Over the summer, Maurice O'Bannon, NHCC's Director of Community Impact heard the good news that the City of Brooklyn Park had selected NHCC as the winner of their 2025 REDI Outstanding Partnership Award. We met with Maurice to discuss the award and the upcoming partnership programs happening this fall.
How did this award come to be?
Honestly, I was sitting in my office one day and Dr. Marcellus Davis, who is the DEI Coordinator for the City of Brooklyn Park was just like, ‘Hey, I'm getting ready to drop something off for you.’ He said, ‘The City of Brooklyn Park is awarding North Hennepin Community College with our 2025 (Racial Equity, Diversity & Inclusion) REDI Outstanding Partnership Award.’ He wanted me to go and tell Dr. Garcia the good news that we had received this award. I really think this award was rooted in some of the collaborations that we've had since I came on board in November of last year. As the Director of Community Impact at NHCC, I've worked closely with the City of Brooklyn Park, going to most of their local events, and supporting them, for example, the Juneteenth event that we held here. I helped to be part of that planning process, and I did some promoting at the Minnesota Podcast Studio for them. I supported their Black History Month event, and I've showed up at several of their events. We are actually in the process of hosting a youth civic engagement series together on campus here. There are three dates, one in September, one in October, and one in November. So, there's a lot of different initiatives that the City of Brooklyn Park and our department have been collaborating on.
Can you share more about the Youth Civic Engagement Series?
Yes, the next two event dates are October 21st, and November 20th. Each event takes place at NHCC in Helling Hall, from 5:30-7:30pm, and it serves as a way to get students and the community involved in the civic process. We'll have voting machines here, with a little mock ballot type-of-thing for people to fill out. Maybe you have never filled out a ballot before, or you don’t know how to use a voting machine, this is the perfect place for you to learn how to do that. The mayor was here, along with different elected officials. It is a nonpartisan civic engagement series. With the goal of teaching young people about advocacy and leadership, how to create community impact that's sustainable in the long term. We will feature all of the different things that encompass the civic engagement process. And we'll have voter registration out here too, because now if you're 16, you can legally register to vote. We are hoping to get a good amount of young folks to come and get involved, and we'll have two panels, there will be a panel with elected officials, and then there will be a panel of youth leaders. Then the audience can ask questions and engage.
What details should NHCC students know about the event?
I'm hoping that instructors will give extra credit if students do come, especially students that are in human services, or any type of political science classes. I think it makes sense, and it aligns with their curriculum. The sessions are on three different things. Session one is ‘Your Voice, Your Power: Understanding Local Government.’ This is where the participants will learn how the City of Brooklyn Park's government operates, including structure and key functions, who their city, county and state elected leaders are, how local decisions are made, how residents can influence those decisions, and then why civic engagement is a core driver of community strength and resilience. During these sessions we'll have some interactive breakout groups and activities, making sure citizens know how to get in touch with their elected officials, and things like that. Session two is ‘Advocacy and Leadership.’ This is where they'll learn methods for advocating change in respectful, results-driven ways, skills for writing impactful communications and giving public testimony, how to collaborate with neighbors to address shared community concerns, and the importance of listening as a civic leadership practice. Then session three is ‘Creating Community Impact and Long-Term Engagement.’ Where they'll learn how to apply for city boards, commissions, and other grassroot initiatives, collaboration strategies to work across cultures and generations, tools to sustain long-term civic involvement that leads to positive change, and then they can practice the mindset and skills of a civically engaged Brooklyn Park leader. Each session will have some type of interactive breakout space where we'll put people into different groups. At the core, the purpose of this event is to give people the information that they might not know exists. Like ‘Know Your Rights’ training for young people. There’s a lot of different things that people don't know they have access to, or don’t have the opportunity to utilize, especially younger folks. (We're hoping this is youth led), and it's nonpartisan. And from an NHCC angle, we'll set up a table for students, so if they don’t go to school here, we can get them interested in checking out North Hennepin.
Do you have to RSVP, or can people just stop by that day?
People of all ages can just come by! There will be a QR code if people want to pre-register, but we don't want to create a barrier to access. Some people might not be tech savvy, or just have the means to register. We also want it to be something where if you just decide you want to come up, you might not know until the day that you want to come; so we're not really requiring people to register.
You mentioned wanting the event to be youth led. How is that process happening?
We also partnered with an organization called Youth Civic Leaders and then the Brooklyn Bridge Alliance for Youth, which most people know as BBAY. And they do a lot! Last year, I went down to the Capitol with them twice and rallied for Youth Day and different initiatives like that. They already started the process of teaching young people how to get involved civically. We just thought it was a perfect fit to partner with them, because they already have young people with them who are learning how the whole civic engagement process works.
It's great seeing NHCC collaborate with Brooklyn Park and have so many events in the works. This award definitely seems like a reflection of all the things your team has been doing!
Part of why they gave us the award isn't just because we're a host site for some of their stuff. I've showed up to events, the Community Partnerships team has showed up at a lot of their local events, too. The Colors of Southeast Asia Fest, we supported that. I’ve gone up to Zanewood and tabled, talking with youth in the community. From the start, I've just been trying to be visible in the city of Brooklyn Park as much as possible, and I think they appreciate our presence. The Farmers Market, that's another Brooklyn Park initiative that we host. And when I do have time, I try to get out there and set up a table and just walk around, interact and talk to the people that are out there. When I go to these places, it's not just to table at events and pound people with information. A lot of it is just going as a support system. Sometimes it's not even about setting up a table. It's about, ‘Hey, how can we help you guys as a partner?’ Over the summer, I went to a bunch of local events and supported and showed up. Just trying to stay as visible and as present as possible, to let the community know, however we can support you, or however you see fit for us to support you, that's the role we want to play. We’re just trying to find ways to not just be transactional as far as, ‘Hey, you can come to school here, this is what classes cost.’ We want it to be like, ‘Hey, if you're in our community and we can serve you, we want to help, whether that's trying to provide field space for your soccer, or football team, whether that's trying to make the gym accessible for teams that need gym space.’ We want to try to do whatever we can to be an asset to the community that's affordable and available. If we allow young people in our community to access our space and our resources and if they see us as a support system, maybe one of those kids will end up going to school here. Who knows what could happen! All we know is, creating and building relationships is what leads to recruitment and retention. People are going to go where they feel valued. And we want to remind the community that we value their presence on our campus! I just feel like the more you make people feel appreciated, the more they'll come back. It's really all about seed planting, right? You might not be into gardening, but I am. So, when you plant something, it's nothing, it's just a seed in the ground. But it takes a relationship between you, as the nurturer and that seed for it to grow and flourish. If we can plant seeds, get kids in the building, young people, even adults too. (I mean, I didn't go back to school till I was 30. So no matter what age), if you just get people here, plant seeds, develop them and nurture them by building relationships, and trusting relationships, then you'll see it flourish. Then you'll see these people from the community seeing North Hennepin as the place that they belong. I think we have an opportunity in our role to destigmatize the fear that some people have around being on a college campus. We have an opportunity to make North Hennepin seem like a fun, safe space for young people to be at. That's kind of my goal, as well, to create opportunities for people to engage on our campus and have fun, which will then make them want to come back here.
Have you tried doing any recruitment tracking, to monitor the relationships you've built?
I'm big on observational data. We might not have the concrete numbers, because I'm not going to walk up to exactly 100 people at the Gus Macker Basketball Tournament to get their information. But if you can get someone to share what their experience here meant, that could go just as far as a bunch of numbers. It's hard to track community work, because you don't want people to see you and think you're just here checking boxes. You want to be part of the event and not be seen as the guy that works at NHCC. But it’s worth it! You can just tell that people are excited, and there's energy! I'm looking forward to all the future things that we'll do, not only with Brooklyn Park, but just at North Hennepin in general, in regard to community partnerships.
It's interesting to think about community interactions and how these events could be someone’s first experience with NHCC.
When I was tabling at the Gus Macker Basketball Tournament over the summer, we had Brooklyn Bridge Alliance for Youth (BBAY) sitting next to us, (they’re part of the North Star Promise grant) and you’d be surprised how many adults we talked to who didn’t know that they qualify for the North Star Promise Scholarship, or know that it pertains to them. A lot of people say, ‘Man, I wish I could do this.’ And it’s like, ‘Well, you CAN!’ The work I do is hard work, but fun work. I think the payoff is when you just see that one person you’ve met at a community event, and they say, ‘Hey, I went here because I remember talking to you about North Hennepin.’
You’ve been on some student and alumni panels recently, too?
Yes, I have! One thing that NHCC, Human Services professor, Amy Harms Hoad is good at is hosting student panels. I am a former NHCC Human Services student, so on Pathways Day, I sat on the panel. I was there to talk to young people about human services and make it seem more relatable. Standing in front of a group of students and telling them about your experience, instead of just listening to a professor talk about it, offers that interactive piece. If you give other voices a chance, there might be a connection that one of us on that panel makes with a student that Amy just isn’t capable of making. To no fault of her own, but there just might be that one person who hears one thing you say and it makes all the difference. I want to help give students as many opportunities as I can to be successful. You get out what you put in, right? It’s like any relationship, if I don’t feel welcomed, if I don’t feel wanted, or appreciated, then I’m probably not coming back!
How'd it go, do people reach out to connect afterward?
Yeah, they have and that's the cool thing! I've been invited to classrooms to talk about human services, and share my experience, and afterward I've had students email me about stuff that has nothing to do with human services! They send me emails saying things like, ‘Hey, man, I heard you say you're a basketball coach. Do you know any programs that my little brother could get into?’ Or ‘Hey, I remember you said that you do youth mentoring. What's the name of your group?’ So, it's those connections that I think are important and that's what might keep a student coming back. Because they’re thinking, ‘Hmm not only am I learning at North Hennepin, not only do they have great teachers, but I’m getting more resources because of the relationships that I've built at North Hennepin.’ At the end of the day, we're people before anything, right? Before you put a label on anybody, before I'm a Director of Community Impact, before so and so is an instructor, we're all humans. I think that piece of it is what’s missing from a lot of partnership work. That human touch, where instead of seeing people as numbers, or statistics, they’re just a person. If I can make someone feel like I value them, they're more likely to keep showing up at events, or staying in school, or whatever it is you're trying to accomplish. It's all about relationships. Personally, my role is not even student facing, but that hasn’t stopped me from being able to connect with a ton of different students. Since I've started working here, I’ve met so many students through connections to Maria and people that do work with students. It's a cool moment when you do get an email from a student saying something like, ‘Hey, I volunteered at this event today and that made me think of you.’ So, in my mind, whenever someone that doesn't have to communicate with you, (especially a young person) is communicating with you, that means you're doing something that has resonated with them, and that's the ultimate goal.
Do you have any final comments to add about receiving the award?
I would say, even though you're interviewing me, I think receiving this award is more of a testament to our entire team. I couldn't do the work that I'm doing in the community without the support of my supervisor and our team as well. It’s not like they just gave Maurice this award. This award belongs to our whole team! I might be the person they recognized, but this award truly represents our entire team!