08-02-2025
New partnership aims at community building and conversations
A new collaboration between community programs in Burnsville brought an evening of conversation to residents through 'A Celebration of Healthy Communities' at the Diamondhead Education Center on Thursday night.
The event marked the first gathering of its kind to be hosted through a partnership between Burnsville Community Education, the Burnsville YMCA and Know Your Neighbor.
Julie Anderson, a member of Know Your Neighbor and one of the event planners, said that the idea for more community outreach began to take shape in a Community Education class called 'Knowing Your Muslim Neighbor,' taught my Mashood Yunus.
'This is a safe environment where everyone feels open and free to visit with each other,' Anderson said. 'It's to encourage community-building, and let's celebrate our diversity.'
More than half of the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District's 9,000 or so students last school year were members of minorities, according to data from the Minnesota Department of Education. The district counted almost 2,300 black students and more than 1,600 who were Hispanic, for example.
Residents gathered over a free meal Thursday from Discount Coffee and Deli in Burnsville and Teresa's Mexican restaurant. Facts about the Burnsville community were taped on the walls as children ran around filling in answers on a fact scavenger hunt handout.
One in four children in the district are part of new immigrant families, a fact on the wall read. Another said Burnsville has the 10th largest population in the state.
Niall Murton with Burnsville Youth Collaborative said the event followed the intentional social interaction model taught by Marnita's Table, a Minneapolis nonprofit that works to create social connections between different groups of people. Burnsville Youth Collaborative offers free after-school programming to middle school students in the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage District.
After the meal, the gathering broke off into conversational groups based on age. The younger and older generations later came together to share their discussions and keep them going.
'We are hoping this can build momentum,' Murton said.
