowd”.
Being 15, beautiful, and popular, you think someone of this description would not have others on their mind. But, Daisy Buenrostro is not only beautiful and popular, she is smart, courageous and can”'t remember a time she wasn”'t considering the feelings of others. Her name might sound familiar to you because she was just on the TV news for her bravery in helping to report a vehicle that was described in an Amber Alert.… Read the rest “Activist self-care”
Daisy”'s Amber Alert response recognized
Daisy Buenrostro, whose family is part of the Backyard Initiative”'s (BYI) Anchor Family Citizen Health Action Team (CHAT), was honored by city officials and community members on February 21, 2013, at the BYI”'s All CHATs meeting for her role in helping police officers to safely locate an abducted child the day before. (KMSP-TV excerpts) “Police credit one Minneapolis teen”'s quick thinking with helping them safely locate an abducted child and the suspect in his disappearance on Wednesday. Daisy received a lot of surprise recognition from city officials and the Backyard Initiative for playing such a vital role in making sure Carlos Orozco was reunited with his mother.”
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The Backyard Initiative
The Backyard Initiative is a dynamic partnership between Allina Health and the people of the seven neighborhoods the immediate surrounding area. This Initiative goes beyond medical care to improve health and health care through: active engagement, addressing the root causes of illness and building connections. There are currently 11 active Citizen Health Action Teams or (CHATs) that implement prevention and wellness pilot projects to improve community health.
BYI Definition of Health:Â
- Health is a state of physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being. It is not only the absence of infirmity and disease.
- Health is the state of balance, harmony, and connectedness within and between many systems ”“ the body, the family, the community, the environment, and culture. It cannot be seen only in an individual context.
- Health is an active state of being; people must be active participants to be healthy. It cannot be achieved by being passive.
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