This Minnesota Transform Spotlight was first published in the Minnesota Transform Special Edition Newsletter on April 18, 2022. Thank you to all of our contributing partners and student interns.
Who are Minnesota Transform Interns?
This spring, Minnesota Transform placed 58 undergraduate and graduate student interns across community organizations and University departments doing social justice projects in the humanities. Our community partners include local arts and advocacy organizations, as well as public schools and higher education institutions in Minnesota.
We asked a few of our interns to share highlights of their experiences. Their work includes contributing to the creation of a local history exhibition on school segregation, relationship building across decolonial campus mapping projects, community programming for artist development, and much more.
Minnesota Youth Story Squad (MYSS)
Minnesota Transform partners with Minnesota Youth Story Squad to support undergraduate students in internships focused on racial justice with youth in public high school and middle schools. MYSS undergraduate interns lead workshops on racial, environmental, and social justice through art and media projects with Minneapolis Public School youth as mentors in the classroom. Check out the Minnesota Youth Story Squad Instagram @mnyouthstorysquad.
Hennepin History Museum
This spring, Minnesota Transform interns are working at Hennepin History Museum to support the creation of Separate Not Equal: The Hale-Field Pairing, a forthcoming exhibit and program series which explores the history of activism against segregation in the public school system. Internship projects for the Separate Not Equal exhibit include research, writing, and exhibit design while working directly with Hennepin History Museum staff.
Tamales y Bicicletas
Tamales y Bicicletas (TyB) works with young adults and their families of Latin, Indigenous, and East African descent, to create a Jardín Urbano/ Urban Farming Institute to localize and decolonize our food systems in South Minneapolis. This semester, undergraduate and graduate student interns are working with Tamales y Bicicletas to assist in garden preparation; outreach and sustainable food education planning with Phillips area neighbors; and event planning with other urban farms and growers.
Tamales y Bicicletas Instagram
Tamales y Bicicletas Facebook
Memorialize the Movement
Minnesota Transform interns work directly with the community arts preservation and mobilization efforts of Memorialize the Movement (MtM), a grassroots organization created to preserve the plywood murals made during the Minneapolis uprising of 2020. MtM sheds light on issues of police accountability and racial inequality by uplifting the voices of the people. Engage with Memorialize the Movement’s upcoming events and exhibitions on their website and Instagram.
Support Memorialize the Movement by donating here.