Company : Cub
Program category : 2021 2021 Youth

Origins:

In April of 2021, Cub reopened and renamed Northside Cub in North Minneapolis which was heavily damaged during the civil unrest in May of 2020. Its rebuilding was critical to this food desert area of Minneapolis. At the same time as the store was being rebuilt, Cub built the Northside Community Center @CUB. This unique and innovative partnership was the outcome of collaboration with local community and civic leaders. Local community members and non-profits have access to the space for mentoring, life skill coaching, job training and much more. Every other week, the space serves as a distribution hub for food shelf recipients. Cub and its vendors have partnered to use the space to help volunteer and give back to the local kids and teachers in the area.

Contribution:

Cub has committed to the Northside Community Center @CUB and taken on all building and day to day expenses. It currently supports all overhead and management of the space. It is approximately 1,750 square feet that has its own entrance, conference room and meeting space. Cub hires local from the Northside for both the store and the community center. Not only did Cub engage with community leaders, it also hired local artists to create murals reflective of North Minneapolis. Juxtaposition Arts a Northside nonprofit that engages and mentors young urban artists did a large mural that decorates the back of the store. Sean Phillips was commissioned to do murals on the inside of the space along with photographs from local photographers.

Objectives:

The objective of the Northside Community Center @CUB is simple. Be what the community needs. To be able to collaborate with Cub vendors, sports partnerships and charities to give back in the community in which we serve. Some days it is used for meetings. Some days it is used for tutoring and mentoring. Some days it is used for packing and distributing food and school supplies within the community. It is there for the community whether it is a local school, non-profit or community organization to use. It has also served as a covid and flu vaccination site for local residents.

Impact:

From its inception, one major goal was to also get food to those with food insecurities. Cub partnered with Northpoint Health & Wellness Center, Northside Achievement Zone, Appetite for Change, Humanity Alliance and Second Harvest Heartland to help solve hunger insecurity, specifically to families with transportation barriers in accessing food. Food bags are packed in the space, stored safely and then transported to over 435 families on the Northside – serving over 2,131 meals and over 16,500 pounds of food in one month! A Mother’s Love Initiative is a non-profit that uniquely reflects the community it serves whose goal is to use life transformations to help families in need. They also run the Tutor House Program for kids 1st-3rd grade during the summer months to create and assist in life long-learning for mothers and their children. They utilize the space for classes as well as graduation celebrations. We Push for Peace is an organization that is resource and advocate for those on the Northside. They specialize in de-escalation security methods, mental health assessments, employment assistance and victims of violence support groups and holds weekly meetings in the space to train, inform and educate their team. Local NBC affiliate KARE11 featured the Northside Community Center @CUB on Boyd Huppert's Land of 10,000 Stories. Northside Cub returns with new grocery store model | kare11.com

Quote:

"It's just the right thing to do. It really is the community taking care of the community" - Mike Stigers, Cub CEO.

"NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center is a multi-service medical, dental, behavioral and human services organization serving North Minneapolis. When our community was heavily impacted by the pandemic and social unrest, NorthPoint came together with partner organizations to deliver food directly to the front doors of isolated or quarantined and vulnerable families. The program proved popular, and we needed additional space to pack boxes of food. The Northside Community Center @CUB was the answer. With Cub’s generous contributions to this project, we are advancing our mission of partnering to create a healthier community!" - Stuart Iseminger, Northpoint Food Programs Manager. "This space means everything" - Lisa Clemons, a Mother's Love Initiative Founder.

Support Statement:

"NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center is a multi-service medical, dental, behavioral and human services organization serving North Minneapolis. When our community was heavily impacted by the pandemic and social unrest, NorthPoint came together with partner organizations to deliver food directly to the front doors of isolated or quarantined and vulnerable families. The program proved popular, and we needed additional space to pack boxes of food. The Northside Community Center @CUB was the answer. With Cub’s generous contributions to this project, we are advancing our mission of partnering to create a healthier community!" - Stuart Iseminger, Northpoint Food Programs Manager. "This space means everything" - Lisa Clemons, a Mother's Love Initiative Founder.