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A St. Paul community organizer has a plan to make the city more welcoming to newcomers: Free winter hats.

 
Thanks to the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Jun-Li Wang will get $100,000 to make it happen. Wang was among the winners announced Tuesday as part of the foundation's Knight Cities Challenge.

She envisions civic leaders bestowing fur-lined caps on new residents at a monthly ceremony to help them survive their first winters. "The key to this city and this state is a warm hat," she said.

Wang also sees the ceremony as a way to thaw a culture she and other transplants find chilly at first.

"People here are not very good at asking each other questions: 'Hey can I have your number? Some of us are going to go do something next weekend. It would be great to have you come along,'" she said.

Besides the hats, the grant will also help Wang launch a related project she's calling Minnesota Nice Breakers. The plan is to dispatch "ambassadors" to local events to help newcomers make friends.

"I think one thing I love about Minnesotans is if you suggest to them an idea, or you say, 'Hey, you know how when you go to church and you're instructed to turn around and shake hands with other people? We want you to do that in your everyday life with your new neighbors.' People are like, 'Oh, I can do that. That's not so hard.'"

Other grant winners include St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, who wants to hire a coordinator to make the city friendlier to bikers and pedestrians. The organization Greater MSP won funds to encourage St. Paul residents to engage in more outdoor activities.

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The Knight Foundation is giving Jun-Li Wang $100,000 for two projects aimed at welcoming newcomers to the state.

Welcome to Minnesota, here's your hat

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