COMMUNITY

2018 will be a historical year for the Minnesota Hmong community and its ancestral homeland in Hunan, China. Through a partnership with the St. Paul-Changsha China Friendship Garden, cultural artwork will be exchanged.

2017 was a very eventful year for the Hmong community locally, nationally and internationally. The Hmong Times takes a look back at some of the top stories of 2017.

With frigid temperatures expected for much of next week, the Minnesota Department of Commerce encourages eligible Minnesotans to get help paying their heating bills, stay safe through the state’s Energy Assistance Program.

A former Brooklyn Center woman has been charged in an investment fraud involving a nonexistent ginseng farm and targeting members of the Minnesota Hmong community. Casino and horse track records indicate that she spent much of the money on gambling.

As part of its mission to serve as a trusted public resource for consumers, the Minnesota Department of Commerce has added translated versions of key consumer information on its website (mn.gov/commerce). The translated languages include Hmong, Somali and Spanish.

Since everyone has been talking about the 2017-2018 Fresno Hmong New Year, I decided to go and interview the current Miss Hmong holding the title from Fresno, who resides in Minnesota.

The motto of the Mai N. Moua Law Office has been, “Law That Speaks Your Language.” The law firm of Moua and Shuly Her has “over 20 years of combined experience in the areas of criminal, immigration, and personal injury law.

Nearly a decade ago Asian American Press interviewed an up and coming attorney, Sophia Vuelo, who at that time had been practicing law in the public sector for over a decade and was starting her own law firm, Vuelo Law Firm.

On August 11, 1992, the Hmong Cultural Center of Minnesota registered with the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office as a non-profit organization. Over the past 25 years, the Hmong Cultural Center has served the Hmong and non-Hmong community with several important programs to promote education about Hmong culture and history and facilitate the adaptation of Hmong in American Society.

On November 14th, The Bush Foundation awarded the 2017 Bush Prize for Community Innovation to seven organizations with a track record of making great ideas happen.

In Laos, by tradition, the Hmong celebrated their New Year celebrations for generations in either November or December each year based on the lunar calendar. The salience of the cultural celebrations is the time, when most important rituals are performed in remembrance of the ancestors.

Rail safety is a chief concern as goods and commodities are moved to market. Tenzin Dolkar has been appointed by Governor Dayton to continue the push to improve rail safety throughout the state of Minnesota. Dolkar is a Tibetan refugee.