 Sylvia Andrews with her Safesha line of products at Lunds
When Sylvia Andrews began using green household products in
her home, she also discovered a need for more natural personal care products.
So, in July 2014, she started Safesha, a
line of natural hand sanitizers fragranced with scents like lavender and sweet
orange. The product is meant to cleanse hands without leaving them dry and
sticky. Inspired by African culture and wanting the product to reflect her own
identity, Sylvia chose to name her company Safesha, a Swahili word which means
to cleanse or wash.
Sylvia connected with the City and B-TAP after attending a
Minority and Women Owned Business Opportunity fair in St. Paul. Afterwards, she
began working with James Terrell, a Senior Project Coordinator at CPED, who has
helped Sylvia better understand the services, programs and community
partnerships that B-TAP provides.
One of Sylvia’s missions for Safesha is to create more
employment opportunities for minorities and women who might not have a chance
otherwise. She currently employs anywhere from three to five people, and plans
to grow her company by introducing new product lines and increasing their
geographic reach. Currently, Safesha
products are distributed in 90 stores across the Twin Cities, Iowa, North and
South Dakota, and California.
Minneapolis
has historically been a co-op friendly city, creating more cooperative legal
and accounting infrastructure, and a higher level of overall public
familiarity, than is found in most other cities. Over the past two years, staff
in the City’s department of Community Planning and Economic Development (CPED)
has undertaken an internal review of programmatic support for cooperative
development. As a result, the City is excited to launch a new program to
help co-ops called the Cooperative Technical Assistance Program (C-TAP), which
is part of the existing City's Business Technical Assistance Program (B-TAP).
To learn more about this program,
C-TAP will host the State of Co-ops in Minneapolis presentation to provide
information and resources to current co-ops and those interested in developing
one. See below for event details.
Wednesday, April 20,
5:30pm-7:30pm
Open Book
1011 Washington Avenue South,
Minneapolis, MN 55415
Check-in will be from 5:30pm to
5:45pm. To register, email Lisa Passus
by April 15th.
More Information
 Rendering by Metro Blooms
On
Wednesday, April 13, the City of Minneapolis Great Streets program, Metro Blooms, and Black Forest Inn unveiled a unique art
installation developed to manage stormwater run-off formerly flooding the
restaurant’s patio and adjacent event space. The artistic sculpture was
designed by Metro Blooms and the Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center to move
rainwater from the roof across the patio and down a water wall into a
raingarden and planter. Formerly, the roof run off was emptied into the City’s
sewer system. The $33,000 project was funded by the Black Forest Inn, City of
Minneapolis Great Streets Program, Hennepin County, and Mississippi Watershed Management Organization.
The project is expected to save the restaurant $200 per year on their
stormwater utility fee in addition to allowing them to use their patio rain or
shine.
The
project was a partnership of nine (9) groups: Black Forest Inn, Chicago Avenue
Fire Arts Center, City of Minneapolis Great Streets Program, Earth Wizards,
Inc., Hennepin County, Metro Blooms, Mississippi Watershed Management
Organization, Twin City Contracting, and Whittier Neighborhood Alliance.
 (Top) Creating IT Futures Foundation, IT-Ready Women's Class; (Bottom Left) Mayor Betsy Hodges welcomes the class; (Bottom Right) Dawn Davis, EMERGE Executive Director, Mayor Betsy Hodges, Sue Wallace, Executive Director IT-Ready, MN
On, Monday, April 11, Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges stopped
by to welcome 20 excited students starting their first day of an eight week,
intensive tech training run by Creating
IT Futures Foundation – IT Ready at EMERGE in North Minneapolis. The training is a free,
women-only class offered as a part of the Minneapolis Saint Paul TechHire (MSP
TechHire) initiative.
To close the workforce skills gap in the high-tech economy,
the MSP TechHire initiative enables diverse workers to access training, support
and tech jobs across the Greater Minneapolis Region. In the IT-Ready program,
students learn the breakdown of computers and hardware that will enable them to
build their own desktop computer, how to set up computer networks and
troubleshoot operating systems, as well as a number of other skills needed to
get an entry-level job in the field of information technology. Students take
the CompTIA A+ Certification exam upon completing the class which covers
desktop and help-desk technical support duties and skills.
The IT-Ready womens’ class is funded by City of Minneapolis
Employment and Training, The Minneapolis Foundation Community Action Funds,
North Star Fund, the Paul and Mary
Reyelts Fund of The
Minneapolis Foundation, and the Women’s Endowment Fund, a designated fund
of the Minneapolis Jewish Federation’s Jewish
Community Foundation. Learn more
about MSP Techhire online.
 Donnia from Edison High School at the STEP-UP mock interviews
Minneapolis’ youth employment program, STEP-UP, hosted its
13th annual “mock job interviews” at the Minneapolis Convention
Center this week. At the event, 1,700 Minneapolis youth preparing for STEP-UP
internships gained real-life interview experience and feedback from 400 Twin
Cities business professionals. The event provided youth with insights on how to
prepare, communicate professionally, dress for, and network during a real
interview. For the mock interview volunteers from companies, nonprofits and
public agencies, it was an opportunity to mentor and connect with Minneapolis’
young talent.
Prior to the interview, STEP-UP applicants completed 7-14
hours of work readiness training directed by AchieveMpls and certified by the
Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce. These trainings focused on
professional communication, problem solving, professionalism, interview skills
and resume writing.
Many STEP-UP youth consider the mock interview one of the
most important parts of their work
readiness training, allowing them to test out their new skills and learn
to relax under stress, all while receiving constructive feedback from real
business professionals.
City of Minneapolis Employment and Training partnered with
Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) and Fairview Health Services to allow thirty-two 6th-8th graders to participate in SCRUBS Camp
during Spring Break in April.
Young people enjoyed learning about a wide variety of
medical career options in biomedical engineering, nursing, pet therapy,
emergency medical technology, dentistry, oncology, the surgical field, and
more.
The week included a day on the University of Minnesota
campus with the Masonic Cancer Research Center, a day on campus with Minneapolis
Community and Technical College nursing professionals, a day with a surgical
simulation lab, along with many other guest medical professionals that provided
experiences for students.
The student attendance rate for the week was an outstanding
99%! Scrubs Camp for Middle School Youth will be offered this summer
through MPS in three distinct sessions.
 Photo source: City of Minneapolis department of Neighborhood and Community Relations
Over 550 people attended the 4th annual City of Minneapolis Community Connections Conference on Saturday, April 2nd at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Conference attendees participated in 16 different interactive learning labs around the conference theme - Big Ideas: Your Minneapolis, visited 50 interactive exhibitors and enjoyed lunch with keynote speaker Shawntera Hardy (co-founder of Civic Eagle and Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Mark Dayton) and other special invited guests including Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges.
The conference also served as the kick-off for Minneapolis 2040, the City's three-year planning process for updating the City’s Comprehensive Plan for the year 2040. To learn more about Minneapolis 2040 visit the project website or follow Minneapolis 2040 @Mpls2040 on Twitter.
On Wednesday, April 13th supporters of R.T. Rybak showed up to First Avenue to celebrate the release of his book, Pothole Confidential: My Life as Mayor of Minneapolis. Proceeds from the fun night of local music, highlights from the book, and book signings were donated to STEP-UP, the City of Minneapolis youth employment program that Rybak co-founded in 2004 with Richard Davis, U.S. Bancorp Chair, President and CEO. |
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STEP-UP is a highly successful pairing of the private and
public sectors to train and prepare the future workforce. In his position as co-founder and co-chair, R.T. Rybak continues to champion the effort to inform
businesses of the value of hiring motivated, diverse, and talented STEP-UP
interns.
Since 2004, the City of Minneapolis STEP-UP program has
created over 21,000 meaningful internships for youth, helping young people to
gain 21st century skills, build professional connections, explore career
interests, and begin the path to educational and career success.
R.T. Rybak is currently Executive Director of Generation
Next, a public–private coalition that helps improve academic outcomes for
children of color.
The Minneapolis City Council voted April 1st to
ban plastic bags, with some exceptions, starting June 1, 2017. The plastic bag
ban, which passed on a 10-3 vote, was drafted by Council Members Cam Gordon and
Abdi Warsame, who said they’re looking to change consumers’ habits in order to
get the city closer to its zero-waste goals.
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