Projects

Many Voices, One Community

A Project of Council of Rural Initiatives and Puentes/Bridges

Rural communities in the Midwest face serious challenges to their continued vitality. Among the most critical is the challenge of rural labor, primarily in agriculture.

CRI and Puentes/Bridges* have joined forces to develop a project designed to create more welcoming communities in rural areas where immigrants are a growing segment of the local population and an essential factor in community economic health.  Bridging experiences are needed to bring differing cultures to mutual trust and understanding.

“Many Voices, One Community” is designed to accomplish this cultural bridging by engaging local leaders from all segments of the community in cultural awareness training and project planning to create meaningful change.

Many Voices, One Community Design Summary:

A diverse training group of 12-20 volunteers is led through 20 hours of classroom training plus experiential learning and team planning.  External funding is required to support the development, delivery, and follow-up mentoring of participants planning for local projects. They identify projects they believe will create pathways for more interaction and trust building between natives and newcomers.

Both class work and team-based projects are intended to build cultural sensibilities, desire and skills for cooperation; and a core of leaders who can influence their communities over time to welcome many types of diversity. While Many Voices plants the seeds for effective community action, actual planning and implementation rests with local residents.

A successful pilot project funded by the Otto Bremer Foundation is underway in Buffalo/Pepin Counties.  CRI hopes to replicate this model elsewhere in the state and beyond.

* Puentes/Bridges, an Alma-based nonprofit has a ten-year history of creating cultural understanding within the dairy industry.  Puentes-led immersion trips to Mexico and numerous other farm-based initiatives have benefited immigrant employers and employees alike.   Puentes builds relationships on a personal, grassroots level, which has contributed to a stable labor force and better employers.