Awardees Announced for the Black Legacy and Leadership Enrichment Initiative

The Pohlad Family Foundation and the Cultural Wellness Center announced the seven people invited to join the Black Legacy and Leadership Enrichment Initiative. A first-of-its-kind community-designed effort, the initiative’s purpose is to give Black activists the resources and support to recharge themselves so they can better serve the community. The seven selected individuals, called initiates, will each receive an unrestricted grant of $55,000 for their own self-care and revitalization.

The seven initiates include:

• Melvin Giles: A veteran peace and diversity educator and activist, Giles co-leads Urban Farm and Garden Alliance, a St. Paul network of community gardens and backyard gardeners that promotes reconciliation, healing, and social justice. For 36 years, Giles has cultivated community while creating greater access to nutritious foods and greenspace for residents in neighborhoods affected by institutional racism.
• DejaJoelle: A Healing Artist, DejaJoelle founded Body Prayers to use Dance, Arts, Culture, Spirituality, and Revolutionary Love Practices to guide Black people to social, economic, and emotional liberation. For the past 12 years, she has been sharing her journey and healing techniques, exploring traditional and innovative ways to promote collective care.
• Farji Shaheer: A mental health and violence intervention professional, Shaheer meets with gunshot survivors nearly immediately at the hospital hoping to quell fear, anxiety, despair – and retaliation – as part of Next Step, a program he co-founded. For more than 20 years, he’s been guiding young Black men toward a healthy, violence-free lifestyle.
• Anura Si-Asar: An experienced educator who promotes African cultural heritage across his work, Si-Asar is the co-founder of Imhotep Science Academy, a K-12 STEM program for students of African heritage, and Papyrus Publishing, a grassroots publishing company that produces inspiring narratives of African people. He has been a community leader for 37 years.
• Corenia Smith: For the past six years, Smith has been a strategist and leader in issue advocacy, community organizing, and ballot initiative campaigns focused on reproductive justice, violence prevention, and community wellness. Smith has been recognized for building strategic partnerships and coalitions to mobilize communities to inform laws and vote for change.
• Princess Titus: Over the last 28 years, Titus has been an educator, organizer, and co-founder of Appetite for Change and Standard Edition Women. At AFC, Titus promotes healthy eating, gardening, youth development, and community engagement to build health, wealth, and social change. At SEW she guides families through trauma-induced transitions, creating an accountable, compassionate, and healing space.
• Antonio Williams: Incarcerated for 14 years, Williams found meaning in mentoring other Black men and organizing them to stand up for their rights, including leading a prison strike that got results. Now he offers personal and leadership development, healing opportunities, and political education to fight for legislation like restoring voting rights.

“Only together can we create a more just Twin Cities, and through this initiative, we are investing in our community’s cultural fabric to do just that,” said Susan Bass Roberts, vice president and executive director of the Pohlad Family Foundation. “Centering wellness in Black activism is a unique approach and one we hope others will model to sustain the energy and focus needed for systemic change.”

In December 2022, the CWC and the Foundation invited local Black leaders, healers, artists, or agents of change to participate in the inaugural effort. In all, 160 people applied for consideration, and the selection committee invited 60 people to participate in group interviews. The candidate screeners, with support from a circle of elders, recommended people from among those interviewed and then determined the final seven initiates in a consensus decision.

“Investing in leadership and legacy from our cultural perspective is about building up people to be a source of strength for the community,” said Elder Atum Azzahir, the founder and executive director of the Cultural Wellness Center. “These seven leaders represent the community’s process of rejuvenation and sense of resiliency, themes this particular model incorporated from the start as we welcomed community leaders to apply for this novel initiative.”

The seven initiates will participate in a yearlong journey of self-study to connect their work with their cultural calling through activities that include retreats, elder coaching, group reflection with other cohort members, and other opportunities for learning and discussion. In addition to the $55,000, there is also $15,000 for initiates to allocate to specific responsibility-bridging activities as they take care of themselves so they may better serve the community.

In the summer of 2020, the Foundation announced it would disburse $25 million to racial justice efforts. As part of this work, the Foundation established a Racial Justice Grants Committee to set strategic direction and make funding recommendations. The committee, which includes community leaders, Foundation board members, and Pohlad Companies employees, recognized the perpetual and compounding exhaustion experienced by Black leaders and conceptualized the Black Legacy and Leadership Enrichment Initiative. For several months, the CWC, the Foundation, and community members worked together to co-design the initiative with the goal of creating a program by and for the Black community. The three-year pilot will include seven people each year, or 21 people.

Photo caption: The Pohlad Family Foundation and Cultural Wellness Center celebrate the first participants in the Black Legacy and Leadership Enrichment Initiative. 

Back row: Initiates Antonio Williams, Princess Titus, Melvin Giles, and Anura Si-Asar

Front row: Susan Bass Roberts, Pohlad Family Foundation; Initiates DejaJoelle and Corenia Smith; and Atum Azzahir, Cultural Wellness Center 

Not pictured: Initiate Farji Shaheer