Moorhead: Making community voices count

Working together for a healthier future!

As you might know by now, the 10,000 Families Study (10KFS) is a health research study on family health in the state of Minnesota, USA. Participant families live in urban, suburban, and rural areas of the state. They also are encouraged to include family members who might live in Minnesota’s neighboring states: Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

One of 10KFS' goals is to engage groups that are not traditionally part of research and that are heavily represented in Minnesota, for instance immigrants and refugees groups such as Hmong and Somali, rural populations, and tribal nations. Since 2020, when 10,000 Families received a grant from the Office of the Vice President for Research at the University of Minnesota, to encourage dialogue between researchers and the community, the study has been working with community organizations to talk about health. Read more about this project in this link - Encouraging Dialogue.

These community conversations happened during 2021. Community members in three areas in the state met a number of times to explore challenges and assets in their own communities with the support of 10,000 Families Mini-Grants. After the conversations, the community organizations set up events to share their findings and provide expert information and other resources to begin to address some of the health challenges broached during those conversations.

We want to share what happened at the event that the Moorhead community organized on December 11th including some pictures we took during the day. 

On a sunny winter Saturday in Moorhead, Minnesota, a multicultural celebration and exploration of health, research, the plethora of local culturally based non-profit service organizations, and connections to local government took place among nearly 50 residents and stakeholders.  The event was planned by Kamaludiin Mustafa, Director of the New American Development Agency; Yoke-Sim Gunaratne, Director of Cultural Diversity Resources; and Noelle Harden, Health and Nutrition Extension Educator, as the culminating event in partnership with the University of Minnesota 10,000 Families Study (10KFS).

At the event in Moorhead, participants learned about the many small culturally based nonprofit organizations that provide essential health and social services to the community there.  Additionally, local government officials, including 3 city council members and the Mayor of Moorhead, spoke about recent achievements positively impacting the health of Moorhead residents, and their desire to connect more with the cultural communities within the city.  Participants heard from a Liberian woman who runs an agency to assist women with daycare needs, leaders of 3-acre farm that is providing cultural foods and livelihood for immigrant and refugee farmers, a youth crime prevention program, an indigenous traditions and healing group, and advocates for a recent ordinance to prevent the sale of flavored tobacco products.  Participants also had the opportunity to share their positive experiences and concerns regarding the health environment in the community.  

10KFS also shared about the study including our new project focused on environmental exposures, and invited families to participate as we follow their health over time.  The data will be used by researchers to better understand the social, behavioral, environmental and biological determinants of health and wellbeing in Minnesota.

Extension Center for Family Development has been involved in this unique partnership with 10KFS since 2020. In order to be of value for understanding and improving health in the state, 10KFS must be representative of ALL Minnesotans. Extension was invited to partner with 10KFS to help engage diverse communities in the state to learn about their pressing health concerns, important health assets, and what would make participation in 10KFS feel safe and engaging.

With Extension’s support and connections, three communities, including Moorhead, Worthington, and St Paul’s Frogtown-Rondo neighborhood, have been involved in community discussions around the research to understand it better, led by a local organizational partner in each place. The discussions have centered on the health concerns and priorities of the participants, the participants’ understanding of and reactions to health research, and their specific recommendations for 10KFS to make it a safer, more community-engaged, community-friendly study for them.  After the discussions, the participating communities all host a celebration/reflection event; Moorhead was the first community to implement this event.

We hope to continue connecting and supporting the Moorhead community to work towards better health for all its members and learning from them to make 10KFS the best study it can be.

More about the author:

Trina Adler, Program Director Health and Nutrition Programs
Center for Family Development University of Minnesota Extension