North Star Journey

North Star Journey is a celebration of communities in Minnesota and the champions who are doing the work that we should be bringing a voice to. We hope to bring new understandings of our state and what brought us to today. About | Credits

MPR News also hosts North Star Journey Live, an event series discussing topics about what Minnesota’s diverse communities need to thrive. Check it out here.

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Officials say Minnesota’s reputation as a welcoming state has helped make it the top destination in the U.S. for secondary migration — which occurs when refugees move to Minnesota after an initial resettlement somewhere else.
Lenders more likely to deny home loans to people of color in the Twin Cities
New research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis shows that the denial rate for home loans is higher for people of color than it is for White applicants. The starkest gap was between Black applicants at 4.3% and White applicants at 1.7%. MPR News host Tom Crann spoke with Alene Tchourumoff, Senior Vice President of Community Development and Engagement at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, for more on the findings.
At a Minnesota evangelical school, Black students sought racial reckoning, then felt the pushback
Some students of color at the University of Northwestern say there's a pattern of casual racism on campus, rooted in its history. The current president says the suburban Twin Cities school is working on change but concedes not everyone agrees change is needed, and “we’re never going to reach utopia.”
The East African twist on an American staple
Ethiopian chef Karima Omer serves what she calls chapati wraps at her St. Paul restaurant. She created the dish almost by accident, but a staple of East African cuisine is now a huge hit with customers.
Rochester confronts its segregated housing history, Mayo founders' role
City leaders want Rochester to be a magnet for a diverse workforce, expanding around Mayo Clinic. Part of that journey means reckoning with the city’s history of intentional housing segregation. A recent push to map racial housing covenants shows how some are connected to Rochester’s most important institution.
Decades after taking it, feds set to return Minnesota land to Leech Lake band
The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe will soon get back nearly 12,000 acres wrongfully taken in the ‘40s and ‘50s. As they plan for the land’s future, tribal leaders say their fight has also helped strengthen bonds with the Cass County government.
How to get involved in environmental justice efforts in Minnesota
MPR News hosted In Focus: Environmental justice and Minnesota’s climate future on April 27. And our MPR community engagement team held three Story Circles on April 15 on the same topic. We put together a toolkit with stories and resources on environmental justice in Minnesota.