One Question Series

The mission of the Black Youth Network is to take a community-wide collective approach to provide connections, information, resources and opportunities for all organizations, individuals and families supporting Black youth. Our focus is to improve capacity of the organizations in the network and of United Way. Our current goal is to better engage family and amplify youth voice.

Recently, leaders of our BYN organizations crafted a survey that asked the following question of families within their organizations: “Without money being involved, what is the biggest help someone could provide your family?”

We collected over 200 answers which were placed in categories: Mental Health, Education, Finance, Family and Faith.

Each month, our goal is to tackle a new topic based on survey results, and provide connections, information, resources and opportunities for organizations within our network.

For the month of January our focus is mental health. This month we welcomed guests from The Ellison Center and Central Minnesota Mental Health Center.

Great things start with building connections, networking and exploring possibilities with a fresh perspective. During the meeting, we shared updates on our findings from the families in our community around mental health, shared challenges we have encountered, gave insights and perspectives and began looking into strategies to enhance our organization’s effectiveness and productivity regarding mental health.

Here are some of the questions that were a part of our mental health discussion between parents, school district staff and leaders of organizations serving black youth: 

"What strategies or resources do you use to develop good and authentic relationships with youth and families?"

• Spend time together without an agenda.
• Treat kids differently to match their personalities. 
• Spend time with each child, one-on-one. 
• Allow kids to have their own voice. Listen to them.

"With social media, we know that it's interaction with a peer, technology is a part of this world. How do you balance that use while still encouraging interpersonal relationships with their peers?"

• It is another relationship. Give the kids tools to self-reflect on the aspects of the relationships. 
• As adults, we want to provide structure, but encourage kids to develop and grow to have self agency.
• Balance: We need to educate ourselves about how to properly teach kids how to use technology. Meet them halfway to set up boundaries and find balance to use technology in positive ways.
• Family time is family time, and technology (phones) are not allowed during certain times and occasions.
• Parents need to take time to find other things for kids to do that is not technology-related.

"How do we parent kids through our own trauma?"

• The first step is to call out trauma and name it before addressing it. 
• Start with a school resource navigator to find resources.
• Parents are often reluctant to come forward because of the stigma and the blame/label trauma puts on them.
• Pride can also get in the way. The mentality of "That's my child and I know how to raise them." can be a barrier. They can believe "If I have to get help, that makes me less of a parent."
• Mental health services are not cost effective. You have to have money to access resources.
• Mental health professionals also have to help parents feel comfortable and build trust in order to access resources.
• We need these connections to understand what the community truly needs.
• Insecurity of advocacy: What can this group offer mental health professionals as they start to see Black youth increase in the community?

Other topics included:

"How can we help the teachers help our kids? How are you helping my child learn and understand when you know my child may need a different way of learning?"

"We need more parents to be aware of what and how kids are doing educationally, socially and mental health-wise."

"Social skills are dramatically lacking due to COVID. What resources are available to help our students succeed?"

And so much more!

For more information, please contact Tiffany Daniels

Organization Success Committee

This committee's work focuses on continuous improvement and strengthening of the network and its capacity to meet its goals and serve Black youth and Black youth-serving organizations within the network.

During the January meetings, this committee collaborated with leaders of organizations and district staff to discuss the important topic of youth education, exploring the topic of mental health, its affect on families in the community and how to continually uplift this topic in our schools and homes.

If you are interested in joining and contributing to the work of the BYN Organization Success Committee, please contact Tonya Miller.

Youth Success Committee



This committee meets to strategize about how to strengthen programming targeted to young Black males in Central Minnesota, with specific goals around increasing participation, self-esteem, attendance, connection, graduation rates and post-secondary enrollment.

During the January Youth Success meeting, the group identified and discussed information from a survey administered to stakeholders within the St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids-Rice school districts. Two of the many survey questions included: "What are the disconnects that cause middle and high school students to discontinue attending school?" and "What kinds of family support is needed for young Black males in Central Minnesota?"

The Black Youth Success Committee discussed crafting questions to ask youth during our upcoming meetings to scale and identify programming and services they'd be interested in participating in.

If you are interested in joining and contributing to the work of the BYN Youth Success Committee, please contact Tonya Miller.



Minnesota Department of Health Launches the Adolescent and Young Adult Health Action Plan

Minnesota Department of Health has launched the Minnesota Partnership for Adolescent and Young Adult Health action plan (PDF) to motivate, engage and inspire action to support community-based efforts that impact young people.

The plan is organized around five essential themes to adolescent health and each theme has two priorities:

Equitable and supportive systems

Young people and their families need safe communities and environments, shelter, education, healthy food, a livable income, and social justice to be healthy and thrive.

• Health equity
• Supportive systems

Access to high quality, youth-friendly health care and information

Young people benefit from access to high quality medical, dental, and mental health services and health information.

• Physical and mental health
• Health literacy

Positive connections with supportive adults

Young people thrive and flourish when they are surrounded by caring and nurturing relationships with supportive adults.

• Families and caregivers
• Adults who understand

Safe and secure places to live, learn, and play

Schools, communities, and digital environments all play a role in supporting health, social interactions, and cognitive growth.

• Supportive schools and communities
• Safe and balanced technology use

Opportunities for youth to engage

Young people grow and thrive best when actively engaged with their community and have meaningful leadership opportunities.

• Youth leadership
• Out of school time

Learn more about this project and specific action steps on the Minnesota Partnership for Adolescent Health website which features community partners and local and national resources.