This document summarizes a webinar presented by the City of Minneapolis Department of Health and Family Support on their initiative to engage multicultural communities through storytelling to identify factors that create health. The webinar discussed how the department convened community partners to develop a question and conduct storytelling events in 6 cultural communities. 27 themes were identified, including the importance of social support networks and maintaining cultural traditions. Resources developed included a DVD, speakers bureau, and storytelling toolkit to help other communities replicate the process. The effort strengthened relationships between communities and informed department programs and policies.

1. What Creates Health?
Using Multicultural Storytelling for Community
Engagement in Minneapolis
Thursday, March 31, 2011 3:00 – 4:30 pm (EASTERN)
Presenters:
City of Minneapolis, MN, Department of Health and Family Support:
* Gretchen Musicant, MPH, Commissioner of Health
* Emily L. Wang, MPH, Health Policy & Program Coordinator
* Victoria Amaris, Consultant

2. Learning Objectives –
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
 Understand the components of a local initiative which engaged
multicultural communities to describe factors that create health
 Learn about tools that have been developed to help them replicate this
process in their communities
 Identify at least two resources from local health departments to
address the MCH-related issue discussed during the presentation

3. Disclosure Statement
CDC, our planners, and our presenters wish to disclose they have no
financial interest or other relationships with the manufacturers of
commercial products, suppliers of commercial services, or commercial
supporters. Presentations will not include any discussion of the unlabeled
use of a product or a product under investigational use.

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5.  Continuing Medical Education (CME)
This activity was planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation
Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint sponsorship of the CDC, NACCHO, and
CityMatCH. CDC is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The CDC
designates this activity for a maximum of 1.5Category 1 credits toward the AMA Physician's Recognition Award.
 Continuing Nursing Education (CNE)
This activity for 1.5contact hours is provided by the CDC, which is accredited as a provider of continuing education in
nursing by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditations.
 Continuing Education Contact Hours (CECH)
The CDC is a designated provider of continuing education contact hours in health education by the National
Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. This program is a designated event to receive 1.5 Category 1
contact hours in health education. The CDC provider number is GA0082.
 Continuing Education Units (CEU)
The CDC was reviewed and approved as an Authorized Provider by the International Association for Continuing
Education and Training (IACET). The CDC will award .15CEUs to participants who successfully complete this program.

6. What Creates Health?
LISTEN: Using Multicultural Storytelling for
Community Engagement in Minneapolis
Gretchen Musicant, Commissioner
Minneapolis Department of Health & Family Support
Emily Wang, Health Policy & Program Coordinator
Minneapolis Department of Health & Family Support
Victoria Amaris, Community Partner/Cultural Advisor
NACCHO and CityMatCH
Emerging Issues in Maternal & Child Health Webinar Series
March 31, 2011

7. Minneapolis
A Multicultural Community

8. Minneapolis Population By Race, 2010
Minneapolis Population by Race/Ethnicity
2 or more races,
4%
Other, 0%
Asian/PI, 6%
American Indian,
2%
Black, 20%
White, 68%
White Black/African American American Indian
Asian/PI Other 2 or more races

9. % of Population that is Foreign Born by
Race in Minneapolis, 2007-2009
66.2%
Asian
23.9%
Black
7.5% White
Latino
56.6%
0.0% 20.0% 40.0% 60.0% 80.0%

10. Our Health Department’s
Vision & Mission
Vision
Health, equity, and well-being for all
people in their communities
Mission
To promote health equity in Minneapolis
and meet the unique needs of our urban
population by providing leadership and
fostering partnerships.

11. The Way We Work
 We build on our urban community‟s cultural
diversity, wisdom, strengths, and resilience.
 We support individual health within the context of
families and communities across the lifespan.
 To achieve health equity, we invest in the social
and physical environments of our residents.
 We bring people and resources together to
achieve our common health goals.
 Sound research and promising strategies inform
our activities and decisions.
 We promote health as the interconnection of
physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being.

12. How we began
 Convened Community leaders from
6 cultural communities
 Proposed an initial plan
 Established a climate of humility,
learning and mutual ownership
 Identified storytelling as a universal
way of communicating

13. Elaine Salinas
American Indian Community Partner/
Cultural Advisor
“When we want people to know what we‟re
thinking, what we‟re feeling, what our
experiences are, we often do it by sharing
our stories… people from other communities
began saying, „Well yes, storytelling is a big
part of what we do in our community as
well…‟”

14. Developing a great question
Tell us about a time when your
family or community was healthy

15. What made this effort unique?
 Community driven
 Co-developed and co-owned
 Community members analyzed the
meaning of the stories
 Story telling events had intrinsic value
to participants
 Events were culturally and linguistically
tailored
 Events were led by members of the
community

16. What made this effort unique?
 Strength based
 City leadership was involved
 It was intergenerational
 Honoring & respecting community
 Show product of their effort
 Describe changes underway in
Department operations
 Demonstrate that they were heard

17. Findings
 27 themes were identified
 6 themes crossed all groups
 Extended kinship networks & social
interaction promotes health
 Racial & cultural pride & maintaining
cultural traditions & ties to a cultural
community are important to health
 People can be extremely resilient
despite great hardships

18. Findings (cont.)
 Health is viewed holistically with
physical, mental, social & spiritual
aspects
 Access to and engagement in
physical activity is important to
health
 Culturally competent & language-
specific services are essential

19. Clarence Jones
African American Community Partner/
Cultural Advisor
“I‟ve grown a lot as a result of having to
interface with the other communities…and
while there are some differences, we have
a lot of things that are similar and as a
result of that, I think we can work together
to make our community healthier.”

20. Process outcomes
 Evidence of learning across
communities
 Affirmed the findings
 Honored the participants and their
wisdom
 Demonstrated usefulness of
information to others

21. Resources developed
 DVD
 6 predominant health themes
 Target audience: policy makers, health
decision makers & funders
 Multi-lingual: Spanish, Hmong, Vietnamese
& Somali
 Speakers Bureau
 Community Partners/Cultural Advisors

22. Resources developed (cont.)
 Multicultural Storytelling Toolkit, w/
DVD
 3 Teaching modules
 Viewing Guide
 Pre- & Post-storytelling event checklists
 Post-training event survey
 Feedback form

23. Toolkit Trainings Conducted
 University of Minnesota
 School of Public Health
 Culture & Health Literacy On-line Training Module
 MCH Summer Institute on Health Disparities
 New Student Orientation
 City of Minneapolis
 Inter-departmental Brownbag (Multicultural
Services, Community Engagement, Police, 311,
Fire, Regulatory Services, Public Works, Community
Planning & Economic Development, Human
Resources, City Coordinator, City Council Member)

24. Upcoming Toolkit Trainings
 University of Minnesota
 School of Public Health
 Early Childhood Mental Health Symposium
http://mch2011symposium.eventbrite.com/
 Public Health Institute
www.sph.umn.edu/ce/institute

25. The Storytelling Process

26. Storytelling Process (10 steps)
1.Setting the Stage-
Articulating Benefits
 Community Member Benefits
 Professional/Institutional Benefits
2.Identify Committed & Engaged
Institutional Leader

27. Storytelling Process (cont.)
3.Form Advisory Committee of
Representatives (Community
Partners)
4.Define the Right Strength-Based
Question

28. Storytelling Process (cont.)
5.Community Partners Conduct
Storytelling Process
6.Work with Community Partners to
Interpret Meaning & Develop
Themes

29. Sample Stories
“A couple years back my auntie took me & my sister
out into the woods & I didn‟t pay attention, but my
sister paid attention & now my sister is…strong &
she knows what medicines to use when she has a
headache, or backache, or any kind of aches in her
body…sometimes I wish I would have paid attention.
I feel like proud of her all the time, because she‟s
able to learn all these traditions & keep them alive.”
American Indian youth

30. Sample Stories (cont.)
“Some of the values our ancestors had,
they knew how to eat vegetables, they
knew a little bit about herbs…the body is
so miraculous, God is so merciful, that it‟s
always healing itself if we would just work
with it. So, if we would see our kitchen as
a healing laboratory, we either take our
health away or give ourselves health…So
really, your hospital is your kitchen,
you‟re the first physician.”
African American woman

31. Storytelling Process (cont.)
7.Synthesize Cross-Cultural Themes
8.Use Stories to Inform Policy and
Practice

32. Storytelling Process (cont.)
9.Come Full Circle. Share Results w/
Storytellers, Participants, &
Community (Honoring Community)
10.Sustain Community Engagement
by Building Trustworthy Long-
term Relationships

33. Honoring Community
 Honoring Community
Thank You Event
 Celebration & validation of stories
 Multicultural foods
 Multilingual w/ interpreters & headsets

34. Perspectives of a Community
Partner/Cultural Advisor
Key elements of success
 A uniquely rewarding experience
 Inclusion & engagement went deeper
and broader
 An unswerving commitment to a
strength-based approach
 Not scarcity approach looking for
“needs” and deficiencies
 Synchronicity of vision

35. Perspectives of a Community
Partner/Cultural Advisor
o Focused on wisdom of
communities; cultural practices
that keep us strong & healthy
o Led by respective cultural
communities/process honoring
cultural traditions *Latino example
o In partnership with Minneapolis
Health Dept. leadership

36. Perspectives of a Community
Partner/Cultural Advisor
o Advisory/facilitators saw beyond their
own communities
 Mutual learning across cultures
occurred as a result
o Inclusiveness: not only people of
color but Caucasian communities
o The presence, authentic
engagement of the City Health
Dept. leadership led to strong
lasting relationships

37. Impact of the effort
 Opened doors for cross cultural
learning
 Showcased how diverse
communities define health
 Informed other community
engagement efforts

38. Impact of the effort (cont.)
 Influenced department grant RFP
process
 Informed program design and grant
seeking
 Strong interest in the methodology
among public health and academia

39. Gretchen Musicant,
City Health Department Commissioner
 “The Health Department has a
responsibility to act on what you have
shared with us. How are we supporting
families? How are we asking people who
get our money to be true to culture or
represent culture as they help people?
That is one concrete way that we have
begun, but we have a lot more to learn
about how to do that with integrity.”

40. For more information
 Toolkit
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/dhfs/
 Other questions?
 Emily L. Wang
emily.wang@ci.minneapolis.mn.us

41. Any Questions?

42. Thank you for your participation!
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http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22C4ZBKX8NN/
To obtain continuing education credits, visit http://www.cdc.gov/tceonline
Please join us for the next E-MCH webinar, April 21, 2011 on Community Organizing.
Thank you. You may now disconnect.