The Saint Paul & Minnesota Community Foundations award $250,000 to partnership addressing narrative change in news media

SAINT PAUL, MINN. - The Saint Paul & Minnesota Community Foundations today announced a $250,000 grant award to Truth and Transformation: Changing Racial Narratives in Media, a partnership that aims to change problematic racial narratives and their representation in local news media by helping news professionals uncover their own biases and assumptions, and amplifying community solutions to narrative change.

“Narrative change and racial healing are critical components of creating racial equity,” said Dr. Eric J. Jolly, president and CEO of the Foundations. “We know this work is only possible through effective community partnerships, and this collaborative effort is an excellent example of the creativity and fresh thinking that is possible when we invite others to the table.”

This grant is part of the Foundations’ wider-reaching Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) work, which focuses on narrative change, racial healing, and relationship building. In 2017, the Foundations received a grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation for this work as part of its effort to support and sustain the TRHT process across the country.

The grant funds a core group of six community partners that includes Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), KMOJ/98.8 Radio, The Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC), Pillsbury United Communities (PUC), ThreeSixty Journalism, and Hamline University. This core group will form the Truth and Transformation: Changing Racial Narratives in Media Coalition. It will gather for a learning session in 2018 to create the program, training materials, and an outreach plan, culminating in a two-day statewide media conference in 2019.

About the partners

• Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) – Together with its national arm American Public Media, MPR is the largest station-based public radio organization in the U.S., combining multi-regional station operations national content creation and distribution in one organization, with programming spanning broadcast radio, digital platforms and live events. MPR’s role in the collaboration will be project and fiscal management, partnership development, marketing and communications and digital/social media support.

• KMOJ/98.8 Radio – KMOJ is a Minneapolis-based community-orientated radio station which aims to provide communities of color with information and education through the vehicle of mass communication, including computer/internet, television, radio, and print journalism. KMOJ’s role in the collaboration is content creation and community outreach.

• The Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC) – MHC is a statewide nonprofit and full service event center located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Through programs, exhibits, documentaries, books, and more, MHC partners with Minnesotans to bring people together via storytelling, philosophy, literature, history, culture, and what it means to be human. Its role is statewide conference design and programming, education materials development, and program evaluation.

• Pillsbury United Communities (PUC) – PUC works with underserved populations across Minneapolis to foster the resilience and self-sufficiency of individuals, families and community as a whole. Its Community Media Initiative, comprised of North News community newspaper and PUC’s KRSM-FM radio station, will help lead content creation and community outreach in the collaboration.

• ThreeSixty Journalism – ThreeSixty Journalism is a nonprofit program of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of St. Thomas which trains and supports the next generation of diverse thinkers, communicators and leaders. Its role in the collaboration will be education and youth outreach as well as conference reporting.

• Hamline University – In August 2017, Hamline University was selected from a pool of 125 applicants to be one of the nation’s first ten Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers selected by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in partnership with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Newman’s Own Foundation. In addition to serving as the host site for the conference, Hamline’s role will be to share learning from their own TRHT experience and contribute to the design and development of program content, facilitation, educational resources, and communities of practice related to the collaboration.

About The Saint Paul & Minnesota Community Foundations

We believe in the best of Minnesota and the power of its communities. With roots in Saint Paul and partners across the state, we are Minnesota’s largest community foundation and the partner of choice for thousands of donors, nonprofits, and community organizations. We inspire generosity to make Minnesota better for all who call it home. To learn more, visit spmcf.org.