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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 31, 2015

SAINT PAUL – Arcata Press | Saint Paul Almanac and the Minnesota Humanities Center received a $90,000 Heritage Partnership grant to plan how to consistently publish and distribute the stories of Minnesota African American leaders and writers. The grant will support planning activities that are related to publishing and distributing untold stories about African Americans throughout the state that have made a significant impact on the life and health of Minnesota’s African American communities. It will also begin a new era of collaboration between local publishing firms and the Humanities Center.

Leaders from Arcata Press | Saint Paul Almanac and the Humanities Center have identified the following factors to focus on during planning: conduct necessary research on the history of publishing of Minnesota’s African American leaders and writers to inform current decision making; get great stories out to the community, especially to African American youth; determine how African American stories can be published in a timely manner; and determine how to fund future work. The final plan will provide specific goals that partners aim to accomplish, include partner strategies to achieve goals, and build on work already underway in the community.

Humanities Center President and CEO, David O’Fallon notes: “We look forward to this partnership, especially since the project goal – to continue bringing more of the missing history of Minnesota African Americans to light – so closely aligns with our mission.”

Planning will be completed with Papyrus Publishing—a grassroots African American owned and operated business that publishes works that uplift, transform, educate, and celebrate the African American community—and other leaders in Minnesota’s African American literary and cultural communities.

The Humanities Center brings the strength of its resource development, distribution, and strategies for engaging educators and communities to this planning process. Arcata Press and Papyrus Publishing bring publishing and distribution components and African American audiences to the mix.

This grant opportunity allows both Arcata Press | Saint Paul Almanac and the Humanities Center to strengthen their respective core missions of publishing and sharing/distributing untold stories.

About Arcata Press | Saint Paul Almanac:
Over the past ten years, Arcata Press has blossomed from the idea of a democratic literary arts entity representative of diverse voices into a proven, high quality arts organization. We create ongoing, artistically excellent community activities to showcase and honor a wide spectrum of local voices.

About the Minnesota Humanities Center:
Founded in 1971, the Minnesota Humanities Center is a nonprofit organization collaborating with organizations and individuals to develop programs that facilitate and frame community conversations and deep connections, and, bring into public life the authentic voices of all people, especially those that have often been left out or marginalized. The Humanities Center is a resource of the state of Minnesota and affiliated with the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Minnesota Humanities Center works to build a thoughtful, literate, and engaged society through education, partnership, and public programs.

Contact at Arcata Press | Saint Paul Almanac:
Clarence White, Publicity Director, clarence@saintpaulalmanac.org, 612-267-9036

Kimberly Nightingale, Executive Director, kimberly@saintpaulalmanac.org, 651-785-6268

Contact at Minnesota Humanities Center:
Christi Shortridge, Communications Director, christi@mnhum.org, 651-772-4251

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