May 14, 2021 - Kao Ly Ilean Her, a pioneering leader in Minnesota's Hmong community and the first Hmong person to serve on the University of Minnesota Board of Regents, died Thursday at the age of 52. MPR’s Steven John interviews Dr. MayKao Hang, Her’s longtime friend. Hang says Her helped pave the way for young Hmong American women.
February 23, 2021 - On this MPR News Presents program, a broadcast of local 2020 Habitat for Humanity event in with longtime civil rights activist Josie Johnson and her granddaughter Josie Duffy Rice. The two talk about the importance of "passing the activism torch." Johnson says that not only do we need more justice, fairness, and opportunity...but we need a commitment to believing that social justice work matters and is long-lasting.
September 3, 2020 - On this MPR News Presents program, an APM Reports documentary titled "Black at Mizzou: Confronting race on campus," looks beyond news of protests against rascism at University of Missouri, and highlights a thriving campus-within-a-campus that Black students have built over decades to make the university a more welcoming place.
July 29, 2020 - On this MPR News Presents program, an APM Reports documentary titled "Covid on Campus." The coronavirus pandemic represents the greatest challenge to American higher education in decades. Some small regional colleges that were already struggling won’t survive. Other schools, large and small, are rethinking how to offer an education while keeping people safe.
July 14, 2020 - MPR’s Dan Kraker interviews John Staine, a real estate appraiser at St. Louis County courthouse, who in an effort to address racial bias in the workplace, started a direct dialog about race with his fellow 2,000 St. Louis County employees.
April 14, 2020 - MPR News Presents airs “Under a Watchful Eye,” an APM Reports & The Hechinger Report documentary that looks at colleges using big data to track students in an effort to boost graduation rates, but it comes at a cost.
October 11, 2019 - MPR’s Alisa Roth reports that Minneapolis and St. Paul are proposing new city ordinances that would ban gay conversion therapy, the controversial treatment designed to change people’s sexual orientation or sexual identity.
August 28, 2019 - An MPR News Presents broadcast of the APM Reports education documentary “At a Loss for Words - What's wrong with how schools teach reading.” A look at how a flawed idea is teaching millions of kids to be poor readers.
August 26, 2019 - An MPR News Presents broadcast of the APM Reports education documentary “Students on the Move - Keeping uprooted kids in school.” A frank portrayal of the educational challenges facing kids whose housing is unstable by introducing listeners to kids experiencing homelessness, kids in migrant farmworker families, and some of the people trying to help them stay in school.
July 31, 2019 - MPR’s Elizabeth Shockman reports on racist incidents at Metcalf Middle School in Burnsville. Students and staff recount multiple experiences of racial slurs at school, including offensive words spoken by principal Shannon McParland.