Ramsey County and the Cultural Wellness Center win award for work with the Black Community Commission
Ramsey County was chosen as one of nine communities across the nation to receive the 2023 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Culture of Health Prize. The Prize celebrates communities across the country where people and organizations are collaborating to build positive solutions to barriers that have created unequal opportunities for health and wellbeing.
Ramsey County and the Cultural Wellness Center received this award for their work building a strong foundation of on-the-ground community partnerships to regain Kujichagulia (self-determination) in the Black community. The initiative, Kujichagulia 2.0, aims to make Black community members integral to county decision-making—while keeping the responsibility to policymakers—as the central to the goal of eliminating systemic racist practices related to health, housing, education, career opportunities, and other issues that disproportionately affect the Black community.
Together, Ramsey County and the Cultural Wellness Center are working to change harmful practices that have existed within Ramsey County systems and turn them into a source of pride for both the county and the Black community. Through the partnership, residents from the Black Community Commission worked with Ramsey County’s African American leadership team to become knowledgeable about the county’s budget process and then helped present and approve the Public Health and Social Services budget for 2024.
The Commission helped shape the current internship model within Social Services to ensure partnerships with colleges and universities provided interns who represent the communities served within Ramsey County. Together, the organizations have also worked to decrease the number of children entering the child protection system by increasing meaningful investment in families and family support.
As a Prize winner, the Cultural Wellness Center in partnership with Ramsey County, will receive $250,000, national and local promotion of the community’s stories to inspire others, and other opportunities to expand networks and accelerate progress toward building a healthy community.
About the RWJF Culture of Health Prize
In the 10 years since it was launched, the RWJF Culture of Health Prize has celebrated more than 50 communities across the country that are at the forefront of advancing health, opportunity, and equity for all. The 2023 Prize celebrates solutions led by communities that are breaking down the barriers to health and wellbeing caused by structural racism and other forms of systemic discrimination.