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August 16th, 2018.E. 38th St. Bridge Event, Photo credit: Anthony Souffle
The first council meeting of the year, my colleagues and I established council leadership, where I was elected by my Council colleagues as Vice President of the City Council alongside our Council President Lisa Bender. As I took office, the 35W@94 Downtown to Crosstown highway reconstruction project proved to be a pressing concern for neighbors. I knew that would be one of the biggest challenges for the Ward that would last throughout all four years of my term. In the end, the project will be a great asset for the City of Minneapolis and our transportation system. In 2021, we can look forward to the Lake Street Transit Station to facilitate many new trips and transfers for its passengers.
In April 2018, The City of Minneapolis and the City of St. Paul joined forces to represent one of ten cities in a national cohort, the All-In Cities Anti-Displacement Policy Network through PolicyLink. I am proud to represent the City of Minneapolis, along with Council Member Ellison, on this cohort. The purpose of this two-year program is to share experiences, resources, and strategies to help create policies that prevent housing displacement.
Some highlights of this work include:
- development of a “Displacement Impact Study”
- developing ways to increase community ownership, i.e. community commercial co-ops
- Emphasize the strength of low income communities of color and renters as assets to be built upon
This work is ongoing and will finalize our planning in April.
Also in April, I convened the first Race Equity Subcommittee meeting. As Chair of the Committee of Whole I was able to bring in the Race and Equity Coordinator Joy Marsh Stephens to a give presentation to the Council on the history of racial harm, the current landscape of racial inequity, and the future of racial justice within the City of Minneapolis.
In June, my staff and I began planning the E. 38th St. bridge reopening event, where residents from both sides of the bridge came together to break bread and engage in community dialogue about communities once divided by I-35W. In August, when the event occurred it was a great success and I would like to thank all the partners who helped to plan the event as it was truly a collaborative effort by community. Once again, thank you to all our planning partners:
- Bryant Neighborhood Organization (BNO)
- Central Area Neighborhood Development Organization (CANDO)
- CM Andrea Jenkins
- Eat for Equity
- Kente Circle
- Kingfield neighborhood Association
- Lyndale Neighborhood Association (LNA)
- Marnita’s Table
- MN Dept. of Transportation
- MN Spokesman-Recorder News
- Seward Community Co-op Friendship Store
- Excel Energy
In late September, we bade farewell to Sara Lopez our former Senior Policy Aide, on her exciting new journey as Political Director for SEIU Local 26. Deebaa Sirdar was promoted to become the new Ward 8 Senior Policy Aide. As a result, we have welcomed Zoe Bourgerie to our staff as our new Policy Associate. We look forward to continuing to serve Ward 8 as a new team!
 Ward 8 Office Staff: CM Andrea Jenkins, Policy Associate Zoe Bourgerie, and Senior Policy Aide Deebaa Sirdar
The Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan was a major milestone in my first year in office. The Minneapolis 2040 plan will guide future growth for the city. It is not an instruction book but rather a tool to frame the city’s growth, set direction and give high-level guidance. This plan will be used to inform future ordinances, zoning code revisions and the City’s strategic racial equity plan, among other items.
An overarching theme within the plan is that Minneapolis’ growth must be managed with a focus on undoing barriers created by a history of policies in the city that have prevented equitable access to housing, jobs and investments, resulting in significant disparities between white people and people of color.
I am proud to be a part of this moment in Minneapolis history, for far too long we have perpetuated oppressive actions from the past that have continued to plague our communities. We have seen the studies from the “Mapping Prejudice Project” that document the geographic redlining that situated Black and poor people in certain areas that lacked investment and consequently spurred cycles of generational poverty. This plan seeks to address that. I understand that this will require diligent oversight and strategic implementation, but if we are to address the affordable housing crisis we must be willing to take bold steps.
Another exciting piece of news related to the Minneapolis 2040 plan is that, with the support of the Mayor’s Office, I and Council Members Alondra Cano and Jeremiah Ellison successfully amended the plan to include a new policy that aimed at establishing Cultural Districts in Minneapolis. Areas to be designated as Cultural Districts strengthen neighborhoods made up largely of people of color, indigenous, and immigrant communities by accelerating economic development and housing affordability strategies.
Cultural District designations pave the way to create destination communities by building on the cultural assets and through encouraging investments in housing, economic development, cultural centers and cultural activities that serve to build community and counter displacement. As a result, The City will seek to accomplish the following action steps to strengthen neighborhoods by prioritizing and accelerating economic development, public transit, and affordable housing policies, practices, and resources to protect the racial diversity and uplift the cultural identity of the city’s areas where a significant portion of the population is comprised of people of color, Indigenous people, and/or immigrant (POCII) communities.
In addition to the Minneapolis 2040 Plan, my colleagues and I approved the Mayor’s 2019 budget for the City. The $1.55 billion budget works toward the day when all our residents have a place to call home and continues investment in public safety and inclusion.
Highlights of the adopted 2019 budget include:
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Housing - Affordable housing investment of more than $50 million ($40 million in local sources) to create more affordable housing, preserve existing affordable housing, stand up for tenants’ rights and promote affordable homeownership.
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Public safety - An interdisciplinary approach to public safety with the City Attorney, Fire Department, Health Department, Police Department and others; mental health support for officers and expansion of the co-responder program.
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Operations - Improved City operations include more staff for the Office of Race Equity to continue eliminating disparities, modern core Information Technology infrastructure and Elections.
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Inclusive economy - Economic inclusion and growth investments include:
- $500,000 for Village Trust Financial Cooperative to provide banking services to underserved members of our community.
- $547,000 for Great Streets and Business Technical Assistance Programs that catalyze real estate revitalization projects and help small and local business owners get their businesses off the ground.
- Labor standards enforcement including a new program with community-based organizations to help inform low wage workers of their minimum wage and sick and safe time rights.
And finally, the City, for the first time, will align the Strategic Plan with the Race Equity Action Plan in an effort to better align Department plans, Policy direction and Budget infrastructure.
The goal is to produce a set of deliverables that reflect our shared priorities.
The first phase of the merging of the Strategic and Race Equity Action Plan was to identify strategic needs around racial equity within City departments. The City Council approved racial equity standards in the way the City works and the way it delivers services to improve outcomes for all residents.
City enterprise operational goals include:
- Strategic need for racially diverse workforce -- Minneapolis policy goal: Increase the retention of People of Color and Indigenous People in the City’s workforce.
- Strategic need for racially equitable contracting -- Minneapolis policy goal: Increase the percent count of, and spend with, racially and ethnically diverse for-profit suppliers across all departments.
- Strategic need for racially disaggregated data -- Minneapolis policy goal: Improve the use of racially disaggregated data for decision‐making in the legislative process.
- Strategic need for engaging diverse communities -- Minneapolis policy goal: Improve the capacity of appointed boards and commissions to advance the City’s racial equity work.
The City Council plans to complete the last phase of Strategic and Race Equity Action Plan alignment within the first quarter of 2019. This involves further defining strategic priorities for the remaining term, finalizing and adopting.
Looking forward into 2019, I look forward to focusing on the implementation of the 2020 Census, redistricting, and seeing the Municipal ID come to fruition.
The Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery (MAAHMG) is a Minnesota non-profit organization, founded in 2018, and led by co-founders Tina Burnside and Coventry Cowens. Currently housed in the Thor Construction headquarters building, the Museum's purpose is to preserve, record and highlight the achievements, contributions and experiences of African Americans in Minnesota.
Prior to final adoption of the Mayor’s 2019 budget, I moved an amendment to increase funding to our Community Planning and Economic Development budget by $15,000 to provide funding for the African American Heritage Museum and Gallery (MAAHMG). I’m happy to report that this amendment was approved by the Council.
The Mayor and Council also approved a budget item of $25,000 for an African American Center for Racial Healing project at Kente Circle in the Eighth Ward. Kente Circle, led by Larry Tucker MFT, provides culturally-sensitive therapeutic services to the Twin Cities' diverse communities. Kente Circle has expanded to include the Training Institute, a non-profit arm of the organization that provides culturally competent training, workshops, research and consultation.
We look forward to the ongoing development of both projects and a continued partnership with the Ward 8 office to strengthen and revive the East 38th Street Corridor.
 Photo: Afternoons with Andrea! A Post Election Debrief and Discussion About Our Shared Priorities on Nov. 9th, 2018 with MPS Board member elect Kimberley Caprini, Representative-elect Aisha Gomez, County Commissioner elects Angela Conley and Irene Fernando, Senator Jeff Hayden and CVP Andrea Jenkins.
In 2019, I plan bring focus back to the revitalization of E. 38th Street. To do so, we will build on the input from community members from the previous councilmember and incorporate with planning from three events scheduled for next year, one in early February, one in mid-March, and one in late April at various locations along E. 38th St to engage with residents about the many different tools we will have at our disposal with to begin envisioning the future of E. 38th St.
We will be sending invitations to these events through our e-newsletter and through our Ward 8 Facebook Page.
Meet Andrea at community office hours at Sabathani Community Center, 310 E 38th Street, first floor hall nearest to the parking lot on Monday mornings, 9-11am. Call our office for an appointment!
Need to contact the Ward 8 office? Call us at 612-673-2208 or email us at Andrea.Jenkins@minneapolismn.gov
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