Empowering Cultural Understanding
Enriching lives
Strengthening Our Communities
ISSUE 05 July 2011
Did You Know?
Slavery in Nebraska
“Where there is change...growth must follow”
The Multicultural Coalition in the last month has gone through some
change. Some may feel this change is too much too soon, but sometimes it
is the right time. It is difficult for some to accept change, but slowly we
end up adapting. The result of change is ALWAYS growth.
We have started to see new members in our community. The MC has had
the privilege of meeting with our new community members, the Karen.
They themselves also have had to adapt to several changes, some in their
homes and learning to adapt to a country they have never been to. The
majority have had to adapt to constant change in their daily lives. Fleeing
from war prosecution and learning different ways to support a family and
stay afloat. If you would like to learn more, there are some quick cultural
facts about the new members of our community on page 5 of this issue as
well as the workshops hosted by the MC and Health and Human Services
on page 4 of this issue.
Another change was at the beginning of July; the MC was notified about
the loss of the Minority Health Initiatives Grant. It definitely was a surprise, but something that we have learned to cope with. We can’t and
should not let it set us back. The MC has stayed strong and will continue
to stay strong as long as the need in the community exists. More on the
grant on page 3.
We look forward to embracing the changes and continue in our efforts to
welcome and support current and new members of our community, we
hope you are as welcoming to the changes as they only lead us to stronger
and better communities.
In Nebraska the people never voted for slavery, but people coming
here from the South brought slaves with them. In 1855 there were
thirteen slaves in Nebraska and in 1860 there were ten. Most of
these were held at Nebraska City.
Across the Missouri River at Tabor, Iowa, was a settlement of abolitionists. A branch of The Underground Railroad ran from Missouri
through the corner of Nebraska by way of Falls City, Little Nemaha,
Camp Creek and Nebraska City to Tabor. The runaway slaves
traveled at night along this road and were fed and hidden during
the day by friends. At Falls City they were kept in a barn. John
Brown came through this corner of Nebraska very often with
slaves from Missouri whom he was helping to set free.
In November, 1858, Eliza, a slave girl owned by Mr. S. F. Nuckolls
at Nebraska City, ran away, and with her another slave girl. Mr.
Nuckolls (after whom Nuckolls County was named) was very angry
and offered $200 reward. With the aid of the United States marshal
he began a search of the houses at Tabor for his slaves. The girls
were not there, but one man whose house was being searched was
struck on the head by an officer and badly wounded. For this Mr.
Nuckolls had to pay $10,000 damages. Eliza escaped to Chicago,
where she was arrested the next year and was about to be returned to her master when a mob rescued her and she was hurried
over to Canada. Mr. Nuckolls sued sixteen Iowa people for helping
Eliza to escape, but the war soon came on and he did not win his
suit.
The few slaves in Nebraska were hard to hold. On June 30, 1860,
six slaves owned by Alexander Majors at Nebraska City ran away
and never came back. On December 5, 1860, the sheriff of Otoe
County sold at auction in the streets of Nebraska City one negro
man and one negro woman, known as Hercules and Martha. This
was the last of slavery in Nebraska, for in January, 1861, the legislature passed an act abolishing slavery in the territory.
From the Executive Director
Carlos Bárcenas
Rapid weather changes is definitely one of
the features that makes Nebraska unique.
From hail, crazy winds to extreme heat that
allows you to bake cinnamon rolls and cookies in your car as our friends from The Grand
Island Independent have done.
Here at the Multicultural Coalition we have
experienced our share of change. I would
like to thank you as our reader and partner
for your continued support. It has been an
honor and pleasure to serve as the Director
of the Multicultural Coalition for the past
year. I will be starting a new phase in life
working with Lutheran Family Services starting August 8.
I want to thank all the Board Members for
their support to the MC its your drive and
commitment of serving our community that
has made it possible for the MC to build
great relationships in our community and to
brake barriers that create division empowering people through education.
We have encountered barriers along the road
to serving our community, but every time we
encountered a barrier we also encountered
organizations, resources and more important
people that have shown their support and
reached out to meet the needs of our community.
Continue reading our newsletters, visit our FB
page and website. Share our information with
your coworkers, friends and family. Join us in
our journey of Empowering Cultural Understanding, Enriching lives, Strengthening Our
Communities. Become our partner!
We have great things planned for the rest of
the year don't miss it. One last time I would
like to thank Board Members, friends and
family for the support, friendship and the
opportunity to work and serve you.
Gracias.
It was going to be very different, but to make
my self feel at home I started to join organizations to fill the empty spaces I had in my
schedule. In high school I was always very
involved and wanted to continue to have that
Anita Lewandowski-Brown
Vice President
Sonya Keopanya
Treasurer
Mirta Delgado
Secretary
Elizabeth Barrios
Carmen Montes
I can remember when I graduated high school
and had to go to college and leave my family
about 35 miles away. It wasn’t much the distance that was the change, but not being home
to take care of my family as I had since I was
15. I was no longer going to have anyone
there to wake up to go school or tell me I had
to do my chores or anything; felt like I was
going to have so much time on my hands that
I wouldn’t know what to do with. I had to find
a way to make myself even more accountable
and depend on myself to get to class on time
and manage my time properly. Where before I
had a schedule set for me from 6:30am-5 or
6pm everyday.
President
R.J. Post
From the Immigrant Advocate
Changes can either be exciting, scary and/or
overwhelming at times. It is on us as to how
we want to adapt to the changes that quickly
approach our lives. Most of the time it may
take courage to get through changes that don’t
come easy and at the end courage and faith is
what get you through the day.
Executive Board
aspect in my life. My
first day of college, I
moved into my dorm I
had to share a room with
one other person and a
bathroom with 3 other
people; which was not bad in comparison with other
dorms. And later that first day of moving in, I went to
the book store to pick up my books and get a head start
on reading for my classes. As I walked towards the
bookstore my friends and I were stopped by a man
running out of his dorm screaming he had killed this
girl. I freaked! So many things were going through my
head. What had I gotten myself into? My friends just
told me to keep walking that he must be on something.
When I walked out of the bookstore after purchasing
my books, we saw the ambulance and cops outside the
dorms. I felt horrible, my heart dropped. I later found
out he had been on medication and no one had died he
had also been streaking and well, he was in custody by
the time I walked back to my dorm.
The change of moving from home to college was definitely an experience, but something I don't regret for a
minute. I learned more about being a leader, meeting
different people from different backgrounds. Changes
that happen in our lives with unexpected events are
sometimes good. Change is good, it happens for a
reason. That is what I’ve learned to live by.
Bill Brennan
Maria Lopez
Board Of Directors at
Large
Ann Sukraw-Lutz
Kris Burling
Lee Casey
Michael Johnson
Steve Lamken
Jennifer Larson
Yolanda Nuncio
Odalys Perez
Rev. Jay Vetter
Jose Guerrero
Shannon Oster
Multicultural Coalition in search
of new funding for Minority
Health Access Services
The Grand Island Health Initiatives Project will have to find other
funding to continue its work on behalf of minority residents. The
Multicultural Coalition and other members of its community
partnership have been notified that they did not receive funding
from a Minority Health Initiatives Project grant for 2011-2013.
The grants, federal funds awarded by Nebraska Office of Health
Disparities and Health Equity, a part of Nebraska Health and
Human Services, are available to counties in the state high minority populations. The two-year Hall County grant, based on the
number of its minority residents, is funded at $332,038.34.
Since 2001, when the Minority Health Initiatives Projects were
developed, the money had supported the Grand Island Minority
Health Initiatives Project. Among numerous other services, the
project has supported a multicultural fair in the spring and a fall
health fair at the Old Walnut Apartments.
“We are disappointed that we did not receive the grant,” noted
Carlos Bárcenas, Director of the Multicultural Coalition. “There
are many good organizations who have been working together on
healthcare access projects in the community for a long time and
we are concerned for those who rely on these services. But it is
important that we look forward and find new opportunities to
support our projects.”
Anita Lewandowski-Brown, president of the Executive Board,
said it is important the Multicultural Coalition look forward to
other opportunities to replace the funding. “For some time our
board has realized our organization is too-grant dependent and
we have already been working on ways to diversify our funding
sources,” she said. “We will be looking at other grants, but also
other ways to gain support for minority families in our community.”
The Minority Health Initiatives Projects are competitive grants,
but the Grand Island Minority Health Project had received the
funding for the past 10 years. “We had been able to develop a
meaningful network that provides important services to the community,” said Bill Brennan, Grants Development Coordinator at
Saint Francis Medical Center. “Some of the partners have
changed through the years, but the collaboration of so many experienced and knowledgeable agencies have contributed significantly to the quality of life for minority residents that move into
Grand Island.”
In addition to the health fairs, some of the activities that rely on
the grant funding:

An in-take system to assist and stabilize new families in the
community (help them locate food, shelter and clothing)
and locate community health services and assist with other
additional needs.

The opportunity to provide blood pressure screenings, glucose and cholesterol screenings, breast cancer screenings,
dental screenings, and screenings for vision, and hearing. As
needed, the screenings include referrals for healthcare. Patient education is an important part of health screenings.

A request for blood testing equipment to increase the number of glucose and cholesterol screenings throughout the
year.

Support for dental screenings at the Third City Community
Clinic.

A Neighborhood Parish program located inside a large
apartment program that has helped protect the integrity of
the apartment and the neighborhood.

Community access to a full-time, medically trained interpreter that was made available to non-profit outcomes.

Pre-natal education classes that included infant healthcare,
nutrition, smoking cessation and other social determinants
of health on birth weight and pregnancy.

Healthy and independent living classes to assist women and
families leaving a homeless shelter.

Case management for low-income residents by Central Nebraska Community Services to help at-risk families become
more self-dependent in their communities.
“Our goal will be to protect as many of these services as possible,” Bárcenas said. “Our immediate concern is that the capacity
to deliver some of these services could become eliminated or
diminished. We don’t want people to fall through the cracks.
However, Bárcenas said he was optimistic about the ability of the
community agencies to find new funding solutions. “We have
some very talented people that work together very well,” he said.
“The great thing about each of these agencies is that getting the
necessary help to vulnerable people always comes first.”
Partners in the 2011-2013 Grand Island Health Initiatives Projects
included Multicultural Coalition of Grand Island, Saint Francis
Medical Center, Third City Community Clinic, Neighborhood
Nursing Program, Hope Harbor, YWCA, and Central Nebraska
Community Services.
Refugee Workshop
Refugee workshop hosted by the Multicultural Coalition
and Health and Human Services Department on July 13th,
brought many community members and agency representatives to learn about our new community members, the Karen.
MC
Updates
Two workshops were hosted at the Workforce Development building to learn more about the Karen and ways in
which we can be a resource for them in learning to adapt
to our community.
Karen Parde, Refugee Program Coordinator for the Nebraska Health Department and three Karen refugees who
joined her in presenting information talked about the resettlement process and the difficulties that new refugees have
when coming to the United States. She stated that the process is not easy as they have to adapt to many commodities
we have that they have never experienced back home.
Learning how to use electricity, how to pay bills, how to
use a refrigerator are some of the many things they have to
learn when they come to the U.S. aside from a new language.
Helena, a Karen refugee talked about her experience in the
refugee camps back in Thailand. Their housing is made out
of bamboo and are very close to each other in the camps.
“They are so close that we could hear our neighbor begin
singing and couldn’t remember the song, my brother continued the song and he couldn’t remember the ending so
another neighbor finished the song,” said Helena.
For more information contact us at the Coalition.
Multicultural Coalition Updates

MC hosted two workshops on new refugees in
Grand Island on July 13th, with a great turn out of
50+ community members in attendance.

Carlos helped out at Moo-Claw on July 15th by
cleaning corn and selling tickets on behalf of the
MC.

MC has been looking for housing for Karen community in Grand Island. We ask community members if they know of housing that is available to
contact the MC.

Carmen attended a Continuum of Care meeting to
talk about the Karen community.
Karen Culture-Quick Facts
www.karen.org



By nature the Karens (Ka-rans) are simple, quiet,
unassuming and peace loving people, who uphold
the high moral qualities of honesty, purity, brotherly
love, co-operative living and loyalty, and devout in
their religious beliefs.
They are indigenous people to the Southeast Asian
countries of Thailand and Burma.
Traditionally, most Karens are farmers who farm the
nutrient rich soils of Southern Burma and Eastern
Thailand, mainly farming rice.

The religion of the Karen majority is Christianity.

Karen population is approximately 14 million. In Burma, many Karen live in the Karen State which is in
the southern part of the country. The capital of the
Karen State is Pa-an.

Karens have their own language which is comprised
of two major dialects– Sgaw or Pwo. They are spoken
by Sgaw and Pwo Karens respectively. The Sgaw and
Pwo Karens represent the two primary branches of
the Karen family tree.
-The Karen language is a tonal language, like
Burmese or Chinese. However, it is a unique sounding
language not resembling the above two.

Young Karen women wear white as white represents
purity to the Karens. Red represents braveness and
blue represents loyalty. These are traditional colors
of Karen dress. Also, seen in their flag.

Many who live in the Thai refugee camps have some
exposure to English and primary education. In Burma, only 1 in 4 students continues their education
past primary school. About 36.9% of the Karen Refugees are of school-going age (5-17) and 15.4% under
the age of 4. Nearly 44% of the refugees are adults (18
-59).

Karen families tend to be small, averaging around twothree children. Children outside of wedlock are highly discouraged in this community and the families are quite
tight knit.

Health care is limited within Karen state and many practice traditional medicine.

“Backpack medic” and satellite teams have been established within Thailand to assist people in the Karen and
surrounding states in their basic health care needs.

Clinics sponsored by several international nongovernmental organizations are located within the Thai
refugee camps and seek to address primary health concerns. Many Karen people have been trained in basic nursing and medic care to treat their own communities.
Event Highlight
1st Annual 5K Sudanese
Community Race Against
Genocide
The Sudanese Community of Grand
Island is sponsoring its first annual 5k
Race Against Genocide on Saturday,
August 6th, 2011.
The race begins at St. Mary’s Cathedral at 10am and will end at back at
St. Mary’s. See below for race trail.
Upcoming Events
August 2011
The cost to participate in the race is a
$10 donation for the Sudanese Community of Grand Island.
4th & 5th—Stuff the Bus (GIPS Outreach Center)
6th—1st Annual 5K Sudanese Community Race Against Genocide
10am *
8th—OSHA Training in Spanish (for Spanish speaking community
members)
26th—Non-profit Workshop #2 at 8:30am Home Federal Bank
26th-September 5th—Nebraska State Fair
27th—Ice Cream Parlor-MC staff/board Scooping Ice Cream!
28th—Ice Cream Parlor– MC staff/board Scooping Ice Cream!
Events with (*) denotes event or program in the Events
Highlight section of this issue.
Support your local Grand island
Sudanese Community, support the
local efforts to end the Genocide in
Sudan.
A free lunch will be provided at the
end of the race.
For more information contact Peter
Lokodu at 308-382-0832, 308-227-1786
or by email, [email protected] .
Race Trail: Starting Point
W. Division turn left on S. Madison,
turn left on W. Anna St., turn left on
S. Elm St and back to St. Mary’s
Cathedral.
Issue 05 July 2011
Multicultural Coalition of Grand Island
1306 W. 3rd Street
Grand Island, NE 68801
308.385.5242 ph.
308.385.6029 fax
www.mcofgi.org