A donation-based cafe inspired by the chaikhanas, or tea houses, of Afghanistan. A menu inspired by the cultures along the Silk Road. A seating space surrounded by a climbing cave. A brand new playground and outdoor seating space.
Against all odds, the Afghan Cultural Society (ACS) is expanding its space in the heart of Cedar-Riverside, and giving it a facelift by the end of this fall.
After renting their current space above Mayday Books for almost four years, last June, ACS purchased one of the buildings next door that had housed Midwest Mountaineering. The society will hold onto the rented space until it’s leased out to a new party, while it aims to finish work on its new location this year.
The expansion comes at a time of heightened unpredictability in federal and state funding, and repeated attacks on the Afghan community and on refugee services in general.
Nasreen Sajady, the organization’s executive director, believes this expansion is as much a result of community support as it is an act of “silent protest.” When she was looking for spaces to rent four years ago, landlords would only show her basements after they heard that the organization offered refugee services. “They didn’t want us in their neighborhoods,” she said.
In the future, they will be housed in a historic Minneapolis neighborhood long known as an immigrant entrypoint and characterized by its diverse population. More recently, it was also heavily targeted by federal immigration activity and rightwing activists like Jake Lang during Operation Metro Surge.
“I feel like the fact that we were able to purchase a building, [and] put roots down at a time when they’re trying to tear our roots apart so we can’t replant anywhere… It’s quite a protest, and it’s quite a show of strength amongst our community,” Sajady said.
The Afghan community is one of Minnesota’s fastest-growing immigrant groups. The number of Minnesotans born in Afghanistan held stable at around 300 for many years, but rose to more than 1,000 in 2022 following the return of the Taliban to power. More than 85% of Minnesota’s Afghan immigrants live in Hennepin and Ramsey counties. ACS was founded in 2018 to promote and preserve Afghan culture in Minnesota. Following the return of the Taliban, the society began resettlement services for Afghan refugees.
‘A place they can call their own’
The new building offers expanded space for community events, programming for community members, and for people, especially Muslim women to gather, something that young women in the neighborhood said they consider a public safety need.
Buying a new building amid grant cuts for nonprofits serving refugees and immigrant communities meant putting together a patchwork of funding, and help from the community, even when it felt difficult to continue doing their work. “Since Trump’s got into office, I think many of us [nonprofit organizations] have felt like, ‘Oh, my God, this is it. We built all this, and he can take it away like that,’” Sajady said.
In the absence of federal grant support, Sajady hopes that the proceeds from the cafe will become one of the ways ACS will continue to serve refugees. “We are lucky that we have some pretty stable grants right now that will get us through mid-2027, at least. And so then it’s about what happens after that,” she said.
The purchase of the building, and the remodeling work that will follow, is paid for through different funding sources, including a loan from Propel Nonprofits and $500,000 in federal Community Project Funding pushed through by U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.“As a fellow refugee and survivor of war, I know how hard it is to find solid footing while building a new life,” Omar said in a statement to Sahan Journal.
“Thousands of Afghans helped our U.S. servicemembers during America’s longest war. After the Afghan government collapsed, many came to the United States seeking refuge after risking everything. They have experienced a level of trauma and loss that few people can understand. That’s why I was honored to secure $500,000 for the refugee hub — so Afghans in Minnesota have a place they can call their own to heal, rebuild, and thrive.”
‘A sense of security’ for the community
When Khatera Herawie moved to Minnesota from Afghanistan in November 2021, ACS gave her a sense of “home, that you’re safe, and you’re with your own people.” She said she found friends through the society at a time when finding Afghan people and pieces of her culture in Minnesota was harder. Herawie said that with this expanded space, the society can host and help even more refugees. “Now, it’s not only for Afghan people, but also for other nationalities. Now they have a safe space for people to talk and for all the programming.”
For Katayoun Amjadi, an Iranian-American visual artist, the society, where she holds art workshops, has served as a safe space, too. At the end of February, when the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran, and Pakistan declared an “open war” on Afghanistan, Amjadi was scheduled to hold a workshop at the society.
The news was so debilitating that she almost canceled it. But she did show up, and is glad she did. “It was beautiful for me and very heartwarming,” she said. She met an Afghan attendee who was worried about her relatives in Iran. “For me, [it has been] very rewarding over the past few years to be in a space with women who’re like my aunts and I feel like I’m immediately in a community that I feel safe and easy [in].”
To Huda Yusuf, a chemist and longtime volunteer with ACS, this new space is about permanence. “I was most surprised when I heard the word ‘bought’ instead of ‘rent,’” she said. “Especially coming from an immigrant community, hearing the word bought meant permanence to me. That’s why I had an overjoyed reaction, and like, a sense of security.”
‘A piece of home from Afghanistan’
She hopes that with this expanded space, which includes an outdoor playground, the society will resemble a grandma’s house, like back in Afghanistan. “So much of the reason why the community likes coming here is because they know their kids are safe, and they know that their kids can run around and be free and, we’re all community, and we’re all going to make sure that everybody is OK,” she said. “It’s like going to your mom’s house and dropping your kid off for a second and talking to your sisters.”
The new 6,000-square-foot space will preserve the interiors and the history of Midwest Mountaineering while bringing bits of home from Afghanistan. The exposed bricks will remain, but the windows and doors will be replaced. The climbing cave in the basement will remain, now surrounded by handed-down Afghan rugs and throw pillows on the ground.
“Just like the Silk Road allowed this movement of ideas, culture, music, poetry, love, all of these things, we want to allow that type of flow in the space,” Sajady said. “It’s not just Afghana who built this; it’s a lot of [people] who put a little bit of their love into it. And so I want to make sure that we represent them, and let them know that this is their home too, not just ours.”
Some of the units upstairs will offer a quieter, more private space for existing mental health, education, and art and culture programs and even for possible expansion as they continue to serve a heightened need for support from the community.
“It felt important, because we were seeing the community need to come together,” Sajady said. “I knew that with the attention that we had, I had to keep moving. I had to build as fast as I could, because I knew that that would go away, and that’s how we were able to get funds to buy a building … We just had to keep moving. We had to keep building.”
