UPCOMING, ONGOING, and RECENT MARNITA'S TABLE EVENTS
WorldTable, Sunday October 26, 2008:
Marnita's Table hosted a dinner for two visiting women leaders from the Middle East. They were in this country as guests of the US State Department International Visitors Program to observe the election.
This event arises from our relationship with the Minnesota International Center, the Twin Cities host for the International Visitors program. Gathered to welcome our guests was an interesting and eclectic mix of people who included recent transplants to Minnesota from Asia, the Middle East, and elsewhere, as well as longer-time residents. All engaged in a series of animated conversations about democratic traditions here and there, as we approached the US presidential election, all the while enjoying a traditional a delicious Moroccan feast prepared by Marnita.
Shout It Out! Teens Talk
On Sunday, October 12, 2008, a highly cross-cultural group of teens shared what inspires, ignites, frustrates and gives them hope for themselves and the world. The dialogue centered around what kind of support they could provide each other and what they wanted from adults to enable them to achieve their visions for the future.
As always, the event featured peer-to-peer conversation, great food and music, and a chance for each person to express their unique world view.
This Brunch & Dialogue was sponsored by Social Venture Partners Teens to give a group of young grantmakers an opportunity to exchange views on the issues that really impact youths' day-to-day lives.
On Oct. 5, 2008, Marnita’s Table celebrated the Twin Cities Marathon with the Marathon Café. Instead of running, some 75-100 of us stood, snacked, ate, noshed, laughed, connected and cheered as more than 10,000 runners ran past our espresso bar (including hot cocoa) at Mile 3.5.
At the same time, we won $500 as Third Place Winner in the official competition to determine the most energetic and imaginative Cheer Zone on the marathon course. This makes the third year in a row that we've placed third -- and considering that our people have to show up before 8 a.m., in contrast to some of the zones nearer the end, we think we're doing pretty well!
GetCamp!
On September 9, 2008, we convened Get Camp!, a vibrant cross-cultural feast and conversation, in partnership with REI, the national outdoor retail cooperative. Get Camp! is part of our very successful EarthTalk Dinner & Dialogue series, where we explore our personal intersection with the environment and engage what we can do as individuals and as a community to protect and enhance the local and global environment.
REI is dedicated to inspiring, educating and outfitting its memebers and the community for a lifetime of outdoor adventure and stewardship. REI is committed to promoting environmental stewardship and increasing access to outdoor recreation through volunteerism, gear donations and financial contributions.
More than 50 people gathered, with attendees from such groups as the Boy Scouts of America, Boys and Girls Clubs, Environmental Justice Advocates of Minnesota, the US Forest Service, plus librarians, teachers and many others who care about the environment, the outdoors, and our young people.
Young Women's Initiative:
On July 24, we held a wildly successful launch of the Young Women's Initiative, an 18-month+ series of cross-cultural, multigenerational conversations to develop an action plan for reducing the epidemic of STD/STIs among young women of color in Minnesota. Co-convenor of the YWI is the Minnesota Department of Health's STD and HIV Section.
More than 90 individuals from the faith community, non-profit human services providers, governmental agencies and others, together with more than two dozen young people from every community, came together at Marnita's Table on July 24, united in determination to take action against this health crisis.
We are currently finalizing the Fall schedule of events for the Young Women's Initiative and are actively seeking community partners to help fund this critical program. Please contact Carl or Marnita if you or your organization wishes to get involved (carl@marnitastable.org or 612 928 7744).
To see what you missed during our 2008 Spring Schedule, click on the following link to see the range of events we convened in the first part of the year. (Spring08 schedule)
If you are interested in attending or simply learning more about this initiative, please call or email Marnita or Carl as below.
We will be posting our Fall schedule by early September.
To attend one of our scheduled events, please email Carl & Marnita at info@marnitastable.org, or call 612-928-7744. Advance notice is required – as our events are held in private homes, space is limited. We also adjust the guest list to ensure that the room is highly cross-cultural and/or multi-generational, in keeping with our mission of igniting enduring cross-cultural connections through intentional social interaction.
There is no charge for attending Marnita’s Table events. However, as a 501c3 charitable organization, we rely on donations from individuals and organizations to fund operations. After you have been to the table, you are encouraged to make a donation as a way of “paying it forward,” thus enabling others who may be lacking in financial resources to participate.
To see a description of the many topics we will be taking on this year and next, click on the following link:
Menu of Topics
Feel free to contact us at info@marnitastable.org or call 612-928-7744 about sponsoring events on other dates on a subject drawn from our Menu of Topics. We will also be scheduling a Fall Season featuring some or all of these topics.
RECENT EVENTS:
I Have a Dream Graduation Party, June 13, 2008: In honor of our core group of teen workers, who are graduating from high school in early June, we held a big indoor-outdoor dance and conversation party at the Table. More than 150 people of all ages and backgrounds attended the joyous celebration of high school completed and dreams and hopes for the future to be achieved.
I, Citizen, May 18, 2008: Participants shared highly personal perspectives on a variety of public policy issues and discussed such questions as '"What are my personal responsibilities as a member of the community" and "Am I being heard?"
Enough Already: Dialogue on Poverty, May 1, 2008. Marnita's Table took it on the road to the Eden Prairie home of Board Chairwoman Margie and Phil Soran. The 39 attendees from all over the Twin Cities ranged up and down the socioeconomic spectrum and across and around the cultural distinctions that so often divide us. Even so seemingly simple a question as "what does it mean to be poor" yielded some profound insights, particularly from some of the younger participants.
EarthSeder, April 22, 2008: The coincidence of the Jewish holiday Passover and EarthDay led to a cross-cultural dialogue aimed at building a bridge from the traditional Passover themes of freedom and deliverance to that of Tikkun Olam, a Hebrew phrase meaning "repairing the world." Our share-in this evening led to the discovery of some surprising common ground and left all feeling moved and desirous of further interfaith dialogue.
I Serve, April 10, 2008. A small but lively group convened at Marnita's Table for share-in about what motivates them to volunteer for community-building work of many types. Teens from North High School in Minneapolis shared their feelings about not feeling valued by their community for the contributions they make, while others spoke of barriers that make volunteering more difficult.
OTHER PAST EVENTS:
1. Marnita's Table has partnered with Philanthrofund, or PFund, to launch the Racial Equity Initiative, a multi-year program for identifying, strengthening, and supporting GLBT leaders of color.
The first event in this initiative was a Focused Conversation on Wednesday, November 14, 2007 at Marnita’s Table. The second conversation was held on Wednesday, February 20. The two events brought together more than 30 LGBT emerging leaders from communities of color to assess their individual and community needs and lay down a way forward. For full details, click here.
2. Marnita's Table hosted Romance & Revelry, an exclusive evening of intimate conversation and culinary exploration for a number of fortunate couples on Valentine's Day (February 14). The event was a fabulous, fun, and highly-successful fund-raiser for our organization.
3. Marnita's Table hosted a post-premiere pizza party on February 8, 2008, for 20-some North High School (Minneapolis) students from the Girls In Action program, who had just completed their documentary film Sexy Without Sex (shown on TPT's Minnesota Channel). Their film, which is about the dangers of sexually-transmitted diseases, aims to educate their agemates about the dangers of unsafe sex and help them resist the social pressures that may lead young people into risky behaviors.
4. Marnita's Table joined together with Community Action of Minneapolis to welcome individuals infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS -- as well as bringing back The DIVA Collaborative-- for an engaged community conversation on the personal face of HIV/AIDS in our community.
We met twice during the month of December. The first conversation was on Saturday, December 1 from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (World AIDS Day!), and despite the snowstorm 20 people ranging in age from 14 to 70+ came together for heartfelt sharing about the impact of HIV/AIDS on us individually and as a community.
The second conversation was on Thursday, December 13 from 5:30 to 8:30, when even more people came together for personal engagement around HIV/AIDS.
For full details on the background and purpose of these meetings, click here.
5. In 2007, Marnita's Table partnered with the Citizens League to address barriers to immigrant students' access to higher education.
We have almost completed a fabulous series of dinners around Minnesota – one in each of the state’s eight Congressional Districts -- to discuss barriers to immigrant students’ access to higher education.
Follow this link for full information on this important project.
Note: We are still seeking a host home for the final Dialogue to be held in the Moorhead area. If you are someone you know would be interested, please follow the link above for full information and then contact Carl or Marnita at carl@marnitastable.org or marnita@marnitastable.org or call 612-928-7744 if you'd like to talk further.
AND A FEW OF OUR OTHER EVENTS AND PROJECTS OVER THE PAST FEW MONTHS:
May 30, June 6, June 18, and June 20, 2007: DIVA Convenes
This project provides a wonderful example of how the Marnita's Table model can build social capital for our community. Check out this link to find out about the unique cross-cultural dialogue on HIV/AIDS that we hosted, aimed at developing innovative approaches to solving critical issues.
DIVA MN, creatively impacting HIV/AIDS in the State of Minnesota, convened a series of conversations at Marnita’s Table in May and June to find a community-based approach to stem the tide of women of color contracting HIV/AIDS in the State of Minnesota. DIVA Convenes welcomes a broad range of HIV/AIDS stakeholders to participate in this timely conversation, including:
Current Grantees of DIVA MN Past grantees of DIVA MN Community health care providers Governmental agencies concerned with HIV/AIDS in the State of Minnesota Individuals living with HIV-AIDS Family & friends of individuals living with HIV-AIDS Influencers/Leaders of color from the Native American, African/African American, Latino and Asian communities who intersect with the public health of their communitiesFunders of HIV/AIDS initiatives in the State of Minnesota.
April 27, 2007 Dinner & Dialogue -- Immigration: A Personal View. Remember, this is Marnita's Table we're talking about, not some dry panel discussion. New immigrants and old, we all shared our personal stories and engaged questions like "melting pot or not" and "soup, stew, or gumbo?"
April 22, 2007 Brunch & Dialogue -- Earth Day: How do you engage it? Remarkably (or not -- this is about finding common ground) a surprising number of us shared the experience of growing up on the farm, of having that direct relation with our food and natural world. And everybody struggled with the notion of balancing our personal responsibility for making sustainable life choices and the need to impact the body politic.
March 18, 2007 Brunch & Dialogue -- Teen Shout It Out! What are those issues that they don't let teens talk about?
February 23, 2007 Open House: Marnita's Table launches its 2007 season, "We Can't Talk About That!" Too hot to touch? That's what we'll talk about. And through intention and mutual respect and honest exchange of views, we'll find our way to common ground and shared experience.
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