Volunteers build understanding and deep relationships through learning community events.
Volunteers get to know one another, learn from nationally renowned speakers, engage in interfaith dialogue, and develop strategies to engage others in the work of creating real, systemic change in Greater Saint Paul.
Join us for the first learning community event of the year
Thursday, October 17 | 6:00-8:30
The Wellstone Center, room 272 | 179 Robie St E, St Paul, MN
Featured speaker: Margaret Kaplan, president of the Housing Justice Center
Join us for an evening of food, fellowship, and learning as we begin digging into this year’s curriculum focused on exploring the neighborhoods in which we live and serve. How can we understand how these neighborhoods came to be in this moment? What are their strengths and challenges? How has our community failed some of our neighborhoods, and how has the resulted in barriers to economic mobility?
Our featured speaker, Margaret Kaplan, has 20 years of experience in the field of affordable housing and community development in the nonprofit, academic, and government sectors. She brings a wealth of knowledge about local, state, and federal housing policy and programs as well as a robust background in the intersection of community organizing and the law.
This discussion on housing will be followed by the kickoff of our interfaith curriculum with a textual study led by Earl Schwartz.
Upcoming 2019-2020 Learning Community Events
- Thursday, December 12, 6:00–8:30 pm, Beth Jacob Congregation
- Thursday, January 16, 6:00–8:30 pm, Wilder Foundation
- Thursday, March 19, 6:00–8:30 pm
- Thursday, May 21, 6:00–8:30 pm
- Thursday, July 16, 6:00–8:30 pm
2018–2019 Learning Community Events
July 18: Impact Stories: Opportunity Saint Paul’s Impact on our Community
Year-in-review of volunteer experiences and impact on community partners
May 9: Trauma-Informed Care
Understanding trauma and its impact on brain development, cultural resilience, and new tools to help volunteers in their work with students and clients
March 14: Motivational Interviewing
Understanding how Motivational Interview can help people of differing cultures and socio-economic backgrounds learn to work together and communicate better
January 29: Building Strong Volunteer Relationships
Learning how successful volunteer experiences rely on building effective, authentic relationships between volunteers and clients
November 29: Unconscious Bias
Understanding how unconscious bias can negatively affect our thoughts and behaviors, how it manifests itself in our relationships, and how we can take steps to create more innovative, caring, and inclusive relationships
October 11: Experience Poverty—Interactive Poverty Simulation
Experiencing what it feels to like to live in poverty through an online simulation tool developed by Urban Ministries of Durham
Learn more, download resources and watch videos from 2018-2019 here.