Showing Up in Community

On Labor Day weekend this year, local organizers held a community barbecue to commemorate the 50^th Anniversary of Hip Hop. Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity was proud to be an event sponsor.

Born in 1973 in the Bronx, New York, hip hop developed as a mode of African American cultural expression, a way for socially and economically disenfranchised youth to comment on the racial and economic inequities of their lives.

According to Danielle Duncan, Twin Cities Habitat’s Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, “Hip hop has been a medium of expressing the same things that we at Habitat are addressing: barriers for Foundational Black Americans like over-policing and gentrification.” Hip hop created a platform to talk about issues both within the African American community and beyond.

Danielle Duncan, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

“We’ve been talking about over-policing for how long? They finally did a study that confirmed that, yes, Black people in Minneapolis are over-policed. If we’re actually listening to the community and the issues that they’re raising, we can be responsive and elevate that message. We can give them a platform even when the message may be polarizing.”

Danielle added that sponsoring and tabling at the Anniversary of Hip Hop event gives us an opportunity to be in community with the individuals that our Build Forward Together Strategic Plan wants to support in their journey to homeownership. “It’s not left up to them to call us or find our website; we’re going to spaces where the community is gathering.”

Being at the hip hop barbecue gave us the opportunity to connect differently with a current Habitat homeowner too. While discussing Habitat’s participation, the event organizer told Danielle, “Oh, one of my friends speaks really highly about Habitat.” That friend was Deborah, who bought her home through Habitat more than twenty years ago. The next day, Danielle connected with Deborah. “It was like the stars aligned,” said Danielle.

Deborah having a group hug with her family.

Deborah has shared her story with the broader Habitat community before, but this was her first time representing Habitat out in the community. It was a challenge at first, Deborah said, because she’s shy. But “I fit right in with the other knowledgeable people on the Habitat team.”

Deborah was happy to share what she knows about Habitat, like the fact that we have programs to help first-time homebuyers and a Special Purpose Credit Program for Foundational Black Americans—and that we no longer require sweat equity.

“It was a pleasure to meet and greet people along with the Habitat team and to influence what people think about Habitat with my own stories.”

Danielle appreciates Deborah’s support for Habitat, too. “Here’s an individual who purchased a home with Habitat, whose obligation with us is done, but she’s still showing back up for us. She’s advocating for us. She wants others in her community to have the security of being a homeowner, and she sees us as a trusted partner to help that happen.”

When you’re in the community, sometimes you run into somebody you know and you're no longer working alone. You have a partner who is actually dedicated to the same thing you are. That's why Twin Cities Habitat is showing up in the community in different ways.