When people visited St. Paul’s Ujamaa Place CEO Chris Crutchfield told them the magic of the organization is love.

Ujamaa Place, which provides housing, education and employment services to black men between the ages of 18 and 30, has given men something they haven’t always had, said Michael Belton, interim president and CEO of Ujamaa Place.

“And he said that when they come to Ujamaa Place, we give them a high degree of respect and we give them brotherly love that they often can’t and can’t get anywhere else, and that’s the magic sauce of Ujamaa Place. So he was a very inspirational leader and he was also a visionary,” Belton said.

Crutchfield, of St. Paul, died on November 4 following an aortic dissection. He was 54 years old.

Education, career

Born in 1970, Crutchfield grew up in the neighborhood of St. Paul’s Highland Park—where his family was one of the first black households—and Minnetonka. He played baseball in high school and went on to attend Morehouse College, where he studied political science and African American studies. He later received a law degree from the University of Minnesota and worked as a law associate.

At various points in his career, Crutchfield served as a research assistant at the University of Minnesota Law School’s Institute on Race and Poverty, a multicultural education specialist for the Wilder Foundation, and a board member of Osprey Wilds—then the Audubon Center of the North Woods – and Friends of the Mississippi River.

He also formed the Restorative Justice Task Force for the Summit University Planning Board, served as director of Minnesota’s Underground Railroad program, and was named a Bush Foundation Leadership Fellow in 2001. Crutchfield was, by also lead counsel for one of the largest gender discrimination settlements. in the history of the state.

Crutchfield was a founding member of the Capitol Heights Law Group and became assistant director of community relations for Ramsey County Community Corrections in 2006. And he served as an adjunct professor of media law and ethics at St. Cloud State University and taught litigation as an adjunct professor at Inver Hills Community College.

“A true civil rights worker”

Crutchfield had a certain genius for creating interest in the projects he was involved in, particularly Ujamaa Place, said Crutchfield’s stepfather, Robert Mitsch.

“He was a true civil rights worker in many, many ways,” said Dr. Charles Crutchfield Sr., Chris Crutchfield’s father.

Crutchfield began working at Ujamaa Place in early 2023. Ujamaa means “family” and “cooperative economy” in Swahili, according to Ujamaa Place website. Crutchfield’s work in corrections gave him a view of the gaps in needed support, friend Brooke Blakey said.

“I know going to Ujamaa was an opportunity for him to take it to the next level and see and support those men, especially black men, who were falling into those gaps that corrections couldn’t fill and so I think that’s what led him to take the job at Ujamaa and really focus on helping and giving second chances,” Blakey said.

Crutchfield, who was in his second year at the helm of Ujamaa Place, had an unusual love for what was right, his father said. One of Crutchfield’s accomplishments was helping Ujamaa Place get its own property, Belton said. The organization is set to move into its own office and program space in the Rondo area next month.

He made justice accessible to others, said his friend Andrea Jepsen.

“And the most important thing any of us can do if we want to honor Chris is to carry on Ujamaa’s work, and that’s hard because he was such an enthusiastic leader. He was a “yes” man. And when I say ‘yes,’ I mean, if it was good, he did everything he could to make it possible,” Jepsen said.

Passionate fisherman who loved the sport

Crutchfield was also an avid fisherman and really enjoyed reading about it and watching TV, said Crutchfield Sr. Crutchfield’s favorite lakes were Lake of the Woods and Lake Minnetonka, and he often invited others to the cabin family to fish with him.

He also enjoyed barbecuing and sports, especially baseball, and participated in many of his five children’s extracurricular activities. Friends and family described him as a generous and kind family man with a strong sense of humor.

Crutchfield is preceded in death by his mother, Dr. Susan Ellis Crutchfield and his brother, Dr. Charles Crutchfield III. Crutchfield is survived by his wife Thu-Mai Ho-Kim and five children.

Services will be held at 1:00 PM on Saturday, November 16th at the North End Event Center at 1265 Snelling Ave. N. in St. Paul and will be open to the public.