Rebuilding Continues After North Minneapolis Tornadoes

2011 has been a record setting year for tornados, most notably that which hit Joplin, Missouri; one of the top ten deadliest tornadoes in recordkeeping history. These events motivate many wanting to help those affected, and youth are especially eager to help and be involved.

The neighborhood of North Minneapolis was in the path of a one of the season’s strongest tornadoes on May 22.  Among the most impoverished and crime-stricken neighborhoods of the Twin Cities, North Minneapolis now also had snapped power lines, knocked down trees, and six damaged schools from the storm’s fury. Many of the residents of this neighborhood are renters and very few have insurance. 

NYLC was working with Patrick Henry High School, a North Minneapolis school, as part of a Minneapolis Foundation grant for service-learning training. The school was not directly hit by the tornado, but Principal Latanya Daniels called an emergency staff meeting the next day to assess the school and student needs.

Principal Daniels told the staff at that meeting that only 400 of the 1000 Patrick Henry students attended school that day as most students were at home cleaning up the destruction. She noted that while a lot of the students were directly affected by the tragedy, all of the students were indirectly affected. The staff shared names of students whose houses may have been destroyed and several began calling to check on specific students. 

One teacher said that “students told me they wanted to help, but I was not sure what to tell them.” Others shared website resources such as a North Minneapolis Tornado Facebook page and a local organization that works with housing reconstruction, Urban Homeworks.

A month has passed since the storm struck, and the neighborhood continues to rebuild. Students will do anything to help as they see their school peers and neighbors suffer.  Those who are closest to the tragedy are eager to clean up the mess and get people basic needs in order to start rebuilding the community. For those from other cities or states it takes more time to investigate how best to serve.

After major tragedies such as tornadoes and earthquakes what role does service-learning play? Disaster preparedness is not the most popular service-learning topic although there are many exemplar units to replicate. Often disaster management becomes the focus as we try to address pressing needs after the unthinkable happens.

As teachers and students decide topics for service-learning units for next year consider how prepared your community is for a natural disaster. What does a siren mean? What is the difference between a watch and a warning? If there is a large immigrant population in your community, have they been taught what to do in an emergency? Is there a plan for shelter, meal providers, and health care given mass destruction?

Natural disasters will continue to happen with little control from humans on how they will strike. What we can control is how we react through supporting our neighbors with basic needs and continued training and education. 

Photo by Brian Mogren, a friend of Urban Homeworks. Thanks to Urban Homeworks for providing the photo for this story.