One in five Minnesota households face food insecurity.

Twenty-six percent of Minnesota households with one or more children under 18 were also food insecure. For households with at least one school-age child from 5 to 17 years old, the percentage of food insecure households jumped to 28%. The results of Second Harvest Heartland’s statewide hunger survey, conducted with help from Wilder Research, were evocative. 

Households of color – defined in the methodology as households where at least one member is  Black, Indigenous or from another community of color – were also disproportionately affected by food insecurity. Karen Spitzfaden, director of consumer insights and digital strategy at Second Harvest Heartland, noted that 40% of Minnesota households of color were food insecure compared to 20% of households overall. Fifty-two percent of Minnesota households with at least one Black member, along with 52% of American Indian and Alaska Native Indigenous households in the state, were also food insecure. 

Food insecurity is where households were unable to get enough food with or without help from the emergency food system. 

Even Minnesotans who were food secure based on survey data have concerns about affordability. Allison O’Toole, chief executive officer of Second Harvest Heartland, said 30% of all Minnesotans are “worried they won’t be able to afford food in the next year.” For households of color in Minnesota, that number is 47%.

“People are living paycheck to paycheck. Grocery prices are about 30% higher than they were in 2019. The same goes for energy prices; the cost of rent (and the cost of) childcare. When you put all those (together), it’s a confluence of events,” added O’Toole. 

Though she noted that federal and philanthropic assistance helped her organization provide Minnesotans with food during the height of the pandemic, food insecurity went back up after those supports sunsetted. By the end of 2023 the Food Group, which tracks visits to food shelves in Minnesota, had recorded around 7.5 million visits according to O’Toole. 

“I’ve heard now that it is 9 million or more (visits in) 2024,” said O’Toole. “What that tells me is the status quo isn’t working.”

In response to the survey, Second Harvest Heartland gathered 300-400 partner organizations at its first Make Hunger History summit on Jan. 31 – an opportunity to promote collaborative solutions. Though Second Harvest Heartland’s mission to get 90% of Minnesota households to food security by 2030 was announced last year, more recent uncertainty around federal funding was a topic of discussion. 

In the midst of federal uncertainty, Gov. Tim Walz emphasized the state’s resilience and willingness to tackle the problem of hunger, noting that Minnesota’s “superpower” is how Minnesotans act collaboratively, building ecosystems of support between federal and state governments, local nonprofits and faith-based organizations. 

“I’ve been using a phrase I heard somewhere, ‘Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare,’” said Walz. “I think we possess both of those in Minnesota. We are enthusiastic, but we will not back off.”

Speakers on a panel at the event on the topic of food as medicine also voiced concerns around federal funding. Lisa Lane, chief external affairs officer of Open Arms of Minnesota, which sends nutritionist tailored meals to critically and chronically ill people, said her organization receives federal funding through the Ryan White CARE Act and the Older Americans Act. As this funding may be in jeopardy, Open Arms is looking to philanthropy to help fill in the gap. 

Abby Gold and Terese Hill work for the University of Minnesota and Fairview Health Services, respectively and receive federal funding from the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program. One part of this funding allows the organizations to participate in produce programs, where health systems work with farmers to provide freshly grown produce to patients. This service isn’t just about providing food to people who are ill, but about preventing illness. 

“Yes, we want funding for food for people (who) need it,” said Hill. “But also there’s a whole amount of work around prevention and how we can keep people well, rather than treating the illness.” 

“One of the reasons we’re talking about food as medicine is because we have to frame it (that way) so that we get those resources from a medical system that sucks up so much of the oxygen,” added Dr. Nathan Chomilo, medical director of Minnesota’s Medicaid and MinnesotaCare programs. “This is a decision we’ve made as a country. It’s a decision that’s rooted in our health care system being founded in capitalism. There is no real reason that we shouldn’t have created a system where everyone doesn’t need to worry about food.”

Deanna Pistono

Deanna Pistono is MinnPost’s Race & Health Equity fellow. Follow her on Twitter @deannapistono or email her at dpistono@minnpost.com.

The post Nearly 1 million Minnesotans could be going hungry appeared first on MinnPost.

As the year draws to an end, a lot of us are likely reviewing it – what went well for us, what didn’t, what we accomplished and what we wish we’d accomplished. For me, part of looking back is looking at the topics I was able to cover . In no particular order, here’s some health stories I’m looking back at as we leave 2024: 

A ride-along in ‘Thrivey,’ part of Twin Cities harm reduction efforts serving those experiencing homelessness

There are times when you have to get details secondhand from people over the phone or through virtual interviews, but real shoe-leather reporting is always going to hold value. So when the Aliveness Project invited me onto Thrivey to see their harm reduction work in action, I jumped at the chance. Though I left some details of those visiting the van out of the story for their privacy, the stories I was able to gather from staff and volunteers had insights both from working in harm reduction and from lived experience.

Unraveling election misinformation on gender-affirming care, kids and Minnesota’s law

Part of being a journalist today and in the past is combatting misinformation and disinformation – a lot of which was being spread in the case of gender-affirming health care. For this article I identified myths about gender-affirming care and interviewed medical professionals and advocates to get at the truth of how this care actually works.

How therapists are helping marginalized communities cope when identity politics flood the airwaves

It’s become almost trite now to say that “mental health matters”, but at its core, it’s still a message I agree with. It was certainly the case for myself and many others during the tension of this election cycle – especially when they were affected by rhetoric about their identities coming from the Trump campaign.

Rainbow Health was as much life care as it was health care for LGBTQ+ community

The sudden closure of Rainbow Health in July left their clients without access to health care and essential services, and was reported on by multiple outlets. My own contribution linked above took a thorough look at the closure’s impact and what was going to happen next for providers and patients.

North Minneapolis nonprofit Appetite for Change publishes cookbook

Food insecurity and nutrition were a central issue this year in my health coverage – from the article above on Appetite for Change’s cookbook to how food insecurity may lead to eating disorders and how data analysis can provide new insights for food shelves. Not surprising, given that we all have to eat to live.

The Black church can play a role in improving health outcomes

Throughout the year, I attended a couple different health events, but one of the most memorable in many ways was the Balm in Gilead’s Roadmap Tour stop at the Capri Theatre in June. The variety of presentations on various aspects of health, along with the emphasis on self-advocacy and reaching out to community members were, in this reporter’s opinion, very impactful.

Twin Cities residents push for environmental justice; combatting the effects of environmental racism

This is one of my earliest articles at MinnPost, but was something I was drawn to cover because (as I’ll tell anyone) health is impacted by everything around us, including where we live. As I spoke with people and did my research – on the HERC, Smith Foundry, the destruction of Rondo and the arsenic in Hiawatha Avenue – that idea only solidified. I also was able to speak with students at Macalester College about this particular article and share my insights as a health reporter – a conversation that I hope was valuable to them.

It’s not just puppy love: The important bond between humans and pets

Last for now, but not least, I had the opportunity to write about pets and their impact on our health and wellbeing – something suggested by my editor Harry Colbert Jr., who, like myself, shares his home with an animal (though I will say his dog, Cruz and my cat, Apollo have somewhat significant differences!). 

There are so many other stories I’ve done that I’m proud of, but I thought I’d keep it to health right now, since that’s my primary beat. Throughout my work at MinnPost this year, the one thing I’ve always kept in mind is to not take for granted the trust people have placed in me. While it’s not really for me to say if I’ve been successful there, it’s something I’m going to keep telling myself as I move into 2025. I’ll see you there, and happy holidays!

Deanna Pistono

Deanna Pistono is MinnPost’s Race & Health Equity fellow. Follow her on Twitter @deannapistono or email her at dpistono@minnpost.com.

The post Digging deeper to cover the Twin Cities health stories that mattered in 2024 appeared first on MinnPost.

Second-year law student Elayna Chambers became aware of the issues with prison dental care as she spoke over the phone with women incarcerated in Shakopee as part of her work at a University of St. Thomas Law clinic. 

Chambers recalled one woman telling her, “Don’t have anything wrong with your teeth (in prison). They’ll probably just end up pulling it out anyway.”  

Through conversations once or twice a week this semester as part of the Community Justice Project law clinic, Chambers learned more about challenges the women faced in prison. Chambers and her classmates also worked on promoting the Survivors Justice Act, in partnership with Violence Free Minnesota, a coalition of organizations focused on ending relationship abuse in the state. The legislation, which has not been passed in Minnesota, would allow judges to grant shorter sentences in cases where defendants are abuse survivors. 

“What this bill would do is give judges the flexibility to impose those sentences that are more within what justice demands than what the strict interpretation of the law and a mandatory minimum might suggest,” said Jess Palyan, policy program manager at Violence Free Minnesota.

The Survivors Justice Act, added Palyan, is just one step in abuse prevention.

“We need to make sure that the people we’re putting in (prison) are treated like human beings, so that when they come out, they are prepared to treat everybody like human beings,” Palyan said. 

Though the Minnesota Department of Corrections contracts out various aspects of health care, from physical and mental health to eye health, Chambers found that the state has no contractor for prison dental care. Instead, Chambers said, the department “just (has) dentists on staff at each prison. As we all know, Minnesota prisons and just prisons generally are under-sourced, under-resourced, understaffed, and I think that’s where these issues come in.” 

While dental care is often treated separately from general health in a medical setting, poor dental health can impact or indicate poor mental and physical wellbeing. 

“From the research I’ve been doing and speaking to the women or (with) my friends at the (University of) Minnesota School of Dentistry, dental care seems like a precursor to the rest of your overall health,” Chambers said. “If something’s not going well in there, it can affect the whole rest of your body, (along with) self-esteem issues and mental health issues and the whole process of reintegration after people are eventually released from prison. The long-term effects of dental care long outlast the length of an average prison sentence.” 

In response to her research, Chambers began developing the concept of the Boundless Dental Bus – a mobile clinic bus that would take dental students around the state to care for those currently incarcerated. Students at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry, Chambers said, are already required to participate in comprehensive care clinics which “serve lower-income communities at a much lower cost than private practice dentistry.” 

“Boundless Dental Bus would aim to fill that need for a contract with the Minnesota Department of Corrections, just to make sure (dental care is) more uniform and regulated throughout,” she added. 

Chambers entered her business plan for the bus into the University of St. Thomas’ Fowler Business Concept Challenge. The bus concept placed third overall, earning Chambers $4,000 in scholarships. The Boundless Dental Bus plan was also awarded the Health Equity Champion Award, which won Chambers another $2,500 in scholarships. Chambers received the awards in November. 

“(With) Elayna’s specific dental bus recommendation, you see somebody who is trying to come up with really good solutions to just try to make sure that this sense of normalcy and care (is) being provided to people who, in a lot of ways, we don’t care about (and who) in a lot of ways we kind of leave behind,” said Palyan, who, in addition to working with Elayna and two other students in the Community Justice Project law clinic, is an alum of the clinic himself. 

“Looking at ways to try to make sure those people feel more human, make sure that they feel more cared for is just phenomenal.”

Though the competition is over, Chambers is prepared to take steps to make her vision a reality. Over winter break after her finals, Chambers plans to meet with Billy Mzenga, director of the Institute for Social Innovation at St. Thomas’ Opus College of Business, to discuss next steps for the Boundless Dental Bus.

While Mzenga was not involved in the judging process for the concept challenge, he called it “an amazing idea” and would like to help her brainstorm what might come next, from networking strategically to fundraising for a pilot program at a single prison. Mzenga, who is a member of the board of All Square, a nonprofit that supports those currently and formerly incarcerated, added that Chambers’ concept resonated with him.

The next step for Chambers, Mzenga said, is “getting in front of the people who have (an) understanding of how the Department of Corrections works (and) have a robust understanding of how students in the school of dentistry get internships.” 

Chambers also sees the value in learning from others. 

“This was all very preliminary and basic research and business planning. I would like to speak to more people who know a lot more about the stuff than I do to see how (the Boundless Dental Bus) could become, hopefully, a reality in some way, shape, or form.”

Deanna Pistono

Deanna Pistono is MinnPost’s Race & Health Equity fellow. Follow her on Twitter @deannapistono or email her at dpistono@minnpost.com.

The post Could dental students provide care to incarcerated Minnesotans? This law student has a plan appeared first on MinnPost.

Every month, Rashmi Kandwal and Mary MacCarthy sit down in a recording studio in Minneapolis to discuss  health conditions with three guests – a patient, a physician and someone involved in research, education, support and/or advocacy. 

Kandwal and MacCarthy are the executive director and a board member, respectively, of Healthcare MN, a Twin Cities-based organization focused on networking and connecting various health care innovators and professionals. Before launching the Patient Innovations podcast, Kandwal said the organization would make blog posts about founders of health care businesses. But as podcasts have become more popular, she thought it would be best to convert these posts to podcast format. 

Kandwal credits MacCarthy, who teaches a class at the University of Minnesota on launching biotech startups, with the idea of making the podcast more patient-focused. This focus provides insights into the way conditions and diseases impact people’s lives. For example, Dennik McBride, who shared her experience living with sickle cell disease on the podcast, spoke about having to ensure her condition was taken seriously by medical professionals in the past. 

“We (people living with sickle cell disease) deal with some of the worst pain in the world. We’re not drug-seeking, we’re not just there (at the emergency room) to be there. If we didn’t have to be there, do you think we’d really want to be there? But when we go we have to fight for ourselves and fight for good treatment,” said McBride, who noted that the majority of people with sickle cell disease in the U.S. are, like her, of African descent. 

At the time of the podcast’s recording, McBride had started gene therapy treatment at the University of Minnesota with Dr. Ashish Gupta, another guest on the sickle cell episode. 

“I’m really thankful for the gene therapy,” said McBride. “I just wish it was in the world more – (that) we heard more about it, we knew more about it. …I’m just tired of (sickle cell disease) taking my friends.” 

After McBride shared her experiences, MacCarthy thanked her for her courage. 

“When we interview the patients, we’re doing our best to be really respectful of them and their story and not (trying to) leverage them at all,” MacCarthy said in an interview with MinnPost. “Multiple times we’ve had tears in our eyes talking to the patient. An underlying theme of every episode is hope. There’s hope out there for people that have whatever disease it is that we’re talking about, because there are many researchers researching better diagnostics (and) better therapies to help them live a full life.”  

At first, said MacCarthy, they chose episode topics based on awareness months before focusing on what was interesting to them and who they were able to connect with. Since starting the podcast, the hosts have been able to work with M Fairview Health and other organizations to find experts, including Dr. Joseph Maakaron, an oncologist featured in an upcoming episode on multiple myeloma.

How they found their guest with lived experience for the multiple myeloma episode, however, was via personal connection. Guest Ron Thiessen is the father of Sam Devine, the studio engineer for Patient Innovations. Kandwal said they also seek  people with lived experiences by posting on LinkedIn, as well as mentioning the podcast at Healthcare MN’s networking events. 

In addition to hope, the podcast offers education about various treatments, as well as featuring organizations working to improve the health of those living with various conditions. This allows those living with these conditions, along with their family and friends, to be better informed about potential treatment options and avenues of support.

While patients featured on the episodes have not yet been made aware of new treatments from other guests, Kandwal, while recording an episode, was able to receive insights about diabetes from Stacey Pugh, the CEO of Endogenex.

“The first thing (Pugh) said about (Endogenex’s) treatment is that it targets inflammation. Nobody talks about inflammation and its relation to diabetes. So that was eye-opening for me,” said Kandwal, who was diagnosed with diabetes about three months ago.

While Exogenex’s treatment is not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration and is not, according to Pugh, expected to be available on the market until 2028, the podcast conversation has led Kandwal to change the focus of her research into managing her own diabetes, with a greater focus on gut health instead of the usual discussions of exercise and eating. MacCarthy also noted that the podcast’s focus on new innovations may benefit startups and organizations, as well as those listening and learning about treatment options for their own conditions. 

“There might be a listener out there and they’ll go ‘I think I want to help fund that clinical trial or support that startup or find a way to support the foundation,’” MacCarthy said.
In the future, the hosts are interested in expanding from a monthly podcast to two episodes per month. For those who want to share their story or have thoughts about the podcast, Kandwal invites them to connect with her via email at rashmi@healthcare.mn.

Deanna Pistono

Deanna Pistono is MinnPost’s Race & Health Equity fellow. Follow her on Twitter @deannapistono or email her at dpistono@minnpost.com.

The post Patients Innovation podcast provides patient-focused health care insights appeared first on MinnPost.

Near the Franklin Street light rail station, a line of people waited by the back doors of the Aliveness Project’s red van, reciting their initials and year of birth to a staff member holding an iPad. Inside, Logan Huber, wearing a snowflake-patterned blue beanie, organized red paper bags filled with wound care kits, needles, smoking equipment, Narcan and fentanyl and xylazine test strips. 

When Huber had finished filling each bag with requested items, he handed them to other members of the Aliveness Project team or to a volunteer, who passed them on to the recipients, some of whom arrived via the light rail. Staff also handed out water and snacks.

This van, named “Thrivey” by the Aliveness Project, is part of the organization’s efforts to prevent the spread of HIV. As HIV can be spread through contaminated needles, Thrivey provides people with clean needles, along with smoking equipment, a safer alternative to injection. 

There are multiple outbreaks of HIV being tracked by the Minnesota Department of Health – two in Hennepin and Ramsey county, and one in the Duluth area. One of the two outbreaks in Hennepin and Ramsey is linked to injection drug users who “live or have spent time in a known encampment corridor in Minneapolis or St. Paul.” As of Sept. 3, this outbreak has been associated with 122 reported cases. 

To see for myself how staff at the Aliveness Project use Thrivey to reach out to people, I rode along with a team on Friday, Nov 15.

Outside the van, a fabric wagon held different hygiene products available for people to take, from individually wrapped tampons to travel-size deodorant. The rule for these handouts, staff member Amber Muhm later told me, is that everything in there is something staff would use and buy themselves, not just the cheapest items available. 

Near the wagon were two bins. One held containers meant to dispose of sharps, while the other was to collect needles themselves, gathered by those coming to the van. For every quart of needles received, the Aliveness Project gives out a $5 Cub Foods gift card. 

Ideally, these needles would be held in a sharps container – like the ones in the bin next to the needle collection bin – before they are exchanged. On Friday, though, most people who showed up with needles had them in a variety of shopping bags. By the end of the shift, the collection bin was nearly full – stacked with bags and other containers of needles. 

While I was only with the team for one shift, they have a weekly schedule. On Monday, Thrivey makes a midday stop at the Dorothy Day Opportunity Center in St. Paul. On Wednesday, it’s an early afternoon stop at 2500 E. Lake Street, near Target, and on Friday afternoon Thrivey visits this spot near the Franklin Street light rail station. On Tuesday afternoon, the van takes time, Muhm said, “to float and go wherever the encampments are, wherever the people are.” 

During this Friday stop, staff placed a full menu of Thrivey’s offerings near the van’s open back doors: gauge sizes of available needles and various pipe options for smoking. The menu also included this incentive: If you decide to go to medication-assisted treatment, the Aliveness Project will provide transportation to your first appointment, along with a $25 gift card. 

In addition to what I saw distributed on Friday, the van also has a compartment for quick HIV testing, using INSTI testing kits. While testing wasn’t available when I was out with the team, Muhm told me that HIV testing would be available later that night at The Black Hart, a queer soccer bar in St. Paul.

Harm reduction and critics

Some critics, including members of the Legislature, said Muhm, see the van as enabling drug use, which she says is an inaccurate depiction of the team’s work.

“People say ‘They’re giving away drug paraphernalia out in public,’ and our response is kind of like, ‘Yep. And we’re also getting people into treatment. We’re also giving people Narcan. We’re also giving people wound care kits and food and a consistent schedule.’” said Muhm, a trans community specialist in the Aliveness Project’s HIV outreach and prevention program. She added that she has heard elected officials, including city council members, say that harm reduction doesn’t work, a sentiment she disagrees with and calls “frustrating.” 

“I’ve personally seen several instances of someone coming to the van consistently over the course of eight (or) nine weeks and then finally saying, ‘Hey, I would like to go to treatment. Can you help set that up?’ This work saves lives.” 

While Muhm believes in the work she and her colleagues do, she also noted that sweeps of encampments have made it difficult for service providers to find and offer harm reduction to people who are unhoused and using drugs. 

“(The sweeps are) incredibly frustrating to watch both as a resident of Minneapolis and as a service provider,” Muhm said. “They happen very suddenly and even when we’re tipped off ahead of time or we respond to it, a lot of times we get there and we are not allowed to help at all. We(‘ve) witnessed firsthand how devastating it is for people.”  

This destabilization has impacts on both the mental and physical health of people Muhm has seen coming to the van. When encampments are cleared, people’s belongings are dumped and they “are told to go somewhere else and then there is no somewhere else,” she said.

“They’re just in hyper-vigilance survival mode all the time. That sucks away all your energy. It leaves people in fear like, ‘When is it gonna happen next?’” said Muhm. 

In terms of physical health, she added, “A lot of these camps are set up to provide community care. They’re set up in a way where people can take care of each other and where outside service providers like us can go provide supplies and get people on track to get housing, (treatment or services). If people are getting kicked out all the time and moved around, it’s really hard to build any kind of consistency and it just grinds people down over time.” 

Lived experience 

Huber, who was working inside the van on Friday, and Brandon Carmany, a Aliveness Project volunteer who helped hand out supplies that day, both have lived experience with the community they are assisting. 

“Honestly, it feels good to give back,” said Carmany, who began volunteering two months ago with the van on Wednesdays and Fridays. “It’s nice to see people I used to interact with that are still alive. The high I get from helping others, no other drug could compare to.” 

Huber, who works under the Native American Care Linkage grant at Aliveness Project, noted that many of those who come to the van for assistance are people of color or from other marginalized communities. 

“As a person of color, myself, I just wanna be out here and kinda hold that space for people,” said Huber, who is from the Lower Sioux Indian community. Even while he was still using drugs himself, Huber said, he was advocating for his community, noting that due to systematic racism, harm reduction and even information about harm reduction can be inaccessible to Native Americans. 

“As a result, a lot of my friends that are my age (have had) open heart surgeries (or) are dead from overdoses,” he said. 

As Thrivey and its staff’s work continued, some of those approaching the van greeted or even hugged staff members, recognizing them from previous visits. One person asked about Aliveness-provided transportation to treatment. In response, Huber gave them a number to contact him with to set up transportation, whenever they were ready, wherever they were. 

Where to find Thrivey

• On Mondays, Thrivey is at Dorothy Day Opportunity Center from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM
• On Tuesdays, Thrivey travels around to find encampments from 12:30 to 2:30 PM 
• On Wednesdays, Thrivey is at 2500 E Lake Street, near a Target from 1:00 to 3:00 PM 
• On Fridays, Thrivey is by the Franklin Street Light Rail Station from 1:00 to 3:00 PM

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“How many of you knew that slavery existed still in the United States?” said Chauntyll Allen, one of the co-founders of Black Lives Matter Twin Cities. Allen spoke this week at a panel titled “It’s Time to End Slavery in Minnesota, ” at the Minnesota Justice Research Center’s Re-Imagining Justice Conference. 

What Allen was pointing out was the result of a constitutional exception – one found in both the U.S. Constitution, as well as Minnesota’s own state Constitution. In the U.S. Constitution, the 13th Amendment reads that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” In Minnesota’s Constitution, Section 2 of the Bill of Rights states that “There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the state otherwise than as punishment for a crime of which the party has been convicted.”’

This wording, according to panelists, allows the state and federal governments to exploit the labor of those who are incarcerated. While there have been some states, including Alabama and Tennessee, that have removed this wording from their state constitutions, the Marshall Project reports that in Alabama, this amendment has not led to changes in conditions for people who are incarcerated. During the 2024 election in California, Proposition 6, a measure which would have removed involuntary servitude as a punishment for crime from that state’s constitution, made it to the ballot but did not pass.  

Aaron Ernst, himself formerly incarcerated, spoke during the panel about his experiences and those of others who were incarcerated. Ernst said that he had heard stories of people earning 25 cents an hour, with deductions made by the Department of Corrections (DOC) to pay for the cost of confinement, fines, or to go toward the gate money given to people upon their release from incarceration. The DOC, in addition to being discussed at the panel, was one of the sponsors for the ReImagining Justice Conference.

“You’re working eight hours a day or six hours a day, and it’s amounted to like $8 a week and $12 a paycheck,” said Ernst of prison labor. “You can’t buy anything that you need, but yet you have to buy everything that you need. Hygiene, toothpaste and all that stuff you have to purchase from the DOC. So they pay you only to take the money back.” Ernst also mentioned that the DOC takes a cut of money sent in by families to incarcerated relatives. According to DOC policy, money sent to those incarcerated is subject to a cost of confinement surcharge of 10%, and, if needed, a surcharge for restitution, also 10%. 

Ernst’s experience working with the Shoreview Parks and Recreation Department while at Minnesota Correctional Facility — Lino Lakes was one where he found himself doing the same work as a parks department employee — shoveling or cutting down trees — while earning $1.25 an hour compared to the $34 an hour that they earned for the same work. 

“The whole time I’m there, I’m doing the same job as (that employee). But then when I was released, I can’t get hired at Shoreview Parks and Rec because I don’t qualify because of my background,” Ernst said. “Yesterday, you could take my labor, you could use me for labor, you could enslave me and basically profit off of me.” 

Information from the Minnesota DOC indicates that the pay for work of those incarcerated in the state ranges from 25 cents an hour to $2 an hour. Pay ranges are determined based on positive  evaluations of work, along with limited “out time.” Looking specifically at MINNCOR workers – those working for the DOC’s MINNCOR Industries – only up to 20% of MINNCOR’s workforce are able to earn the pre-advanced pay range of $1.25 to $1.50 an hour, while only up to 10% of the MINNCOR workforce can earn at the advance pay range of $1.75 to $2 an hour. Most non-MINNCOR workers begin their pay scale at 25 cents an hour. 

What panelists said they are looking for is not an end to labor for people who are incarcerated, but for fair compensation and recognition of those who are working while incarcerated as workers. A bill advocated for by the End Slavery in Minnesota campaign, which all the panelists are involved in, would classify those imprisoned as workers with the right to employment. 

“We want people to work. We want people to gain skills. We just don’t want them to be paid 25 cents an hour or 50 cents an hour – inadequately, I should say – while doing it,” Allen said. “We hope that this movement will move towards everyone having a job at an adequate minimum wage so that they can provide the resources they need for their families, and that they can put those dollars aside so when they leave, they have something to stand on.” 

Added Ernst: “Honestly, you should be having things like mandatory work release so that guys have a chance and an opportunity to start paying your bills.” 

“If I was able to pay some child support, it changes the dynamic of my family on the street. It can literally raise a child out of poverty by having another contributing person in the household. We want restoration in our communities. We want to build our communities. And it starts with things like that. If I was able to stack some money and put together a nest egg, my chances of success when I get out are so much better.” 

Deanna Pistono

Deanna Pistono is MinnPost’s Race & Health Equity fellow. Follow her on Twitter @deannapistono or email her at dpistono@minnpost.com.

The post ‘Yesterday, you could take my labor’: Wages are at issue in Minnesota’s justice system appeared first on MinnPost.

A Thursday presentation of data on disparities in preschool suspension and expulsion spurred Minnesota experts to think about the future of accessible mental health and support services for preschool children.

The studies, which analyzed data from the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health, indicate that Minnesota was ranked 11th in the nation for preschool suspension and expulsion, said Tim Zeng, PhD, an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston and the director of research at the Institute for Early Education Leadership & Innovation. Currently, Minnesota law does not allow for the suspension of preschoolers in publicly funded programs. 

Expulsion is possible for Minnesota’s younger learners, but with caveats, according to the Department of Education. In Minnesota, expulsion for students from preschool to the third grade is only acceptable as a last resort after nonexclusionary discipline – such as speaking with parents and putting in place supports for the child to participate in class – has been used and there is an “ongoing, serious safety threat to the child or others.” 

These rules, however, do not apply to non-public settings, something that Cisa Keller, president and CEO of Think Small, an organization providing access to resources for early childhood care, pointed out during the panel discussion following Zeng’s presentation of his studies at the University of St. Thomas. 

“Here in Minnesota, over 80% of our children (from) birth to five, are in some sort of early- childhood setting,” explained Keller. “Of those, 73% of them are in community-based settings. This legislation does not apply to those settings.”

In response, Minnesota should support the mental health of young children, according to panelist Jane Perry, MSW, LICSW, chief clinical officer at St. David’s Center for Child and Family Development, which hosted Thursday’s event. Perry said the Legislature could expand K-12 mental health funding to preschoolers, noting that early intervention through access to mental health services would allow kids to “do better by the time they get to kindergarten.” 

Expanding mental health support for younger children is in keeping with takeaways from Zeng’s research. 

“My studies showcase that children with disabilities and children with trauma(tic) experiences, especially children (with) parents (experiencing) domestic violence and parents who have mental illnesses, are more likely to be suspended,” Zeng said. Zeng added that while suspension requires documentation, informal removals also occur, which have the same effect of removing a child from preschool, but without documentation. As a result, the data he analyzed from 2016 may be an undercount of the actual number of children who are asked to leave schools.  

Zeng’s analysis found that children facing any of seven identified adverse childhood experiences – events that may cause childhood trauma – were more likely to experience expulsion or suspension. Additionally, around 5.4% of students with disabilities had experienced either suspension or expulsion from preschool, compared to an estimated 1.5% of their peers without disabilities. When that was broken down by individual disability, children with ADHD or ADD were the most likely to be expelled or suspended. 

Related: Addressing childhood trauma before it becomes adult trauma

Racial and ethnic disparities were also present in Zeng’s analysis and in prior literature. Within Zeng’s analysis, he found that Hispanic children were 3.3 times more likely to be suspended than their peers. During his presentation, Zeng also mentioned findings from the Office for Civil Rights’ 2013-2014 Civil Rights Data Collection, which indicated that Black children, who represented 18% of public preschool students at the time, made up a full 48% of one or more suspensions. As of 2020’s Civil Rights Data Collection, Black children made up 17.3% of public preschool students but constituted 30.6% of suspensions and 24.6% of expulsions. 

For Zeng, finding that children with ADHD or ADD were more likely to be expelled or suspended was personal. Though Joshua, Zeng’s 7-year-old son, was born in the U.S., he spent the first five years of his life in China before moving back. After Joshua started school in the U.S., Zeng would receive emails and calls from teachers detailing how Joshua was acting out – from stepping on and kicking other children to forming his fingers in the shape of a gun directed at his teacher. 

In a lot of cases, said Zeng, Joshua, who has ADHD, “was on the edge of suspension or relocat(ing) to another school.” When Zeng asked Joshua why he did certain things, Joshua let his father know that he had seen a classmate do something similar once before, or was reacting to bullying. 

To understand challenging behavior from Joshua – as with other children with disabilities or who have experienced traumatic situations – it’s important to look past surface-level “bad behavior” and to evaluate the conditions that may be causing children to act or react in certain ways.

To address these behaviors, panelists noted the importance of cross-sector collaboration. Dr. Gigi Chawla, chief of pediatrics at Children’s Minnesota, said medical providers who serve young children want to be “a cross-sector resource in this work.”

Panelist Cindy Hillyer, MPA, director of early childhood education at Minneapolis Public Schools, noted that in 2012, a state report found that it took 20 months for native-born, English speaking children with a disability in Minnesota to get access to services, while for non-native-born children speaking a language other than English took nearly five years to get access to services. 

“From a healthcare perspective, we wish we would be involved sooner (with concerns about the behavior of young children),” Chawla said, adding that what appears to be “bad behavior” may come out of various pressures on the child’s health – not just mentally or emotionally, but physically.  

“From a medical standpoint, I also want to make sure that people are thinking ‘What are the other medical reasons why a child would be reactive in this way?’ Everything from vision abnormalities, hearing abnormalities, significant dental decay to the point where they’re in pain every single day, sleep disturbance, iron deficiency, just flat-out hunger – there are reasons to think about why behaviors exist, and if we could all connect the dots a little bit sooner, maybe we could tackle (behavior) before you get a whole laundry list (of complaints about behavior).”

Deanna Pistono

Deanna Pistono is MinnPost’s Race & Health Equity fellow. Follow her on Twitter @deannapistono or email her at dpistono@minnpost.com.

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A Minneapolis STEM school wants to bring esports into its physical education curriculum, and it hopes a nationwide contest will provide a boost.

Hall STEM Academy, a STEM-based elementary school with a predominantly African American student body, is one of 12 finalists for a nationwide furniture giveaway. 

To enter the contest, teachers and school librarians around the nation submitted floorplans for their dream classrooms or libraries using KI Furniture’s Classroom Planner Tool. If Hall STEM Academy is one of four winners of the giveaway, the school will receive $40,000 worth of furniture from KI to furnish a dream classroom.

Hall STEM Academy’s classroom would bring esports into physical education. Though esports may not usually be a part of a physical education curriculum, physical education teacher Rachel Stewart, along with two other Hall staff members – a social and emotional life (SEL) specialist and a technology specialist — have designed a curriculum where physical exercise is enhanced with teamwork and problem solving skills students can develop via gaming. 

“Esports is a different kind of sport, but it’s one of the fastest-growing sports,” said Stewart, explaining that in the curriculum, “if we were doing soccer, we would actually do the physical thing, learn about soccer (and) the mechanics of it. Then we would talk about the gaming aspect, creating soccer programs (and) games with kids. Then the SEL teacher would come in and talk about all of the social and emotional pieces around (gaming) – how to work as a team, how to be a leader, how to encourage one another.” 

The value of making esports part of the physical education curriculum, said Stewart, is that it “levels the playing field” for children with physical disabilities at Hall, along with children who are not adept at physical activity, while teaching digital and interpersonal skills. 

“If I was grading, I wouldn’t discriminate (based on the task being done virtually or in the real world). If you’re playing, participating and giving your best, whether it’s in a gaming program or on the soccer field, a win is a win.” 

Though the curriculum is associated with esports, the classroom can be utilized for students in various ways, with spaces available for giving a presentation or having a discussion with other students, along with easels for note-taking.This is in keeping with Hall’s focus on inquiry-based learning, where students learn through hands-on projects. 

“(At) the beginning of our (academic) quarters, kids come up with different questions (about) solving a problem in the world,” explained Stewart, adding that the opportunity to solve these problems provides a focus for each grade level to do different projects, such as building trash- collecting machines or models of these machines if they’re working on the problem of litter on the streets.

Three teaching positions at Hall were lost as a result of budget cuts, Stewart said, leaving the school to choose between offering art, music or technology classes. While an arrangement was made allowing fifth grade instrumental music to be taught — in Hall’s case, by an instructor who rotates between two other schools in the district — the school still has no art program, which was a difficult decision to make, Stewart said. However, investing in technology, such as through the esports classroom, may be able to help fill that gap. 

“When you look at the direction that the world is going right now, we think it was the best decision (to invest in technology courses over a formal art program) because our kids are on devices all day, so why not provide them with more instruction to use the devices where they’re not just texting all day? Gaming is gaming, but gaming is also learning so many skills – learning to react and learning to problem solve,” Stewart said. “We realized technology was another way to give (our students) art. If we’re teaching our kids how to do it digitally, which is the way everything is happening now, we can kind of build art into that.”

The winning school for the furniture giveaway will be chosen via online voting, which ends at 11:59 p.m. on Nov. 17. Those interested can go here to vote and view other classroom plans across the nation.

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Food entrepreneurs will soon have a new resource in north Minneapolis: a more conveniently located commercial kitchen.

Northside Economic Opportunity Network (NEON) broke ground on the site of its collective kitchen space last week. For entrepreneurs including food truck owners and caterers, the upcoming commercial kitchen space means closer, more affordable space to prepare food. 

Forty percent of NEON’s clients are food entrepreneurs, said Warren McClean, NEON’s chief executive officer.

“Our clients will no longer have to drive three hours one way to Wisconsin for commercial kitchen space, as Michael Feng currently does,” McLean added. 

Feng and his wife, Michelle Wang, run BianDang, a food truck serving Taiwanese bian dang, which are boxed meals of meat and vegetables, served over a bed of rice. Bian dang are a staple of the Taiwanese railroad, which was further developed and expanded under the 50-year Japanese occupation of the island from 1895 to 1945. Bian dang, or bento, as the Japanese referred to them, were sold in train stations all over Taiwan as a convenient meal option, Feng said.

The truck also serves wheel cakes, a Taiwanese dessert made of pancake-like batter over various fillings.

“Every time we (left) school (in Taiwan), there (was) a small vendor outside the school. So we (would) ask our mom or our parents, ‘Can we get some wheel cake for dessert?’” Wang said. The cakes, Wang added, have led to repeat customers at the Minnesota Farmer’s Market, who ask whether the treats will be at the Minnesota State Fair in the future. 

Feng’s own goal for BianDang is to eventually grow into a fast casual chain restaurant along the lines of Chipotle or Panda Express. A crucial part of growing the business, however, is having the space to prepare ingredients for the food truck, like crispy popcorn chicken, pickled radish and sweet-and-savory Taiwanese grilled sausage.

Commercial kitchen space was already scarce before the pandemic and the 2020 uprising following George Floyd’s murder. The Kindred Kitchen, run by Appetite for Change, had been a space for food entrepreneurs, McClean said, including NEON clients, to prepare food for their businesses in North Minneapolis. But the events of 2020 led to Appetite for Change pivoting its business model, resulting in a lack of kitchen space, he said. 

Related: North Minneapolis nonprofit Appetite for Change publishes cookbook 

“(NEON’s commercial kitchen incubator is) going to provide a closer proximity commercial kitchen (that is) hopefully, more easily accessible and budget friendly,” said Feng, who added that traveling to Wisconsin for kitchen space had been the lowest-cost option.

Another business ready to utilize NEON’s space is K’s Revolutionary Catering and More, which offers catering services with a variety of options, along with locally brewed “Stay Well” tonic with antioxidants and antiviral properties. 

Chef K Taylor and Mariam Omari, the co-founders of K’s, said they have focused their operations on “real food” instead of “manufactured or processed food.” For example, Chef Taylor uses  whole potatoes instead of potato powder. Taylor and Omari worked in the food industry for many years, but were unsatisfied with the use of what Omari calls “fluff” – preservatives and filler ingredients. Their menu is inclusive and wide-ranging, with gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian options, along with foods from various cultures. The most popular item, however, is a staple of Omari’s childhood: maharagwe, an East African dish of red beans simmered in ginger and coconut milk, along with various spices. 

“Meat eaters and plant based people alike love it,” Taylor said.

“It really adheres to a lot of cultures,” Omari added. “Everybody has red beans and rice no matter where you come from. And the coconut milk really infuses Asian, East Indian (and) African cultures and then the beans (and) some of those spices really adhere to our Latin and African American friends. This meal is a gatherer.”

While Taylor and Omari do not want to make K’s a restaurant, they are eager to utilize the commercial kitchen as a means to expand their ventures and also  have a space to teach and help other food business owners “avoid the bumps in the road.” 

“This will be an opportunity for us to be a little closer to our supporters and people that we support,” Omari said. 

Once the commercial kitchen space is fully operational, it will support 265 jobs in north Minneapolis, along with space for K’s Revolutionary Catering and BianDang to expand in the ways they want to. At the core of both businesses, however, is the same desire – to give their customers good, delicious food. 

“I wanna stay true to authentic Taiwanese food because that’s the food that I ate growing up. And I want people to be able to try and enjoy the same authentic (food) that I had,” Feng said. 

“When we have our guests (or) any of our clients, regardless of whoever’s in their party, we wanna really make sure that everybody feels like they’re breaking bread together,” Omari said.

Deanna Pistono

Deanna Pistono is MinnPost’s Race & Health Equity fellow. Follow her on Twitter @deannapistono or email her at dpistono@minnpost.com.

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Ever since Morgan Bathke was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 15 years old, she’s had to focus on keeping her blood sugar in check. While that process involves tracking what she eats, many other things affect her blood sugar. 

“My blood sugar spikes when I’m doing an interview,” said Bathke, a sales trainer at Dexcom, which sells continuous glucose monitors. “Right now, if I look down at my watch, (I can see that) my blood sugar (is) slightly rising, just because of the stress of public speaking.”

Other things that can affect blood sugar levels include hormonal changes, dehydration, stress, sleep and exercise, along with menstrual periods and menopause. With Type 1 diabetes, which Bathke lives with, the pancreas doesn’t make enough insulin, a hormone that regulates blood sugar levels. Type 2 diabetes, meanwhile, is caused by insulin resistance, meaning the body is unable to use insulin as well over time.

When Bathke was diagnosed, she was a gymnast and diver and wondered if she would have to stop participating in the sports she loved. Though Bathke did give up gymnastics, she continued to dive and was recruited by the University of Minnesota as an NCAA Division I platform diver. Though it was challenging to manage her blood sugar with diving practice and stress, Bathke said she “never wanted (quitting) to be a part of (my) story.” 

In November, Bathke, who lives in St. Louis Park, will be diving into running shoes, instead, as a member of the Beyond Type 1 running team for the TCS New York City Marathon.

A few years ago, she was connected through the diabetes community with an ex-Marine named Cody White who had recently been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. White was a marathon runner and was trying to manage his blood sugar levels while exercising. Bathke stepped in to help. 

“The next year he went on to run the New York City Marathon with Beyond Type 1 and has been (asking me) to do it ever since. I’ve held him at bay and said, ‘No, I’m not a runner. I can’t do it,’” Bathke said. “He’s actually been helping me now in preparation and training for the New York City Marathon. It’s been a really cool testament to just how powerful the diabetes community is.”

Beyond Type 1, founded by Nick Jonas, perhaps best known as one of three members of the Jonas Brothers, and Juliet de Baubigny to support those living with diabetes, is one of the TCS Marathon’s official charity partners. This year, more than 50 runners on the Beyond Type 1 team are running to raise awareness, share their stories and fundraise for Beyond Type 1’s mission of supporting people living with both types of diabetes. 

“I am super excited that this year Beyond Type 1 has opened up the marathon team to not only people living with Type 1 diabetes, but also people living with Type 2 diabetes and caregivers of people living with diabetes,” Bathke added. “Within my own journey in Type 1, I’ve realized how much diabetes impacts the entire family (and) our caregivers.” 

Community outreach

The marathon is only one part of Beyond Type 1’s efforts to raise awareness about diabetes. 

Beyond Type 1 is also reaching out to diverse audiences — including communities of color facing disparities in prevalence, diagnosis and treatment of diabetes — as part of its “Beyond Barriers” program. The program, which will begin in November, which is National Diabetes Month, will focus on informing these communities about available resources for diabetes, some of which, such as diabetes management, education and peer support, can be found at Beyond Type 1. 

“You can’t access what you don’t know about,” said Kristian Hurley, senior vice president of programs advocacy and health equity at Beyond Type 1. “Beyond Barriers,” which will begin in November in three pilot cities — Miami, Detroit and Chicago — will also include “hyperlocal awareness campaigns” involving partnering organizations, including Chi Eta Phi, an African-American nursing sorority, and various federally qualified health centers and churches. These partners received grants from Beyond Type 1 to assist with these campaigns. 

While diabetes can affect anyone, communities of color face various disparities compared with white Americans. According to the Office of Minority Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, non-Hispanic Black Americans were twice as likely as non-Hispanic white Americans to die from diabetes in 2019, and 1.2 times more likely to have their vision impaired as a result of diabetes in 2021. The office also states that Hispanic Americans were 1.5 times more likely to die from diabetes than non-Hispanic white Americans in 2020.

“One of the things that we see as a barrier, and particularly in our Black and brown communities, is that young people are not adopting diabetes technology” said Hurley, who added that this is likely the result of “confusion” about insurance coverage and how technology such as continuous glucose monitoring devices actually works. Beyond Type 1, Hurley added, wants to ensure that all communities are able to access technology, along with screening services. 

Beyond Type 1, said Hurley, also wants to engage “more of our Black and brown and underserved communities in clinical trials.”

“There’s so much innovation happening right now, particularly in Type 1,” Hurley said. “We want to make sure that all communities are benefiting and contributing to that research, effort and innovation.”

The first part of creating change is visibility and awareness — both key elements of Beyond Type 1’s participation in the TCS New York marathon and in creating the Beyond Barriers program. After all, said Bathke, “There’s nothing more empowering than getting together with a group of people who are in a similar circumstance and doing something that a lot of people think that they can’t do.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the description of Dexcom.

Deanna Pistono

Deanna Pistono is MinnPost’s Race & Health Equity fellow. Follow her on Twitter @deannapistono or email her at dpistono@minnpost.com.

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