Duluth

Downtown promotes art on Friday nights

Duluth hosted its second monthly downtown "Arts Walk" on Friday evening, part of a new, recurring event designed to invite people into studios, galleries and other venues for exhibits, demonstrations and performances, as well as promote local bars and restaurants.

Calling it a "walkable night of entertainment" for all ages, the walks are planned for the last Friday of each month through the rest of the year, with the exception of December, when a special Winter Solstice event is scheduled for Dec. 21.

Exhibits will vary by the month. Check the Duluth Arts Walk Facebook page for more information.

Pam Louwagie

St. Croix Valley

Inclusion Alliance sponsors potluck

The Hudson Inclusion Alliance will host a communitywide picnic at Lakefront Park on Aug. 5 — International Friendship Day — to let area residents know that the city welcomes people from diverse cultures.

The group says that the picnic, billed as "the Longer Table," is designed to bring together residents who might not normally encounter one another.

The Hudson Inclusion Alliance was formed after the Hudson Common Council rejected an ad hoc initiative to pass a resolution letting the world know that the city officially welcomes all comers, including immigrants, refugees, people of color, Muslims and those of different sexual orientations.

Those attending the potluck are asked to bring a dish to share.

The event is free. Organizers ask participants to register in advance at eventbrite.com. Search for the Longer Table-Hudson.

For information, leave a message at 608-201-6869, or e-mail thelongertablehudson@gmail.com.

Dan Browning

NAYTAHWAUSH

$1.4 million grant for youth homelessness

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded $1.4 million to three Indian communities and 10 counties to fight youth homelessness in northwest Minnesota, where as many as one in three young people are homeless.

The grant was formally given last week to representatives of the White Earth Nation, Red Lake Nation and Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, as well as Beltrami, Clearwater, Hubbard, Kittson, Mahnomen, Marshall, Norman, Pennington, Red Lake and Roseau counties.

Plans for the grant have not been finalized, HUD officials said. The tribes and counties have formed a Continuum of Care organization to decide where to direct the money.

JOHN REINAN