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According to a new report commissioned by the City of Minneapolis and conducted by New American Economy, immigrants and refugees in Minneapolis held $1.2 billion in spending power, represented 13% percent of entrepreneurs and their enterprises generated $37.6 million in business income in 2019. Check out the visual report.
According to The State of the Nation’s Housing 2021 from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, households that weathered the COVID pandemic without financial distress are snapping up the limited supply of homes for sale, pushing up prices and further excluding less affluent buyers. Read the report and engage with interactive data.
A new report and data dashboard from the Urban Institute highlights the shifts in transit use in major metro areas — including the Twin Cities where the share of commuters using transit dropped from 15% in 1970 to less than 7% in 2019 — and lifts up strategies and policies from areas that saw their transit commute share rise. Read more.
Applications are now open for new 2021 General Funding Grants from Still Ain't Satisfied, a local foundation that invests in grassroots organizing in Minnesota that is righteously and boldly fighting to dismantle white supremacy from every angle. Apply by July 2!
Nexus Community Partners' Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute is a 7-month program that supports, trains and helps place people of color and other underrepresented community members on city and county boards and commissions that impact equity in the Twin Cities. Apply by July 5 for their next cohort.
As we emerge from COVID quarantine, many organizations are looking for ways to re-engage with community, while also meeting everyone's health and safety needs. Training for Change offers an introduction to and strategies for "hybrid" online spaces, in which some individuals are connecting online and some participants are connecting in person. Access the guides and sign up for trainings.
Economics for Emancipation is a new four-part podcast produced by the Center for Economic Democracy, featuring conversations with leaders who are helping to build visionary projects in cities across the country with economic justice as their north star. Listen and sign up for a monthly "lounge" starting July 15 to discuss with others!
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The Minnesota Reformer reports that "legislative leaders and the administration of Gov. Tim Walz came to an agreement on a $7 billion transportation bill that will fund transportation projects and decide transportation policy across the state over the next two years." Read more from the Reformer and from Alliance member organization Move Minnesota.
The Pioneer Press reports that, following passage in the House last week, the Minnesota Senate passed a housing bill that provides an “off ramp” to the eviction ban that would, among other provisions, protect renters from eviction if they have applied for but not received rent assistance until June 1, 2022. Read more.
Writing in MinnPost, Sam Grant (MN350) and Charles Frempong-Longdon Jr (Sierra Club North Star Chapter) explain how "a comprehensive plan to address climate change is a necessary step toward coordinating county resources to ensure an equitable future for all, but this plan falls short of what it needs to do: advance climate justice and prioritize those who are disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change." Read more.
The Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder shares that 11 U.S. mayors, including St. Paul's Melvin Carter, have come together as Mayors Organized for Reparations and Equity (MORE), pledging to pay reparations for slavery to small groups of Black residents in their cities with the goal to set an example for the federal government to enact a nationwide program. Read more.
As the federal government begins to to formally examine the risks climate change is bringing to the housing market, Grist reports that "given that high-risk areas are often formerly redlined neighborhoods and home to communities of color, adding a pricing adjustment to loans based on climate risk will lead to inequitable outcomes." Read more.
CityLab reports that "a new $230 million project approved this month by local government authorities in Pittsburgh to redevelop the neighborhood puts Black people in the driver’s seat, testing the nagging question: Can racist urban redevelopment practices of the past ever be corrected with more urban redevelopment?" Read more
A piece in Shelterforce examines the role of municipal growth in rising housing costs and displacement, and asks "What about “demand cooling” strategies — like restrictions on foreign ownership, tighter lending requirements, fewer tax incentives for corporate relocations — as a way of increasing affordability?" Read more.
As the Twin Cities continues to rebuild from civil unrest, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor reviews a new book that "forges new ground in our understanding of the tactics employed by African-Americans in response to the extralegal violence of white police and residents and the unresolved issues of racial and economic inequality." Read more.
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Across the region, the Equitable Development Principles & Scorecard is providing a powerful tool to organize Black, Indigenous and people of color communities, build power for equitable outcomes and create an actionable process to engage with developers and other stakeholders. Join us for our next Actualizing Equity event on Friday, July 23rd to learn how the scorecard itself is evolving and hear from organizers and allies who are using it in their work. Register here.
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Thursday, July 1, 2pm
As Congress moves through the budget reconciliation process this year, there is a unique opportunity to eliminate subsidies for oil, gas, and coal companies and invest them in real solutions for a stable climate and sustainable future. Join Rep. Ilhan Omar, her staff and local environmental organizers to learn about fossil fuel subsidies – and the opportunity to end them once and for all. Register.
Thursday, July 1, 6:30-8pm
As the dust begins to settle on the state legislative session, join the 100% Campaign for some early news on what's passed — including the Energy, Transportation, Environment, Agriculture, and Legacy bills — and what's still pending. Register.
Thursday, July 8, and Friday, July 9
What is "green gentrification"? Who is affected? Who benefits? How can we recognize and prevent it? Join this two-day session led by Alliance member organization Sierra Club, MN Youth Climate Strike, and MN BIPOC EJ table to hold space for these vital questions. Register.
Thursday, July 8, 4-5pm
Join Alliance member organization African Career, Education and Resource Inc (ACER) for a virtual meeting on voting with the Secretary of State's Office and the Brooklyn Park City Clerk. Register.
Thursday, July 8, 6pm
What rights to organize do I have as a manufactured home renter? Join Alliance member organization HOME Line to learn how renters in manufactured homes can organize for their right to safe and dignified parks with insight and tips from Pueblos de Lucha y Esperanza. Register.
Tuesday, July 13, 11am-2pm
Join the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, MN Attorney General Keith Ellison and others for an online session exploring how overrepresentation of people of color and Indigenous people in the criminal legal system compromises the performance of the overall economy. Register.
Thursday, July 15, 1-2:30pm
The pandemic has created an eviction crisis that the federal government is trying to address with emergency rental assistance. But how do we reduce the precariousness of housing in the long run? Many people are calling for more social housing as part of that solution. This 90-minute in-depth webinar, jointly organized by NPQ and Shelterforce, brings together four leading voices in the field to discuss these issues. Register.
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This month, the Urban Institute convened an online panel, including the Alliance's Tram Hoang, to discuss the findings and recommendations of their recent report "Who Owns the Twin Cities?" which analyzed the region’s property ownership patterns over the past two decades. Watch the recording here.
Send photos of organizers and campaigns in action to carolyn@thealliancetc.org! Add an optional short caption, and let us know how you would like to be credited (name, organization, website, social media handle, etc.)
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