Your hub for the latest updates and stories that shape our community.
Celebrating World CLT Day with Black Kin from Canada
A storyteller and artist. An entrepreneur and educator. A wife and woman of faith. Robin Hickman-Winfield is a local leader with many interests and accomplishments. But, at the core of everything she does, Robin is a proud and principled continuation of her family lineage—one with deep roots in Rondo and branches of influence across the globe.
While the nation turns its attention each February to African American ingenuity, at Rondo Community Land Trust, we honor — and make — Black history everyday.
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.
In 1858, just four years after St. Paul was incorporated, Joseph Rondeau purchased 40 acres of land in the city’s Summit-University District. Those parcels eventually became the Rondo neighborhood, a Black community brimming with churches, schools, homes, and businesses that thrived for decades.
If we’ve met, you already know: This work is deeply personal for me. As a daughter of Rondo and the first African American woman to lead this organization, my gratitude for this opportunity and the immensity of the responsibility as your Executive Director brings tears to my eyes. So, first, thank you. Thank you for trusting me with this sacred work to reclaim our community power and reinvigorate the legacy of Black excellence, abundance and joy.
Golden Thyme Presents, the successor to the longtime Selby Avenue coffee shop now owned by a Rondo nonprofit, opened Tuesday as an incubator for Black-owned food businesses.
As families hit the sidewalks for Halloween this year, “Golden Thyme Presents” will celebrate its Grand Opening with special treats for customers and an exciting vision for community.
Amina Deble’s heart breaks every time she visits her elderly aunt or another Somali-American senior trying to get by in a cramped, one-bedroom Twin Cities apartment. She likens the housing units she’s seen to small prison cells.
The two-story red brick home dates to the early 20th century, and like many in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood, it’s showing its age. It could use tender loving care: paint, lawn care and surface maintenance. If the announcement from Mayor Carter’s team was any indication, it’s about to get it.
The two-story red brick house was the second one 22-year-old Anthony Bradford ever toured. But the moment he walked through the door, he knew it was where he wanted to settle.
This year’s Selby JazzFest was memorable, and it wasn’t solely due to the presence of jazz legend Najee. During this year’s event, festival organizers and Golden Thyme Coffee and Café owners, Mychael and Stephanie Wright announced that they had sold the beloved community establishment to Rondo Community Land Trust.
When Mychael and Stephanie Wright founded Golden Thyme Coffee & Cafe in 2000, they were simply following the business advice of Mychael’s brother. Twenty-three years later, Wright’s Cafe is a community landmark in St. Paul, Minnesota, and it seems it’s here to stay.
When I-94 was built through Saint Paul in the late 1950s, more than 300 predominantly Black-owned businesses were impacted. The neighborhood was split apart, with the major Rondo Avenue corridor — which had been a thriving community — dramatically disrupted.
A longtime fixture in St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood is moving into a new phase. During Saturday's Selby Avenue JazzFest, the owners of Golden Thyme Coffee and Café announced the location will be transformed into a small business incubator called “Golden Thyme Presents.”
In St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood — a celebration and a new beginning on Saturday.“Come on St. Paul, make some noise!” smiled Mychael Wright, the owner of Golden Thyme Coffee and Cake.
After 24 years running their small business, Mychael and Stephanie Wright are turning over the keys to their beloved Golden Thyme Coffee & Cafe at Selby Jazz Fest
Mychael and Stephanie Wright hoped their launch of Golden Thyme Coffee & Cafe 24 years ago would serve as a catalyst for a resurgence of Black-owned businesses on Selby Avenue, a commercial corridor of St. Paul's old Rondo neighborhood.
Mychael and Stephanie Wright, founders of the Selby Avenue Jazz Fest, recently announced they were selling the longstanding Golden Thyme Coffee and Cafe on Selby Avenue. They declined at the time to disclose who the buyer was.
With an eye toward increasing affordable housing, the city of St. Paul will help the Rondo Community Land Trust acquire five residential properties between 796 and 841 Selby Ave., as well as a sixth residence on Avon Street.
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