To respond to the need for community education about the Hmong refugee experience, Hmong refugees from Wat Thamkrabok and Hmong contributions to Minnesota and the United States, the Hmong Cultural Center's Hmong Resource Center has started a program that provides comprehensive and interactive multicultural education presentations about the Hmong to groups in the Twin Cities community and Greater Minnesota.
A Building Bridges presentation may be booked for a fee. Call 651-917-9937 or e-mail hmongcc@yahoo.com to book a presentation.
The Building Bridges Program curriculum is flexible and is adapted to meet the needs, questions and interests of groups. Presentations may range from 1-2 hours with considerable opportunity for participants to ask questions The following is a list of topics included in the program curriculum:
Hmong Population Around the World
Hmong History and the Hmong Role in the CIA's Secret War in Laos,
The Hmong Refugee Movement to the U.S. 1975-Early 1990s
Hmong Refugees in Wat Thamkrabok Buddhist Temple in Thailand 1992-2004
Characteristics of Hmong Refugees from Wat Thamkrabok and How they differ from earlier groups of Hmong refugees who came to Minnesota
Hmong-American Population and Demographics
Diversity in the Hmong Minnesota Community
Hmong Clans
Traditional Hmong Religion and Shamanism
Traditional Hmong Beliefs about Health and Medicine
Hmong Marriages and Funerals
The Hmong Language
Cultural Etiquette and Communication Strategies for Service Providers who work with Hmong refugees
The Building Bridges program Curriculum is accompanied by a set of educational handouts.
SAMPLE GROUPS RECEIVING PRESENTATIONS PAST 4 YEARS:
Roseville School District
St. Paul School District Teachers Inservice
Separations Filteration GE Infrastructure Corporation
READY 4 K Hmong Youth Leadership Group
MN Dept. of Health Quarterly Regional Staff Meeting
MN Dept. of Health Redwood Falls Office
Michigan State University Asian Studies Center
Wells Fargo Checkcard Staff (Minneapolis)
Thompson West
UW-Eau Claire Students and Staff
Children's Hospital Staff (2 Presentations)
Metropolitan State University Asian Heritage Month
MN Center for Book Arts
Roseville Area Schools Continuing Education
Multicultural Resource Center Staff, Saint Paul Public Schools
Brooklyn Junior High School Staff (Brooklyn Park, MN)
Central Minnesota United Way and Saint Cloud Area Health Care Providers
Big Lake, MN School District
Elk River, MN School District
Forest Lake, MN School District
Mac-Groveland Elementary School Site Council and PTA (Saint Paul)
Macalester College Sociology Class
University of Saint Thomas training for K-12 tutors
University of Saint Thomas Education Providers Conference
MN Department of Health Staff
East Saint Paul YMCA Staff
Normandale Community College Multicultural Education Class
UW-River Falls Social Work Class
Minnesota Children's Museum Staff
Wingspan Life Resources Staff (Saint Paul)
Benilde-Saint Margaret High School Staff (St. Louis Park)
University of Minnesota Asian American History Class
Minnesota Department of Transportation Staff
Buffalo, MN Middle School Students
Dunwoody Technical Institute Staff (Minneapolis)
Courage Center Staff (Golden Valley, MN)
Minnesotal Department of Revenue Staff
Minnesota Department of Health, Refugee Health Program Staff
Ceridian Corporation Staff Diversity Day
Thomson West Corporation Staff
Apple Valley High School
U.S. Forest Service Staff (Fort Snelling, MN)
Social Work Class from Saint Scholastica College
Metronet Library Consortium
Resource Incorporated
CRTC Residential Treatment Center
Humboldt High School Class
Great River School
Mankato State University Library Staff
State of MN Dept. of Health WIC Program
Concordia University-St. Paul Multicultural Education class for future teachers
Saint Cloud State University Anthropology of Hmong Culture class;
Saint Cloud State University Introduction to Asian American Studies Class;
Mankato State University Introduction to Ethnic Studies Class;
University of Minnesota Multicultural Education Class for Science Teachers
Metropolitan State University Multicultural Communication Class
South Saint Paul Boy Scout Troop (Troop for Developmentally Disabled Adults),
Marshall (MN), Junior High School 7th and 8th Graders
World Culture Magnet Elementary School 6th Grade Class (Saint Paul);
Blake School, Plymouth, MN, all 8th Grade Classes;
Saint Bernard's School (Saint Paul) Staff Development Day;
Creative Arts High School Class, Saint Paul, MN;
J.J. Hill Elementary School, Saint Paul (Presentations to all grade levels K-5);
Apollo School, Saint Paul (Developmentally Disabled Adults),
Chisago Lakes School District, Taylor Falls, MN 5th Graders Transition Day (a special daylong program of presentations we gave about the Hmong to help facilitate a positive transition between Hmong and non- Hmong students who will be integrated together in a middle school in the Fall of 2004, currently all of the Hmong 5th graders in the District are concentrated in just one of several elementary schools.)
Best Buy Corporation Diversity Committee
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Flushing United Methodist Church (Flushing, Michigan)
University of Minnesota Human Rights Center Summer Equity In Education� Program for Teachers
Multicultural Education Class, Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota
Carl Perkins Summer Program Multicultural Awareness Activities for Suburban Schoolteachers in Twin Cities Metro Area
Anoka County Social Services Caseworkers
Twin Cities Academy School
Hmong Academy High School
Admission Possible
East Metro OIC
3 Groups of Minnesota Educators and Service Professionals at the Minnesota Humanities Commission
Saint Paul Foundation Staff
Blake School 8th Grade Classes (From Hopkins, MN)
Multicultural Education Class, University of Saint Thomas
Ramsey County Action Employees
College of Saint Scholastica Social Work Students
North Hennepin Technical College Multicultural Education Class
University of Minnesota Introduction to Sociology Class
Staff Inservice Hopkins (MN) School District
Multicultural Education Class, Metropolitan State University
Hennepin County Libraries Staff
Hopkins School District Staff Inservice
St. Thomas U.
U of Minn Medical Center
Pine City Schools
Brooklyn Center Middle School
German Immersion School
Minnesota Historical Society Staff
Luther Seminary Students
Hmong Culture and History Class, Metropolitan State University
North Saint Paul Elementary School
Powderhorn Community Center (Minneapolis)
Asian Media Access
United Children's Hospital
The Community We Serve Event, City of Minneapolis
Anoka-Ramsey Community College (Cambridge, MN) Campus
Our Savior's Lutheran Church, Stillwater, MN
Minnesota's Diverse Population, Forum at Galaxie Library, Apple Valley, MN
Professional Hmong Women's Association - St. Paul
The unique Building Bridges Program was featured in a front page story in the Saint Paul Pioneer Press newspaper on September 3, 2004. The Building Bridges Program of the Hmong Cultural Center was a finalist for the 2004 Non-Profit Mission Award in the Anti-Racism category sponsored by the Minnesota Council on Non-Profits.
HMONG 101 CLASS NOW IN SESSION
BY TODD NELSON Pioneer Press Published: Friday, Sept 3, 2004
Having the country's largest urban Hmong population has earned the Twin Cities the unofficial title of Hmong capital of the United States.
Awareness of Hmong culture, however, may not to be as widespread as the Southeast Asian people have become in their quarter-century here.
With as many as 5,000 refugees from Thailand on the way, the Hmong Cultural Center in St. Paul started fielding questions from people asking even the most basic questions: Who are the Hmong? Why are they coming here? Why can't they go back to Laos?
The center's executive director, Txong Pao Lee, and Mark Pfeifer, director of its resource center, were accustomed to answering such queries. But with interest in the Hmong sharply rising, they assembled a formal presentation they call Building Bridges � Teaching about the Hmong in Our Communities.
The program sums up 5,000 years of Hmong history and culture in 90 minutes. The presentation is decidedly low-tech but highly interactive, with Pfeifer and Txong Pao Lee addressing topics and handling questions as they point out photos and news clippings, artwork and artifacts that run floor to ceiling on the center's walls.
"A lot of people, even ones from St. Paul, have no more than a basic knowledge of the Hmong," Pfeifer said. "It kind of came into its own in response to all the calls we were getting from people wanting to know more about the refugees, the Hmong people in general."
Taking in the presentation Thursday were 30 staff members from Admission Possible, a St. Paul nonprofit that helps prepare high school students for college. About half the 550 students the agency works with in nine St. Paul and Minneapolis schools are Hmong, said Jim McCorkell, executive director of Admission Possible. The staff members are recent college graduates and AmeriCorps volunteers.
"We learn a fair amount about the culture � you just pick it up," said McCorkell, referring to the proliferation of Hmong businesses and agencies and the growing Hmong population, which state officials estimate at 60,000. "But some of the historical stuff, with people born after the Vietnam War was over, most of them don't even really know. So to understand where the Hmong people come from and what that's all about, that's really useful."
The Minnesota Humanities Commission is sponsoring three Building Bridges presentations, with each filling up quickly or near capacity, said Tom Fitzpatrick, a senior program officer for the commission.
"The program is a great value to the non-Hmong who came and nice for the Hmong to see things they remember from their experience or being told by their parents or grandparents," Fitzpatrick said, adding the effort is sort of like a class titled "Hmong Culture 101."
The presentation blends the academic perspective of Pfeifer, who holds a doctorate and edits a Hmong studies journal, and the refugee experience of Txong Pao Lee, who was 15 when his family resettled in St. Paul in 1984. Thousands of Hmong, an ethnic minority in Laos, joined the CIA's secret army to fight against communists during the Vietnam War. The Hmong began resettling in this country in 1975, after Laos fell to communists, who began persecuting those who had sided with the United States.
"You can't live in St. Paul without encountering Hmong businesses, Hmong professionals, Hmong students," said Amanda Ziebell-Finley of Admission Possible. "But a lot of the historical basis was new for me."
Seng Vang, a Hmong-American graduate of Bethel University working with Admission Possible, said hearing about Hmong culture from a native is better than merely reading about it in a book. She said she hoped those who hear the Building Bridges presentation would make the effort to learn more about the culture and the Hmong people first hand.
"If you want to get more in-depth, you have to take the next step, to talk to a person or visit a centralized place for a good amount of time," Seng Vang said. "There are thousands of narratives out there."