Volunteers

The Mapping Prejudice Project is driven by community need, questions, and labor from thousands of volunteers. Our map of racial covenants in Hennepin County was created by over 3,000 volunteers who spent 14,000 hours extracting information about racial restrictions from historical property deeds. Hundreds of additional volunteers have joined this effort since we expanded our geographic focus to include Ramsey County. Our volunteers power our project. We want to give a special shout out to these top contributors:

TOP 100 VOLUNTEERS

Pennypetersen, Troline, C-boon, SteveBrandt, CitySelby, FlorentinePogen, pfinep, Kayrakaye, JoeyQuick, jd.grant, mfred5, sadiepedersen, CindaK, nlroesl, Zoocitizen, jdmurphy5, jeffrhorton, ncacek, ehannum, Plieated, cindcath, RebeccaBauer, deannamrichardson, Shaunza15, gabibibeau, Johanna_Beaves8, EBrophey, JuliaELH , wombat3312, JoKeyes, DLWalker, LeslieJones, elginmanhard, katyjo7, gz5327fo, Rosivachr, agaffney, Glork82, ctomas, wongp, jdrams, belew009, Reinan, glamasaurusrex, JDBark011, LiseP, valbu, Kareemsmith, EWill, Diane_D, jlnyberg, Mahvelous, mpritchard25, LoganPetersmeyer, Linseyh, alibr0wne, DonnaGies, beckybartels, pjwollum, Sidorff, Redbud, lphedtke, lin06, abbibeau, simpsonj, DonShaw, Bbezat, jodagwe, ktih4, mspl, plaque, gwynnp137, Sam_Kinzel, H.Clark, 38bill, hannahramer, kritchie, BrandyK, lmcgowan02, clairecieminski, Annadee2, samly3, prybi002, khuber, da_wiley, Rita_99, hild4660, BillBrandt99, heustice2, lt1993, FaldetNoah, GretchenSage-Martinson, jhannam, MAmagistra, kbarstad, Tboard

Partners

Structural racism is complex and overwhelming; addressing the disparities created by covenants and other discriminatory practices will require us to reckon with this history. Greater awareness is not sufficient. Real transformative change will require action from a wide range of community stakeholders and institutions. Mapping Prejudice is committed to working with government agencies, community non-profits, and advocates for racial and housing justice to translate this awareness into action. To do this community-engaged work we have formed formal partnerships with:

St. Catherine University: “Welcoming the Dear Neighbor?” group: St. Kate’s started this group of faculty, staff, and students to incorporate the work of mapping racial covenants into its teaching, research, and community engagement. Katies have become instrumental in weekly, virtual volunteer sessions and community engagement around housing justice in Ramsey County.

The CREATE Initiative at the University of Minnesota: The CREATE Initiative advances research and education at the intersection of environment and equity through community engagement, interdisciplinary scholarship and graduate training. CREATE addresses real world problems that materially impact access to environmental amenities while fostering environmental, economic, and racial justice.

The Heritage Studies and Public History Program in the College of Design, University of Minnesota: : HSPH trains future generations of scholars and practitioners of historical inquiry to serve the public good through innovative and entrepreneurial historical interpretation. Mapping Prejudice has worked with faculty and students from HSPH to do research and events that speak to community needs. Our most notable collaboration was the award-winning “Owning Up” exhibit at the Hennepin History Museum.

Funding

The Mapping Prejudice Project was founded in 2016 in the John R. Borchert Map Library at the University of Minnesota Libraries with seed funding from the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, the University of Metropolitan Consortium, and the Borchert Map Library Endowment. This initial funding allowed the team to use the proof of concept dataset created by Penny Petersen to obtain all of the digitized property records from the Hennepin County Recorder and create the initial Zooniverse and Geographic Information Systems workflows. We have also received ongoing in-kind and administrative support from the University of Minnesota Libraries.

Funding to support our research has been provided by:

• The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
• City of Minneapolis - Community Planning & Economic Development Department
• Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors
• St. Paul Area Association of Realtors
• The Irwin Andrew Porter Foundation
• The St. Paul and Minnesota Foundation
• The Fourth Generation Fund at the Minneapolis Foundation
• The National Endowment for the Humanities
• The Pohlad Family Foundation
• The Medtronic Foundation
• The CREATE Initiative (University of Minnesota)
• Liberal Arts Technology and Innovation Services (University of Minnesota)

Donors

The Mapping Prejudice Project is also supported by donations from private citizens, corporations, and other community organizations. These donations make a big difference by allowing our team to be responsive to community needs. They provide us with the funds we need to travel to conferences, create printed materials, buy computers, and support students who want to work with us. If you or your organization is interested in working with us to further education around the history of racial covenants, please contact our team here. Thank you!