It’s easy to believe Robin Hickman-Winfield when she says, “It’s my time.” Right now, you can see her beaming from the cover of Insight News, reflecting on the artistic legacy and current exhibit of her great uncle — and greatest teacher — Gordon Parks. The owner of SoulTouch Productions, she’s working on a film project that’s so exciting she can’t disclose the details and is about to publish her first art book documenting her innovative work with dolls.

So, with Women’s History Month in March, it seemed like the perfect time to connect with Robin—a leaseholder with the Rondo Community Land Trust—to learn more about her work as a narrative historian and community educator.

While the nation turns its attention each February to African American ingenuity, at Rondo Community Land Trust, we honor — and make — Black history everyday. 

As a CLT, we’re part of a movement that was born out of the vision and resistance of Black people in the segregated South who knew they needed more than the right to participate in American democracy—they needed the ability to own and control land to shape their own collective futures.

When Mychael and Stephanie Wright began considering retirement and the process of handing off their 24-year-old business, Golden Thyme Coffee & Cafe on St. Paul's Selby Avenue, selling it to a land trust organization wasn't on the radar.

"I asked Mychael to really consider and work with Rondo Community Land Trust to not only preserve the legacy of the business, but turn it into something that could be owned by the community at the same time," said Mikeya Griffin, executive director of Rondo Community Land Trust.