Make effort: reach out to our Somali neighbors
This is the opinion of Megan Bartels, CSB junior, in collaboration with Conor Muphy, Sree Lor, Ashley Mehl, Faith Louwagie and Professor James Read
How do we bridge cultural gaps within our community? The first step is to get to know who our neighbors are.
It is important to make the connections between CSB+SJU students living in the same community alongside the Somali population.
The key is education and awareness of differences, and respect for those differences even as we also identify common ground. When it comes to addressing issues within a community and fostering healthy engagement, we must actively work together toward a common goal. From our own experiences, community engagement involves relationships and trust building as well as investing time in making strong connections.
The work and time investment up front can be a lot, but the strong connections developed from this investment can leave a lasting legacy.
If there’s something that we’ve learned in this course, it’s that communities don’t take care of themselves—they need work. We are at our best when we create environments where we are able to come together with open hearts and minds to actively listen and learn from each other.
We have been researching specific issues and gotten involved with local community groups, and we are working on developing a Social Change proposal that identifies a specific problem and generates a course of action to address the problem. It is through this research that we have had the pleasure of getting involved with Cultural Bridges.
Established in 2016, this community organization in St. Joseph is dedicated to promoting and supporting diversity in St. Joseph by assisting the immigrant community. It is led by a small but tight-knit group of seven board members working to provide opportunities and resources to community members as a way to strengthen community bonds and encourage connections among all people.
Some of the activities they sponsor include learning opportunities like ESL classes and tutoring, networking through community of understanding gatherings, recreation programs and other volunteer opportunities.
Many Bennies and Johnnies living in St. Joseph are not even aware of community groups like Cultural Bridges. Work done by Amanda Martinez-Port and Karissa Willette in a previous section of this class included a survey of the CSB+SJU student population.
A total of 167 students filled out a survey and there were a variety of results. When asked if students had ever heard of Cultural Bridges before, only seven responded with yes.
Instead of living parallel to our neighbors, it is important to foster connection in a community. Education, awareness and appreciation of the diverse needs and interests of everyone in a community leads to a healthier and stronger way of life.
CSB and SJU advertise themselves as part of the wider community of St. Joseph and Collegeville.
However, it is hard to say the two are tied with the rest of the community when there are people in St. Joseph who know little about the colleges and vice versa.
In conducting an interview among members of the St. Joseph Somali community, one respondent was unaware that St. John’s even existed before meeting at Alcuin Library.
In addition, we asked if anyone (as in St. Joseph candidates for either mayor or city council positions during elections) had made an effort to reach out to their community either individually or as a group.
All Somali community members we interviewed said no and one respondent said that nobody knows them.
It’s experiences like these that make it important for students to involve themselves and pay more attention to their community as a whole. This starts the work towards bridging the gap between our campus community and the Somali community in St. Joseph.
There is still much work to be done. This is a challenge issued to you to take action to get involved and learn more about Cultural Bridges and our Somali neighbors.
Visit the Cultural Bridges Facebook page, “Cultural Bridges of St. Joseph, MN,” attend sponsored meetings such as community dinners and picnics or events like the Festival of Cultures showcase.
Events like these can bring our communities together. Inform yourself about the cultures of our neighbors, read about their history and reach out to welcome them.