OUR MISSION: Building a school to success pipeline by dismantling barriers for youth, connecting them to community resources and creating safe, culturally centered spaces and events to cultivate joy and purposeĀ
Created in 2020, Love First Community Engagement is rooted in decades of community organizing, building up local leaders, and activism guided by the leadership and ingenuity of Saint Paulite, Chauntyll Allen.
Love Firstenvisions abundant pathways and strong villages for liberated youth to grow, thrive and achieve lifelong success. We are building a school to success pipeline by dismantling barriers for youth, connecting them to community resources and creating safe, culturally centered spaces and events to cultivate joy and purpose.
Our values:Ā
We believe that when Black youth are liberated, all youth will be liberated.
We engage in trauma informed approaches.Ā
We support the self-directed identity and goals of young people.Ā
We work with a racial justice lens.
We cultivate a village response to systemic injustice.
Current work
Black youth in St. Paul experience some of the highest levels of poverty and unstable housing, and lowest rates of graduation. Traditional non-profit programming, governmental control, and common distribution methods serve to oppress rather than liberate our communities.
Our programs tap into youthsā brilliant and resilient lineages, bridge broken connections with family members and honor the cultural principles that galvanize our young people to discover their unique course, not just to the livable wages and personal healing needed to acquire and attain stable housing, but to make contributions to our community.
To bring joy and hope to our young people, we hold a free community events focused on art, activism and healing, bringing our community together with food, music, dancing and give-aways. We partner with Black and BIPOC vendors and entrepreneurs to invest in our economic development and integrate local healers and organizations like Irreducible Grace.
Hosted by Love First Community Engagement, the Annual Glow Up Conference builds Black girlsā identities through active workshops centered on creativity, wellness, and healing. This year, sessions will focus on reclaiming our energy and girls are encouraged to invite their mothers, aunties or other adult women in their lives to join them for the first half of the day. The conference will include a keynote address from Kinshasha Kambui, a healer and founder of the Wellness Paradigm in Minneapolis, food and more! Register for this FREE event here!
February Community Dinner February 18 | Lutheran Church of the Redeemer
MLK Day Community Dinner Jan 14, 2024 | Indigenous Roots Cultural Arts Center
In honor of MLK Day, Love First hosted a Community Dinner with free food, fellowship and a showing of theĀ biopic “Rustin.” Following the film, we had a discussion about the film and how to organize with our youth facilitated by civil rights leader and youth advocate, Chauntyll Allen.
2023 Glow Up Conference
Overdose prevention training
Uno Tournament March 2023
Uno Tournament Dec 2022
Trunk or Treat
Joy Fest 2022
Uno Tournament Aug 2022
Uno Tournament July 2022
Glow Up conference
Fall Festival
Unity Fest
Black Joy Excursion
Prayers and Action
Art & Healing
Hope & Healing
Get Support
A core operating principle of Love First is that community is capable of identifying and mobilizing to meet immediate needs and solve entrenched problems. We know that our Black and brown youth possess hidden or emerging skills and abilities that have been buried or actively undermined by the stress and trauma of being immersed in systems of structural and institutional racism. If you are a young person, aged 16-24, in St. Paul and need support, please fill out this form.
