 NCR bids a fond farewell to Ayianna Kennerly, our African
American Community Specialist. Ayianna is leaving this summer to pursue
graduate work in public health at the University of North Texas in Fort Worth
where she will be studying infectious disease epidemiology.
Ayianna came to NCR in 2014 as our first African American
Community Specialist, having previously worked for the Congressional Black
Caucus Foundation and for U.S. Senator Al Franken on global health emergencies
and human rights violations in Africa. Ayianna’s
major projects at NCR included police and community relations trust building, North
Minneapolis Public Safety Fair and Public Safety Job Fair, and tenant
engagement work focusing on tenants’ right and increasing tenant participation
on neighborhood boards. She also coordinated the 2017 Community Connections
Conference.
Please join us in wishing Ayianna well in her new adventure.
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NCR is pleased to announce that the Community Connections
Learning Lab Series is now officially underway. The series of eight
courses is meant to be an introduction to equitable community engagement and
the audience is City staff, Neighborhood staff, boards, and volunteers from the
community. Participants can take the whole series and receive a “Community
Connector” certificate or take selected classes as needed. Labs are
offered both day and evening for maximum flexibility.
For more information see the NCEC
Presentation, Download
the Flyer and/or visit the NCR Training Web Page
to register. You may also contact – 612-673-3737 or email ncr@minneapolismn.gov
 The Neighborhood and Community Engagement Commission (NCEC)
and the Neighborhood and Community Relations Department (NCR) partnered with
neighborhood organizations and cultural groups across the city in hosting a
series of five meetings to discuss the future role of neighborhood
organizations. Through the organizing and outreach of our partners, more
than 500 people attended the five community conversations. In addition, NCR
held two additional meetings: one with Lao and Hmong community members at
Harrison Community Center; and another with Latino and American Indian
community members at Waite House. A total of 583 people signed in at the seven
meetings. NCR also offered an online survey to gather additional
input.
Thank you to the many partners and individuals that worked
with NCR and the NCEC to make this outreach a success. Citizens For a
Loring Park Community, Lind Bohanon Neighborhood Association, Logan Park
Neighborhood Association, Powderhorn Park Neighborhood Association, and
Whittier Alliance served as fiscal agents and helped organize the
meetings and helped with communication. Plymouth Church, the Northeast
Armory, the Abubakar-As-Saddique Islamic Center and Whittier Park provided
fantastic meeting spaces. Abubakar-As-Saddique Islamic Center, the
Council on American Islamic Relations and the Native American Community
Development Institute all assisted with promotion.
NCR has worked with the NCEC to prepare a Draft Summary of Findings. Please
note that this is a draft, and is subject to change. You can review the Draft Summary of Findings,
Raw Data, and Open Ended Comments on the NCR Web Site.
The next meeting of the NCEC Neighborhoods 2020 Committee
will be Monday August 14th at 6pm in the 2nd Floor
Conference Room of Crown Roller Mill.
For more information regarding the Neighborhoods 2020
Project, contact robert.thompson@minneapolismn.gov
or call 612-673-3737.
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 The July 25th Meeting
of the Neighborhood and Community Engagement Commission (NCEC) marked the beginning
of a new commission cycle. As a result of the new cycle, an election was held
to select the members of this year’s Executive Committee. The new committee is Nicholas Cichowicz, Raya Esmaeili, Marcus Mills and Jeff Strand.
Executive Committee Members:
Nicholas Cichowicz: Chair
Nick Cichowicz has lived in Minneapolis since 2008 and is
serving his second term as the elected District 5 commissioner. His
professional and volunteer background is focused on non-profit management,
fundraising and community building. Currently he serves as the Executive
Director of WATCH, a Minneapolis based court monitoring and judicial policy
organization. He served on the Downtown Minneapolis Neighborhood
Association (DMNA) Board from 2012 -2016, where he has served as Board Chair
for two years.
Raya Esmaeili: Vice Chair
Raya Esmaeili grew up in Tehran,
Iran, where she studied Urban Planning, before moving to Minneapolis for a
master’s degree. She graduated from Humphrey School of Public Affairs in 2011
with an Urban and Regional Planning degree. After working and interning at a
few nonprofits in the city, she started working at the Metropolitan Council in
2013, where she works on land use and density related projects with local
planners in the Twin Cities region. Raya lives in the CARAG neighborhood and has served on the commission since July of 2015.
Marcus Mills: 2nd
Vice Chair
Marcus Mills became involved in
local politics and community activism in 2011, when a friend informed him of
the fact that their neighborhood association was engaging in discriminatory
practices toward students and renters. This
information came as a surprise due to the fact that in the decade he lived
there, he was unaware of the existence of a neighborhood organization. The Revelation that no intentional outreach was done to him because he is a renter led to Commissioner Mills
being involved for the purposes of equity, outreach, inclusion and the
betterment of the city’s neighborhoods, communities, habitat and residents ever
since. Marcus lives in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood and has served on the commission since 2016.
Jeff Strand: Secretary
Jeff Strand became active in
neighborhoods and community work shortly after moving to the Shingle Creek
neighborhood with his now-husband Kim Jeppesen in 1989. He was one of the
founders of Shingle Creek Neighborhood Association in 1992 as the former NRP
program was getting organized in several North Minneapolis neighborhoods. Commissioner
Strand has been an elected director of SCNA and served as chair from 1997-2006.
He was one of the founding members of the NCEC as a Council appointee, but also
served as the elected District 1 neighborhoods representative. In addition, he
has served on many other City and neighborhood boards and commissions including
as a neighborhood representative on the former NRP Policy Board from 2011 to
2010, the first non-elected official chair of the reconstituted NRP Policy
Board and as the chair for DFL Senate District 59. Jeff first served on NCEC from 2009-2015 before rejoining in 2016.
Additionally at the July 25th meeting, the commission approved the 2016-2017 term annual report which can be viewed here.
For more information on the Neighborhood and Community Engagement Commission including past work and upcoming meeting dates please visit their website.
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 July 26th marked the 27th anniversary
of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). To commemorate the anniversary,
the Minnesota State Council on Disability hosted a Disability Rights March and
Rally.
The purpose of the rally was to proclaim the importance of the ADA,
disability rights and inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of
society. The event had 200+ people in attendance, and began at the Minnesota
History Center and ended at the Minnesota State Capitol. The event featured
speakers and entertainment along with dignitaries, officials and community
leaders.
Signed in 1990, the ADA is a landmark civil rights law aimed
at eliminating barriers and discrimination against people with disabilities.
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 On July 21,
representatives from the Tangletown Neighborhood Association and the Windom
Community Council presented LaMac Cleaners with checks totaling $10,000. The
funds support LaMac’s work to switch out their PERC (Perchloroethylene) machine
to one that is non-toxic.
PERC, a manufactured chemical primarily used for dry cleaning, poses
a host of health and environmental concerns. With LaMac’s switch to a
non-toxic machine, there are just three dry cleaners in Minneapolis that still
have PERC systems. City Health Department staff hope that Minneapolis will soon
be the first major U.S. city to be PERC-free.
LaMac paid for about half
the cost of the new equipment. The project was also supported by a $35,000 grant
from the City’s Environmental Initiatives Program. The collaboration is being praised as a new
way to solve environmental problems and an exciting example for how communities, non-profits, government and business can work together
for a cleaner, healthier, and economically strong city.
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The City
of Minneapolis and the City’s Open Streets event organizer, Our Streets
Minneapolis, are seeking route ideas for the 2018 Open Streets season. Anybody
can submit an idea.
Organizations
can also share their interest in being a local route host. Applications are due
Sept. 21, 2017.
Applicants
with proposed routes that meet the goals of Open Streets will be considered and
contacted by early November.
For more
information and to submit an idea for a 2018 route, visit the Open Streets website.
Since 2011 when the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition
hosted the first Open Streets event on a 2-mile stretch of Lyndale Avenue
South, the initiative has grown considerably, drawing 81,000 people to eight
events in 2016.
The goals of Open Streets include growing
community connections, civic pride and community engagement, celebrating the
city's diversity, inspiring healthy living, stimulating local business and
promoting active transportation.
This time of year, some of us
are spending more time outside and enjoying outdoor fires. Following these
Minneapolis laws will help keep our neighborhoods safe and livable:
- Outdoor
fires are permitted between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m.
- Keep
fire small: less than three feet in diameter and two feet high.
-
Postpone
a fire when Minneapolis is under an air pollution advisory. Fires release
fine particles that contribute to air pollution and are implicated in a
number of health problems including strokes, heart attacks and asthma.
Sign up for air quality alerts at http://mn.enviroflash.info.
-
Burn
only untreated, unpainted, dry wood. Never burn cardboard boxes, trash or
debris, because the smoke can be toxic. www.minneapolismn.gov/environment/air/airquality
- Fire
must be at least 25 feet away from a structure or combustible material and
in a fire ring or pit with edges more than six inches high.
- Have
a hose or fire extinguisher present.
- Postpone
the fire when the wind exceeds 10 mph.
- Fire
must be constantly attended by someone 18 years or older and completely
out before being abandoned.
Illegal open burning or recreational fires could
result in fines that start at $200.
Be a good neighbor
These simple suggestions could
help neighbors be considerate of each other when having a fire:
- Letting
neighbors know when planning a fire.
- Postponing
a fire when smoke will blow directly at a neighbor’s house or when still
weather conditions prevent smoke from moving away at all.
Below are links to videos in English, Spanish,
Somali and Hmong on how to have a safe bonfire in Minneapolis:
Bonfires in the City
Here's what you need to know when having a small outdoor fire in Minneapolis.
Hluav taws los yog bonfire hauv
nroog (Bonfires in the City, Hmong)
Ntwam no yuav qhia koj txoj cov hluav taws nyob nruam zoo hauv nroog Minneapolis.
Qor-yo gub ka magaalada (Bonfires in the City, Somali)
Waa tanaa waxaad u baahantahey mar ka aad dooney-sid in aad dibada ku shidid
dab gudaha miniyaabolis.
Fogatas en la Ciudad (Bonfires in the City, Spanish)
Esto es lo que tienes que saber cuándo hagas una fogata en Minneapolis.
For more information on recreational fires or to
register a complaint about a recreational fire, call 311 or email Minneapolis311@minneapolismn.gov, or to
register a complaint about a recreational fire outside 311 hours, call 911. The
Fire and Police departments are authorized to extinguish a fire immediately if
it is hazardous.
For the Minneapolis law on recreational fires, visit
the Minneapolis Code of Ordinances, Chapter 178 at www.minneapolismn.gov/government/ord/index.htm.
For healthy workers, healthy businesses and healthy
communities, a new ordinance protecting time off for people who get sick and
work in Minneapolis has taken effect. Employers with six or more workers will
be required to provide time off at a minimum threshold of at least one hour of
paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. Employers with five or fewer workers
must also provide sick time, but it may be unpaid. The goal of the ordinance is
to protect public health and prevent workers from being penalized because of
illness or a need to care for a sick loved one.
Until this law took effect, four out of 10
Minneapolis workers lacked access to paid sick time.
With some exceptions, the new ordinance governs all
employers in Minneapolis and includes full-time, part-time and temporary
workers and paid interns. Other requirements include:
- Workers may use leave for their own health and
certain family members’ health.
- Victims of domestic abuse, sexual assault and
stalking may use leave to receive medical treatment and other necessary
services.
- Workers may use leave to care for family members
during emergency closure of school or place of care, including for inclement
weather.
- Workers will accrue one hour of leave for every 30
hours worked until they accrue 48 hours per year or 80 hours overall including
carryover during additional years.
Paid time off, sick, vacation or other types of
leave used at employee discretion often qualify as “sick and safe time.”
Employees who already receive such leave in sufficient amounts do not receive
additional time off under the new law. The 40 percent of employees – often
part-time workers – who previously lacked such access will now receive it, and
the ordinance creates a minimum standard of protection for everyone.
Paid sick and safe time is intended to:
Ensure that workers can address their own health
needs and the health needs of their families.
- Reduce public and private health care costs by
enabling workers to seek early and routine medical care for themselves and
their family members.
- Make Minneapolis a more secure and productive
community.
- Safeguard the public welfare, health, safety and
prosperity of Minneapolis’ residents, workers and visitors.
People who work in Minneapolis whose employers don’t
provide the sick and safe time required by the new law can call 311 or visit www.minneapolismn.gov/sicktimeinfo to ask a
question or file a complaint with the Labor Standards Enforcement Division of
the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights.
Note: In a lawsuit brought against the City of
Minneapolis in the case of Minnesota Chamber of Commerce et al v. City of
Minneapolis, Court File No. 27-cv-16-15051, the Hennepin County District Court
issued a temporary injunction prohibiting the City of Minneapolis from
enforcing the Sick and Safe Time Ordinance against any “employer resident
outside the geographic boundaries of the City.” This case is currently on
appeal to the Minnesota Court of Appeals. This temporary injunction order will
be applied until further action of the court.
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