October 3, 1986 - MPR’s Tom Meersman presents a five-part series “People Without Countries,” a collection of reports about life in Thailand refugee camps.
October 7, 1986 - As part of a five-part series “People Without Countries,” MPR’s Tom Meersman reports on Hmong refugees In Thailand. Meersman visits Ban Vinai Refugee Camp where highland people, especially Hmong, fled communist rule in Laos.
October 16, 1986 - William Raspberry, a former Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated American public affairs columnist, speaking at Minnesota Meeting. Raspberry talks about issues facing the black family, including single parent homes and joblessness. After speech, Raspberry answered audience questions. Raspberry was also the Knight Professor of the Practice of Communications and Journalism at the Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University. An African American, he frequently wrote on racial issues. Minnesota Meeting is a non-profit corporation which hosts a wide range of public speakers. It is managed by the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. This was the first live broadcast of Minnesota Meeting presented by MPR.
October 22, 1986 - Charles Atkins, commissioner of welfare for the state of Massachusetts, speaking at Itasca Seminar held in northern Minnesota. The seminar’s topic was "Self Sufficiency: Is It Possible?", and Atkin’s addressed his state's efforts to place welfare recipients into jobs. After speech, Atkins answered audience questions. Mr. Atkins has developed a program in Massachusetts to move women off the welfare rolls and into jobs. 25,000 women have become employed through the Education and Training Choices program since 1983. Prior to becoming welfare commissioner, Mr. Atkins served as deputy commissioner of the addiction services agency in New York City during the early '70s. In that position, he created a program to find employment for ex-drug addicts. In 1973 and '74, he was manager of employment operations for Citibank in New York, where he found other employment within the organization for low-level employees whose jobs had been eliminated by automation. When he was in Boston's Employment and Economic Policy administration, he succeeded in obtaining a 23-million-dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to reduce youth unemployment in Boston.
October 28, 1986 - Tony Bouza, Minneapolis police chief, discusses various police matters. Topics include challenges in terminating officers, his views on civil service, privatization, rise in crime, and age/fitness of officers. Bouza also answers listener questions.
November 5, 1986 - Mitch Snyder, homeless advocate, speaking at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth and sponsored by the College's Center for the Study of Peace and Justice. Snyder’s address was titled, “The Hungry and Homeless in America." Snyder is a member of the Washington D.C. based community for creative non-violence, which provides food, shelter and other help for about two thousand Washingtonians each day. Snyder has received attention for several acts of civil disobedience on behalf of homeless people and he is perhaps best known for his highly publicized fifty-one day fast in 1984. That fast reportedly helped convince President Reagan to release almost one million dollars in funds to begin converting an unused, federally owned building into a one thousand bed shelter for the homeless.
November 7, 1986 - MPR’s Bill Catlin reports on Community United Against Violence, a group formed to draw attention to the recent string of 11 gay murders in the Twin Cities. The group will be organizing activity to heighten awareness of violence, especially violence against homosexuals. Yesterday's announcement comes at a time of heightened tension between some leaders of the gay community and police. There have been complaints that the police aren't doing enough to solve unsolved gay murder cases.
November 10, 1986 - Minnesota poet and storyteller, Robert Bly, answers listener questions about his writing and his relatively new interest in men's groups. Bly also reads some of his poetry.
December 8, 1986 - MPR’s Euan Kerr reports on Neighborhood Housing, AIM, and Guardian Angel patrols in Minneapolis neighborhoods. Report includes comments from Louise James, president of Northside Neighborhood Residents Council; Tony Bouza, Minneapolis police chief; and Bill Means, International Indian Treaty Council member.
December 19, 1986 - The first part of program presents a rebroadcast of Stephen Smith’s documentary report "Shelter for the Night," which examines the plight of the homeless over a period of 12 hours in the St. Stephen's Emergency Shelter. Following documentary, Nancy Nagler, chair of St. Paul Area Coalition for the Homeless, discusses the homeless problem in Minnesota and what can be done about it. Nagler also answers listener questions.