| Metro Organizer October 6, 2009 |
Events Metro Organizer Networking Session for Suburban Organizers Legislative Hearing on Transportation Issues Minnesota Housing's 2010-2011 Affordable Housing Plan Peace, Power and Unity Conference Organizer Roundtable: Lobbying for Policy Decisions with Community Accountability 2009 Regional Equity Series: Measuring the Racial Impact of Public Policies 2009 Regional Equity Series: Strengthening Our Regional Equity Movement Resources Organizer Roundtable Resource: Racial Equity Impact Policies Transportation and Smart Growth Provisions in the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act Healthy, Equitable Transportation Policy: Recommendations and Research Leveling the Playing Field: How to Ensure People of Color Benefit from Economic Recovery Articles Death Toll Rises to 17 Years at MnDOT Alinsky Rules, and Not Just Among Radicals Stimulus Woes: How One Coalition is Working for More Equitable Spending Job Opportunities Community Outreach Specialist - LISC and Northway Community Trust Executive Director - Workers Interfaith Network To submit an item to the next Metro Organizer, please contact Tracy Babler Event I Metro Organizer Networking Session for Suburban Organizers 3 - 4:30 pm Suburban Organizers this is for you! This networking session is a follow-up to our August Organizer Roundtable on Community Organizing in the Suburbs, where participants emphasized the power of connections with other organizers as a key to successful efforts. Event I Legislative Hearing on Transportation Issues 10 am This Transportation and Transit Policy Oversight Division hearing chaired by Rep. Frank Hornstein will feature testimony Central Corridor issues, the Northstar Commuter Rail launch, MnDOT's Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program, ARRA transportation equity issues and more. HIRE Minnesota and the Stops for Us coalition will each be giving testimony between 1 and 3 pm. Event I Minnesota Housing's 2010-2011 Affordable Housing Plan Noon - 1:30 Minnesota Housing works to meet Minnesotans’ needs for decent, safe, affordable housing and stronger communities by focusing on development and redevelopment programs, homeownership loan programs and the preservation of federally assisted housing. Join the Center for Regional and Urban Affairs for this brown bag lunch featuring Minnesota Housing Commissioner Dan Bartholomay, who will talk about the agency's 2010-2011 plan for meeting our state's affordable housing needs. Event I Peace, Power and Unity Conference Saturday, October 17 Family and Children's Service, an Alliance member group, invites you to the fourth annual Peace, Power and Unity Conference. This one-day conference will connect community leaders from across the metropolitan area by providing educational workshops on important community issues. Workshops will cover a range of issues involving:
Registration for the conference is free, but must be made in advance. Event I Organizer Roundtable: Lobbying for Policy Decisions With Community Accountability Noon - 1:30 pm Whether at the city council, the county, or the state legislature, lobbying for public policy often becomes an essential component of an organizing campaign. Many lasting wins on campaigns are based in policy change – but how do the worlds of lobbying and grassroots organizing interact? What are the strengths and challenges of combining the two approaches? Come join in a lively discussion with other advocates and organizers. Organizer Roundtables are free but registration is required. Light snacks will be provided. Feel free to bring your lunch! Event I Federal Housing Policy Forum 8:30 am - 1 pm The past 18 months have seen passage of the two most significant federal bills to impact housing in decades. We have never before seen local governments and other entities funded to buy and sell foreclosed properties. We have never before seen this amount of money poured into low-income homes through programs such as weatherization. The impact this legislation has on Minnesota will last for years. Join the Minnesota Housing Partnership at the Federal Housing Policy Forum to hear featured speakers such as Mark A. Linton, director of the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships (HUD), and Colleen Landkamer, Minnesota state director for rural development (USDA), as well as Minnesota's own federal housing leaders who will offer a comprehensive look at the recent legislation and what it means for Minnesota communities. Alliance Coalition Organizer Jennifer Jimenez, HIRE Minnesota Co-chair Louis King and Kyle Makarios of the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters will speak on a panel about jobs, housing and weatherization. Event I 2009 Regional Equity Series: Measuring the Impact of Public Policies The Alliance's 2009 Regional Equity Series brings local and national leaders together to talk about emerging issues that are critical to creating an equitable Twin Cities region. The final two events in the series focus on Measuring the Racial Impact of Public Policies and Strengthening Our Regional Equity Movement. Measuring the Racial Impact of Public Policies Racial disparities in our region are growing at an alarming rate – and the way we plan growth and development in the Twin Cities is one of the major contributing factors.Terry Keleher of the Applied Research Center, one of the nation’s experts in studying the racial impacts of our public policy design, will deliver the keynote address. Terry and a local reactor panel will provide participants with an opportunity to learn about the different types of existing racial equity impact programs and explore the advantages of this type of policy. The panel will include: Minnesota State Senator Mee Moua, Readus Fletcher, deputy director of the city of St. Paul Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Department, Vic Rosenthal, executive director of Jewish Community Action, and Jermaine Toney, lead researcher for Organizing Apprenticeship Project. A reception will follow. 2009 Regional Equity Series: Strengthening Our Regional Equity Movement Strengthening Our Regional Equity Movement The Twin Cities boast a strong network of organizations that partner on a variety of grassroots efforts to create a more equitable region. How can we build on our existing strengths and networks to place racial justice and equity issues at the center of regional priorities? Angela Glover Blackwell, CEO of PolicyLink, will speak about the ways in which this national organization is providing technical assistance to regions throughout the country in advancing a regional equity agenda. A local panel will discuss the trends emerging in the Twin Cities that will contribute to a stronger regional equity movement. This event will be followed by the Alliance's 15th anniversary reception and in/stability photo exhibit. All of these events are free, but an RSVP is appreciated. Please follow the links above to register! Resource I Organizer Roundtable Resource: Racial Equity Impact Policies On September 26, 2009. Twin Cities’ activists and organizers joined in discussion on racial equity impact policies. This roundtable centered on the work of a coalition that includes the Alliance, Aurora St. Anthony Neighborhood Development Corporation (ASANDC), Community Stabilization Project (CSP) and Jewish Community Action (JCA), which is working with the St. Paul Planning and Economic Development Department to incorporate racial equity into the development subsidies of the city. Read a summary of the discussion (PDF). Resource I Transportation and Smart Growth Provisions in the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act This paper released by the Transportation for America coalition (PDF) outlines the cross-sector provisions for transportation and smart growth included in the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act. The bill, which has not been passed, was released by Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and John Kerry (D-MA) last week. Resource I Healthy, Equitable Transportation Policy: Recommendations and Research The link between our nation’s health and our transportation policies has never been more clear – or more vital. Equitable, opportunity-rich communities require smarter, more innovative transportation and health policies. As Congress looks to craft a new transportation framework this fall, the book provides facts, figures, case studies and proven policy proposals that show how smart, equitable transportation policy can make us all healthier. Resource I Leveling the Playing Field: How to Ensure People of Color Benefit from Economic Recovery The recession, now in its 21st month, has affected many people and many sectors of the economy. Some groups have felt more economic pain than others. African Americans and Hispanics have lost more economic ground and done so more quickly than their white counterparts from the end of 2007 to the summer of 2009, and the economic fortunes of minorities have fallen from lower levels than those of whites to begin with. This means that the gap in the economic security between minorities and whites is widening in this recession, as it has in previous ones. Article I Death Toll Rises to 17 Years at MnDOT HIRE Minnesota last Tuesday held a funeral procession to mourn the loss of another construction season in which the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) failed to meet their minority hiring goals. To find out what happened, read the rest of this article from Insight News. Article I Alinsky Rules, and Not Just Among Radicals If Saul Alinsky were alive today, he would be 100 years old. And what a world he would see around him: Barack Obama, "organizer in chief," ensconced in the White House; Tea Party activists, gleefully employing Alinsky-like tactics at last summer's town hall health care forums, and ACORN -- now the nation's most famous community organization -- laid low by scandal. More Americans than ever before have heard of the term "community organizing." And more than a few now recognize the name of the man who shaped and promoted the practice. But what is it? And what difference does it make? Read the rest of this article by Tom O'Connell at Minnesota Public Radio. Article I Stimulus Woes: How One Coalition is Working for More Equitable Spending The Alliance's role in the HIRE Minnesota campaign was featured in this recent blog post by Smart Growth America. It begins: The economic stimulus was meant to benefit everyone in hard economic times, partially through job creation in the transportation sector. African-Americans are hit disproportionately by job losses in a recession, but in Minnesota they haven’t received the full benefit from the stimulus money, an investment meant to aid everyone. The Alliance for Metropolitan Stability, one of Smart Growth America’s partners examining state stimulus spending, has been working as part of a large coalition of 70 groups called HIRE Minnesota to ensure equity for low-income communities and communities of color, not just in allocation of the stimulus money, but to ensure that people of color and low-income people get more opportunities to train for family-supporting jobs in infrastructure and green-collar work. Job Opportunity I Community Outreach Specialist - LISC and Northway Community Trust NorthWay Community Trust seeks a candidate to fill a part-time position (up to 15 hours per week) to work with the organization to help develop a capacity for community outreach in several Northside communities. The community outreach specialist will work with the executive director to enhance NorthWay’s activities with the Northside Neighborhood Alliance (NNA). The NNA is a confederation of Northside organizations dedicated to examining ways to develop a collaborative approach to addressing regional issues. This position is funded through Local Initiative Support Corporation's Americorps program. Job Opportunity I Executive Director - Workers Interfaith Network Workers Interfaith Network is seeking a dynamic, experienced organizer to fill the executive director position. WIN unites religious leaders, labor leaders, and workers to address economic disparities by demanding improved wages, benefits, and working conditions assuring that our community’s economic abundance is shared by all. Like the Metro Organizer? Donate to the Alliance. Get this from a friend? Subscribe to the Metro Organizer. Alliance for Metropolitan Stability I 2525 Franklin Ave E, Suite 200 I Minneapolis, MN 55406 I 612-332-4471 | |
