Posts by Welcoming America

Becky Xiong takes a tiny knife and carves the word “congratulations” into the side of a watermelon. She’ll complement that with cantaloupes cut to resemble shooting stars. Her work is popular with Hmong-Americans, who order tables full of sculpted fruit for presentations and parties. “I had been helping family and friends and churches who wanted…

Dalton Outlaw was eight-years-old when he first stepped inside the neighborhood boxing gym. “I fell in love with the place,” says Dalton. “It was a place where I could let out all my energy. Plus, it was a place that accepted me.” Punching bags and competition rings became his world. And, in 2011, Dalton opened…

Hassan Ziadi studied culinary arts in Europe. He worked in the kitchens of five-star establishments. And the emir of Qatar chose him to launch a restaurant in one of the country’s boutique hotels. Today, the native of Morocco is serving up his homeland’s traditional cuisine in Minnesota. Hassan is the executive chef and owner of…

Two decades ago, East Lake Street in Minnesota was a haze of shuttered storefronts and boarded-up buildings. The Minneapolis thoroughfare was essentially a path to prostitution and drug dealing. “The neighborhood was in trouble,” says Twin Cities community leader Juan Linares. “Businesses didn’t have enough customers. But customers were afraid of coming to this area.”…