- [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

(bright music) - "R-Town", the show about Rochester.

Here's what's new at the Rochester Art Center and we learned about a new initiative centering young women and their role in reimagining our built environment.

We also stop by an event serving our community members facing homelessness and housing instability, and we catch up with a new counseling business dedicated to accessibility.

All that coming up next on "R-Town", the show about Rochester.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) Coming to you from 125 LIVE in Rochester, Minnesota, "R-Town".

(upbeat music continues) We are joined today by Amy Garretson from the Rochester Art Center, here to give us the latest on what's new at the art center and programming we won't wanna miss.

Thank you for coming to "R-Town".

- Thank you so much for having me.

- So, Amy, can you tell us a little bit about your Free Family Day programming and how you're expanding on it this season?

- Sure, Free Family Day has been a very popular program for us in the past, and this year we're so excited to bring it back with a few little changes.

One big change is that we are offering it once a month this spring on Sundays, on Sunday afternoons, so it's a little bit of a change.

And each of our upcoming Free Family days will have a loose theme around of it.

February, 25th we're celebrating youth artwork.

March 24th, women in the arts and other femme-identifying artists.

And April 28th, a very, very special not-to-miss Free Family Day around Dreaming Our Futures, which is an upcoming exhibition of Native American art.

- Oh, that sounds super exciting.

What are other exhibitions or events that we can check out now or maybe look forward to in the coming months, in addition to the Free Family Day programming?

- There are so many exciting things coming up and so many wonderful, engaging things on view right now.

Of course, it's hard for me to pick just one or two to to mention.

One of my favorite exhibitions right now is a solo exhibition by Minneapolis-based artist Jane Powers.

It's called Bio Terrains.

She takes a sci-fi/fantasy view of the possibilities with genetic testing.

And so, if you're science-minded, if you're into what's going on in our world and sci-fi, then I think you're really gonna love Jane's work.

A very, very special exhibition we have on view right now was curated by curator Zoe Cinel, and that is called Chronicles of the Chronic and it deals with chronic illness.

It's a group show, 13 artists who all live and thrive through their chronic ailments and illnesses that at times can be invisible, but they really translate what that feels like through their visual artwork - And Chronicles of the Chronic, that's closing fairly soon, is it not?

Or will it be running through the spring?

- I believe it closes April 3rd.

Might need to do some double-checking on that.

- Sure, I know it's just, it's been at the art center for a little while, so I was just wanting to know a little bit about that.

For folks who haven't been to the art center in a while or haven't been there at all or may be looking for something to do in the winter, it's very warm today, (Amy laughing) but on those colder days, what are some of your favorite recommendations in addition to what you just shared?

- Well, for all ages, every Friday and Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00p.m.

included with your admission is our open studio space.

And in the open studio, you can feel free to bring any art-making materials that you may have from home, anything you're interested in, or borrow some from our studio space to just create and get your eyes off a screen, off that iPhone, off that iPad and work with your hands a little bit.

Real world, get into some paint, some collage, other things like that.

That's been a program that's been very near and dear to my heart lately, running pretty much every weekend through the school calendar year.

- Wonderful.

As we're wrapping up, here, the Rochester Art Center does so much to support the community.

Are there some ways in which you continue to provide spaces for artists and makers?

I mean, you just mentioned the open studio, are there other opportunities?

- Yeah, in addition to the open studio, we also do monthly figure drawing courses for adults and we have several calls for art out right now.

If you are a working artist and you wanna answer some of those calls, do look those up on our website.

Or now that it's getting to be spring-like outside, we do offer also public art tours of outdoor art and guided tours of our exhibitions inside the museum.

- Wonderful, well, thank you so much, Amy.

We look forward to catching up with all the different events going on at the art center this year.

- Thank you.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - Be sure to stick around.

We have much more coming your way on "R-Town".

We connect with a new local business dedicated to empowerment and centering community mental health needs.

We also hear about an initiative inviting women to be part of designing our built environment.

But up first, we check out an event for community members facing homelessness in this week's "R-Culture" segment.

(solemn music) - We are here at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church who has graciously let us use this venue for this event.

This is Project Community Connect.

It's a great one-stop shop.

You can come, there's 43 vendors here today.

All different agencies, different nonprofits, things like that that are here.

We also have medical services from our WSU nursing students, a bunch of stylists that have offered their time to do free haircuts.

(razor buzzing) - [Stylist] Perfect timing.

- We have a free hot meal.

This Project Community Connect's been going on for about 10 years.

It's so important, because a lot of times, it's hard for folks to get to services and to agencies, and a lot of people don't even realize that half of these resources are available to them.

We got a lot of folks from Olmsted County.

We have a bunch of different housing resources, so the agency that I'm from, Three Rivers Community Action, Salvation Army, the Landing.

We got somebody from the school.

We have workforce, we have legal services, community health, Olmsted Medical Center.

About 224 folks have been here already.

Lots of people utilizing the free meal, getting haircuts, medical services.

They're doing foot care, blood pressure checks, different things like that.

Just seeing so many people stop by all the resource tables, so they're really utilizing what's available.

We're open to folks that are not only experiencing homelessness, but are maybe just struggling to make ends meet.

Everybody here is just so excited to be available, help the community really raise awareness of, you know, we're here.

We're here for you.

Everybody's been so helpful, so happy.

They're greeting everybody.

It's just been a really positive experience.

(crowd chattering) - We've been seeing roughly around 100 unique individuals a day at our day center.

It's up and down a little bit, like from 120 to 95, but we're seeing a lot of new faces every day, I would say a good five new people every single day that are new to homelessness, they're new to Rochester.

(solemn music) They don't know the resources available to them here, which is what's really great about this event, 'cause we're all here in one spot.

There needs to be more affordable housing.

Housing costs are too expensive in this town.

There is not enough income-based housing available, just, and affordable in general.

Our housing prices are on the rise and they're getting out of control and it's hard for anybody to stay housed here.

Everybody deserves a roof over their head.

The highest rising group would be the Boomer age.

There's more and more seniors that are experiencing homelessness, and it is very sad.

I think every day is a day to feel hopeful.

There's the little wins in every day that we're getting, we're helping one person, we're helping two, and it may be small steps, but we're getting there.

- I just want the community of Rochester, Olmsted County, to know that there is help out there.

There is a group, Project Community Connect Rochester, on Facebook, so they can find that and that will give them information of what the services are.

They can reach out at 507-696-2496.

That will get them directed to me.

And then, I work for Three Rivers Community Action, so I can help folks navigate that system as well.

- [Announcer] For more information about this story and other "R-Town" features, connect with us on Facebook, Twitter at @KSMQ, hashtag #RTown, or ksmq.org/rtown.

(upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Danielle Teal with "R-Town Spotlight", where we spotlight happenings, organizations, businesses, really good stuff across Rochester.

Today, my guest is Thu Park with Align Your Soul Counseling.

Welcome.

- Thank you.

- So glad to have you.

So, you just opened your business.

Share a little bit more about your journey into opening your own counseling business.

- Sure.

I was born and raised in Rochester, so I always had the idea of opening my own practice and it was a pipe dream for a while.

And just working through a few different agencies, I saw the disparities and wanted to open my own practice.

I became a single mom of two boys, and so I just figured it was a great way to enter my career and be a single mom.

- That's perfect, and I know that there's a story behind the title of your practice.

Can you share more about that?

- I always played around with the idea of align and soul, and I didn't know how to put it together.

I hike a lot, so I go up to Duluth and Northern Minnesota.

And I was sitting on Lake Caribou and watching the sunset, and I'm a huge sunset chaser.

So, I was sitting there, and I said, "This is exactly what aligns with my soul."

And I said, "That's it."

- Oh, I have goosebumps.

That was perfect.

- Yeah, that's the name of my practice.

- And so, you just opened recently and you also have contributed to a book.

Can you share the title and more information about that?

- Yeah, the book is called "Where Social Work Can Lead You" and it was a compilation of 22 authors and it's pretty raw and vulnerable.

With my piece, I wanted to provide information and just inspire other individuals who have their story, 'cause we all have our own stories and it doesn't define us.

And I wanted people to know that, that you can get through really dark places and still be successful in your future.

- What motivated you to start your own business?

Because there's quite a convenience with working with an agency.

- Sure.

Being a person of color, also then, later on in life, being a single mom, I wanted individuals to know that this is a lucrative career, that you can become a career woman and make the income that you wanna make.

Especially supporting single moms, because I was told so often that I needed a dual income, I needed to stay married.

And I just wanted to go against the grain and prove people wrong.

I wanted to represent underrepresented populations.

- That is the perfect mission.

Thank you so much, and we'll share more about where people can find out information about Align Your Soul Counseling.

Thank you so much for being on the show, Thu.

- Thank you.

- This is Danielle Teal with "R-Town Spotlight".

(upbeat music) - Hello again.

This is Michael Wojcik with your "R-Town Legislative Rundown".

This upcoming Monday is the kickoff of the 2024 legislative session.

Now, sessions work in a biennium model where the first year of each two does a budget for two years and the second year is what's considered to be a policy year.

We don't necessarily know what's going to be discussed, but we have some pretty good ideas of what might come up.

This year, there's gonna be a lot of technical fixes for bills that passed last year just because there was a lot that happened in that year.

There's likely to be some sort of a bonding or capital improvement bill that comes through.

There's going to be some discussion on the Metropolitan Council.

That's the Council of Government in the Twin Cities area.

Medical assistance in dying is a topic that's likely to be discussed as well.

And then, there could be some constitutional amendments as well, potentially an equal rights amendment and potentially an amendment that would enshrine abortion rights in these state constitution.

We'll see if those actually make it onto the ballot or not.

And finally, with Representative Pat Garofalo retiring, sports gambling is probably gonna get some sort of a hearing, which has been a persistent issue of his for a long period of time.

A new report studying taxes by state shows that Minnesota now has one of the most progressive tax systems in the nation.

And part of this is a result of some changes in 2023 legislation.

Now, what a progressive tax scheme means is as you earn more and more income in your household, you're paying a higher tax rate.

This has the effect of reducing income inequality.

Conversely, 44 states have what would be considered a regressive tax structure, whereby those at the bottom end of the spectrum are actually paying a higher amount in total taxes.

This actually seeks to increase income inequality.

A big result of that is that this has become a talking point in Minnesota and something that might be revisited in the legislative session.

This has been Michael Wojcik with your "R-Town Legislative Rundown".

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (bright music) - Hi, I'm Danielle Teal with "R-Town Walkabout".

We're here at the History Center of Olmsted County with Madeline Lawler, and she's the education coordinator.

Let's talk about an event that's happening here.

- Absolutely.

On February 10th, we are going to do vintage Valentine making, so we will essentially be crafting and making Valentines inspired by some of the older ones from our collection that have local ties to history.

- [Danielle] What inspired this event?

- I love doing things with my hands and Valentine's Day seemed like a good way to make a connection between a cool craft activity that will have a use, and then also, local history.

- Can you share a little bit more about what we're looking at?

- Yeah, absolutely.

These Valentines, I believe, were at some point in time given to a teacher.

We have lots of different Valentines addressed to, "My teacher," or teachers.

These are also some of the, when we walked into the era of more mass produced Valentines, you can see judging from their similarities and there's lots of different intricacy levels and just some really neat things to draw inspiration from.

- [Danielle] What is gonna go into the event?

What should people expect?

- It's just a pop in, pop out from 10 to noon on a Saturday before Valentine's Day.

And I'll have lots of craft supplies out for people to get creative with and have fun and think about someone who they appreciate.

It could be a teacher, could be a sibling, your parents, grandparents, or other person in your life.

- [Danielle] Does this cost and can people take it with them?

- You can absolutely take it home and it's included with museum admission, so that's $9 for adults and five for kids.

- [Danielle] Very cool, thank you so much.

- [Madeleine] Of course, thank you.

- This is Danielle Teal with "R-Town Walkabout".

(upbeat music) - Equity in the Built Environment is a joint program of the city of Rochester and Workforce Development, Inc. Part of its mission is to support women of color in their pursuit of careers within the built environment industries.

Here to tell us more about EBE are Julie Brock and Diamond Harriel.

Welcome to "R-Town".

- Hey!

- Thanks for having us.

- Julie, can you tell us a little bit about the work of EBE, and what are built environment industries?

- Sure, it is actually the biggest part of our campaign right now is helping people understand that built environment is everything from development, so you buy a piece of land and you wanna put something on there, all the way through to building maintenance or building inspection, and everything in between.

So, that is the built environment.

And so, if you're interested in estimating or if you're interested in in cutting, I mean, there's all sorts of different choices for you within built environment.

- That's amazing, I did not know that, actually.

It's nice to hear that there's such a wide range of different options, careers, industries within that space.

Can you tell us a little bit more about what EBE is trying to do within that?

- Absolutely.

In Rochester, we have less than 1% of women who are in built environment industries, yet they make up 13% of our demographic.

Well, we have a lot of building that's coming in Rochester, and that means that's a lot of money and that's a lot of economic growth.

That's a lot of wealth building.

And we wanna make sure that any industry is representing our community and who truly lives here.

And so, we want our community to be built by and for the people who live here.

And so, we wanna create access and we wanna create a program that follows the needs of the individual woman.

So, that's what we're doing.

- And Diamond, you've been a part of this EBE program.

Can you tell us a little bit about your experience?

- It's actually been really great for me 'cause I'm really open about it all.

So, the experience for me going in, like I didn't really know I was gonna get hands-on with learning all the tools, literally basic ones, what they made us do, and which was really fun for me 'cause I always wanted to get into building.

'Cause I came more on the management side, So, I was like, "Oh, I wanna get into project management and project coordinator position."

They were just like, "Okay, let's get you in."

So, I didn't expect none of that.

It was really great of learning all the basics, like I made up my own cutting board!

I didn't think I could do that.

And I was like, "Oh, this is fun!"

So, I was asking them, like, "Can we get more time in?"

'Cause two to three hours is like, that's not enough.

So, I had a really great experience with that.

And then, with the blueprint reading, it was like she said, getting to budgeting and getting to account.

They have a lot of different environments.

We even like walk the banks that they just built out here and looking at the blueprint showing and seeing how it matches.

And I was like, "Oh, this is really fun!"

And working with Matt, who's over it, he even like put us in the Collider Cup and let us be a part of it and help pick out the different entrepreneur ideas.

He was like, "I want you guys to get in all that mindset, not just job placement, but look on even having your own business."

So, I was like, "That's really fun."

It would just been a good all-around information, so I've been enjoying myself.

- That sounds like some wonderful exposure to all of the different breadth and depth of the built environment industries.

I love how you went in for something, and then now, were you working with some power tools?

- Yeah!

(all laughing) - Yes, women with power tools!

It's great.

And then also got to see, I think it's almost like the life cycle of how things get built and all the different pieces in there.

I love that.

Julie, can you tell us a little bit more about how EBE is supporting women beyond some of these initial exposure events?

- Built environment actually was born out of a co-design process that happened between industry professionals as well as women of color who came with varying degrees.

We had some women who owned their own companies, flooring companies.

We had people who were working in industry, but also, we had women who didn't have any prior experience with it.

And together, what they created was an intentional onboarding mentoring program.

And within that, there's wraparound services for women.

Like I said, this is individuals.

So, Diamond came in, she had an assessment with one of our planners over at Workforce Development Incorporated.

And from there, we assessed, and there was childcare need and there was transportation need.

And so, we wrapped those right around.

Talking about trades readiness program, right?

Had no experience in built environment, was curious.

And so, that's the first thing.

We put everyone who has no experience in trades readiness because industry said, man, when people have touched the tools, when they cut the wood, that makes them better estimators, it makes them better project coordinators.

So, no matter where Diamond goes within built environment, and there's so many different paths available, she'll be supported by the program through any of these wraparound services.

But also, our industry partners who are really excited to work with us and create with women what is the future of Built Environment.

- That sounds really individualized, so that's wonderful.

Diamond, can you tell us a little bit about, now that you've learned all these different aspects and gotten curious about it, what are some of your dreams for the future with some of this?

- Actually, I'm really excited to talk about, I don't even talk to Julie about that, actually.

(laughs) - I'm gonna find something new out!

- Yeah!

Like she said, since it opened my door, that's why I was like, "I'm going full force with this," 'cause I actually been in and out of college, like, "Oh, I'm gonna go here, I wanna go here."

And I have a lot of experience and background, so it's like, here, it gives me the gateway of, wherever you wanna go, we can make that happen.

My main goal is to, since I started loving building and I've always been into those home improvement shows, I was like: I really want to go out there and start buying up some land, getting some homes, making projects, and start building homes where it's more affordable-rated, 'cause the market's getting out of hand, but it's not looking at the people in need.

And it's very unexpected expectations for us to even meet those goals.

And I'm a Jeremiah mom, too, so I'm a single mom.

It's like we're trying to get back out there and look at what's for us.

And it's like, you get your career, you get that, but then now, you gotta pay back school.

It's like there's ways of, they have so many programs, I'm like, "Well, I wanna build homes and flip 'em and sell 'em to people and just incorporate the community and be like, "You can get a finance class before you just go buy a home."

I don't want, you can't even sign a lease until you get educated, is what I'm trying to do, because people get into these with no knowledge 'cause you can't expect every household to give you that.

And they gave me that, 'cause I'm coming from not having that.

And they're like, "Yeah, you can go and get into a finance class and do this."

And then, like, "I didn't know the community would do that."

So, I've just been taking advantage of them and I wanna give back those resources, because it's just a struggle.

So, to be able to do that, it's like what I was additionally planning with them.

- Wonderful, well, thank you so much, Diamond.

That sounds amazing.

We hope to hear more from you and all the amazing work that you're planning to do.

And thank you, Julie, for sharing more about EBE.

Thank you for joining us today.

I hope you learned as much as I did about all that's going on in our city and the great people making it happen.

For more wonderful content produced right here in Rochester, please be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter at hashtag #RTown.

I'm Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara, host of "R-Town", and I'll see you next week.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (bright music) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.