Chaquana McEntyre, founder and executive director of Family Rise Together, on Saturday’s wildly-popular community event in Lincoln Park – “It’s our 10th anniversary event, which, now, we’re calling the Family Rise Together Fun Day. The reason we changed the name is not to dishonor Juneteenth, but to honor the tradition of Twin Ports Juneteenth hosted by the NAACP. Today, we’re celebrating with our families, with plenty of free food and vendors available, and teaching our children about entrepreneurism.”
McEntyre on Family Rise Together – “We’re 11 years old. We operate four major programs, including Housing for Men who were previously incarcerated, struggling with homelessness, and with mild to moderate mental health disorders. Another program is Growing Kinship Connection, which supports families at risk of child protection services and/or already working with child protection services. Under that umbrella, we have a preventative service program working with African-American families to reduce recidivism and the possibility of going into child protection services. That’s because there is a higher rate of African-American children going into foster care in the state of Minnesota. And then we have our economic development program. Our organization recently purchased the Sunshine Diner to support entrepreneurs and community organizations needing a commercial kitchen. Our goal is to raise $250,000 to finish building out and reduce the fees charged to entrepreneurs who need the space.”
