To continue reading this article and others for free, please sign up for our newsletter.
Sahan Journal publishes deep, reported news for and with immigrants and communities of color—the kind of stories you won’t find anywhere else.
Unlock our in-depth reporting by signing up for our free newsletter.
Processing…
Success! You're on the list.
Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.
feeding our future investigation
Men tied to alleged Feeding Our Future fraud donated to reelection campaign of Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, records show.
A federal search warrant unsealed last week claims Feeding Our Future, a Minnesota nonprofit, stole money intended to feed disadvantaged children and adults. Owners and partners of Safari Restaurant allegedly took millions. Six of those men made large donations to the reelection campaign of Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey–including an individual whom the mayor appointed to a committee for public safety.
Making it in Minnesota
Making It in Minnesota: Filipino customers will drive for hours to find food from home. Herman and Faith Rott opened a new grocery store in Mounds View to give it to them.
Where in Minnesota can you find Filipino favorites like malunggay, puto cheese, pan de sal, and prepared meats like chorizo de Cebu? Until recently, the answer was almost nowhere. That’s why Herman and Faith Rott, opened Filipino Village Grocery Store–in the middle of a pandemic. The couple talked to Sahan Journal about how they’re making their business a success.
Feeding our future investigation
Feds investigate nonprofit incorporated by Minneapolis City Council Member Jamal Osman in alleged Feeding Our Future food fraud.
Federal search warrants connect a nonprofit called Stigma-Free International to Feeding Our Future. Jamal Osman said he was involved with Stigma-Free until June 2020, and then cut ties with the nonprofit. Investigators allege Stigma-Free participated in a wide-ranging fraud beginning in January 2021, stealing millions of dollars from programs intended to feed low-income children.
BECOME A SAHAN SUSTAINER NOW
We rely on reader support, and your donation to Sahan Journal will help us shine a light on immigrants and people of color in Minnesota. Join over a thousand supporters now and become a Sahan Sustainer with your monthly donation. Thank you.
COVID
On Twin Cities COVID wards: A younger, whiter wave of patients. And a whole lot of burnout.
The Omicron variant may have supplanted Delta, but hospitals still are struggling. There still are too many patients and not enough nurses.
Even on a morning as fiercely frigid as this one, there they were, flying down snowy Twin Cities streets with condensation puffing from their wrapped-up faces–winter bicyclists. Among those hardy riders are an increasing number of riders of color.
It’s affordable. It’s great exercise. It’s easy on the environment. And best of all, it’s exhilarating. Minnesotans of color share their love of winter biking as well as tips on how to get started and where to find advice and camaraderie.
Tell us what you know about Feeding Our Future and alleged food fraud.
Sahan Journal is reporting on Feeding Our Future and allegations that the nonprofit funneled federal food aid to shell companies and individuals who may have kept the money for themselves.
Wilson Ekinde: Two years of experience dealing with COVID leaves nurses ‘armed to face the devil.’
Nurses have more knowledge and protective equipment. Patients with Omicron don’t tend to be as sick. But it’s far from business as usual on the COVID wards.
Michelle Davenport: ‘I couldn’t break the fever. I thought I was going to lose my life.’
Nursing educator is heading back to work on the hospital floor with COVID patients. Because of her own experience with the disease, she plans to be extremely careful not to spread the disease to her family.
news
Kenyata Carroll: ‘I am seeing a lot of people with permanent disabilities.’
Not as many patients are dying as in the early days of the pandemic, but COVID patients may suffer permanent effects of a long hospitalization.
Russ-Em Tracy Johnson: ‘You care for people who are angry and don’t want to listen to doctors.’
Younger patients hospitalized now sometimes think they know better than medical staff. Nurses are burned out and chronically short of hands to take care of them.
Confused about the alleged fraud at Feeding Our Future? The shell companies, the Las Vegas junket, the $500,000 apartment in Kenya? Here’s everything you need to know about the FBI raid and investigation so far.
Feeding Our Future allegedly funneled federal money through dozens of shell companies that appear to have been established on the fly. “To date, the conspirators have stolen millions of dollars in federal funds,” the FBI said in the search warrant affidavit. “The scheme is ongoing.”
With the Omicron variant, teacher absences are way up. But what’s happening with students is… interesting.
Minnesota schools have run into protests as they try to decide whether to keep kids in school or switch to online learning during the Omicron surge. We asked Minnesota’s eight largest school districts just how many kids are staying home from school.
Editor’s note: Why Sahan Journal published an article about criminal charges involving absentee ballots.
Sahan Journal writes often about how immigrants and communities of color are participating in Minnesota’s elections. Readers also need clear and fair reporting about investigations involving absentee ballots and election integrity.
Federal prosecutors file perjury charges against Minnesota man in investigation involving absentee ballots.
A November 18, 2021, indictment alleges Muse Mohamud Mohamed gave false statements in grand jury testimony about his handling of absentee ballots.
As hundreds of Afghan refugees flow into Minnesota, volunteers and aid agencies are stepping up to help. You can too.
Local aid groups have set a mid-February deadline to resettle 750 Afghans in Minnesota. Participate in a donation drive. Shop on an Amazon wishlist. Anyone can help. Housing is the most urgent need, but aid coordinators are well aware that needs go beyond material things. “We know a house is nothing if you don’t have dignity, if you don’t have joy, if you don’t have a sense of comfort and safety,” says one aid wrangler.
In one of the most diverse corners of Minnesota, immigrants are making their mark in politics.
People of color make up 55 percent of Brooklyn Park’s population. Three of the four candidates running for an open city council seat are immigrants.
Abraham Brima Bah: ‘Law enforcement has to be trusted.’
City council candidate says Brooklyn Park should reimagine public safety to reflect the community’s diversity. Housing and supporting small businesses also are big issues.
MORE STORIES
Xiongpao ‘Xp’ Lee: Brooklyn Park has ‘a great mix of everything,’ and still has room to grow.
Currently a member of the city’s Planning Commission, candidate focuses on community engagement and bringing value to Brooklyn Park’s east side.
How to get free COVID tests sent to your home in Minnesota.
For weeks now, at-home COVID tests have been in short supply at pharmacies and stores across Minnesota and the United States. Now, a new federal program means anyone can get COVID tests mailed to their home–for free? How do you do it? When should you use them? When do you still need a lab test?
Futsal is a smaller, faster version of soccer. The global game is seeing a boom in the Twin Cities, driven by an immigrant player base.
Dedicated courts are growing in the Twin Cities. Funding has been set aside for two new courts in south Minneapolis, where a recreational scene is booming.
As a new senior executive at HealthPartners, Pahoua Yang Hoffman wants to make health care more accessible to Minnesota’s immigrants—starting with her mother.
Hoffman is leaving her senior role at the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, where she directed community-giving programs. In her new role at HealthPartners, the giant Minnesota health provider and insurer, Hoffman will address community health, equity, and access to culturally competent care.
After having a daughter, Remona Htoo couldn’t find children’s books in the Karen language. So she wrote one herself.
Remona Htoo’s book, “My Little Legs,” is one of the few Karen-language books published in the U.S. Htoo and her 22-month-old daughter, Emma, enjoy sledding, backpacking, and camping out. They’ve visited wilderness areas in the metro and the North Shore; so far, the toddler has notched 10 national parks.
COVID kills Minnesota immigrants at higher rates, younger ages, survey says.
University of Minnesota researchers analyzed more than 5,000 death certificates in the state from the year 2020. They found a higher mortality rate from the virus for people who were born outside the country than among people born in the U.S.
Teach in person? COVID causes chaos. Teach remotely? Kids suffer. Minnesota’s teachers of color say that Omicron presents schools with bad options and impossible choices.
As the Omicron variant surges, so do teachers’ stress levels. Staffing shortages and low student attendance are forcing some districts into remote learning. As schools enter their third pandemic year, Minnesota teachers of color talked to Sahan Journal about the challenges of teaching–and how their students are coping.
Moriah Stephens, special education teacher: ‘We just had a staff member die of COVID that was contact-traced to school.’
Staffing shortages at a Brooklyn Park special education school make it difficult for teachers to safely work with high-needs students.
Averi M. Turner, second-grade teacher: ‘Seven students showed up yesterday. I’m hoping for better tomorrow’
In a north Minneapolis charter school, many second-grade students struggle with distractions at home. Their teacher wishes they could be in the school building and leave the outside world behind.
MORE STORIES
Native American students want the University of Minnesota Morris to search for lost burial sites. It may be even harder to recover generations of missing Indigenous culture and family history.
Archival research suggests as many as seven students from the Morris Industrial School for Indians could be buried on campus. Today, Native American students attend the university for free—but there’s a cost to reckoning with the site’s troubled history.
