BCLI Archives - Page 3 of 4 - Nexus Community Partners

The National Research Council defines a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) as “a systematic process that uses an array of data sources and analytic methods, and considers input from stakeholders to determine the potential effects of a proposed policy, plan, program, or project on the health of a population and the distribution of those effects within the population. HIA provides recommendations on monitoring and managing those effects.”

So the question remains: is this new research method really going to benefit the communities that they are intended to benefit? And how is this process different than the myriad research already done to low-wealth communities and communities of color that has not yet systemically addressed the health disparities in Minnesota?

The Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute (BCLI) wrapped up our 2014-15 BCLI Issue Series by exploring these questions together with 40 community members and four guest speakers. Speakers shared about the process of HIAs, how they believe they can be used as tools to ensure equitable outcomes both in community and at the policy level, and discussed the process and outcomes of the various HIAs in which they are involved.

Check out the photo gallery here, and listen to the audio of the speakers below.

Larry Hiscock, Program Officer of Transitway Engagement at Nexus Community Partners, began the evening with an introduction to health impact assessments – specifically as a means to address historical and institutionalized racism by assessing health impacts and outcomes in partnership with communities most impacted by community development projects. This HIA process has the potential to ensure that members of the community are also members of the decision-making tables where the research is crafted, collected, analyzed and acted upon. Check out Hiscock’s PowerPoint here for more information, and listen to his audio below.

The panelists then began their exploration and sharing of the three HIA projects they are involved in – including Hennepin County’s Bottineau Transitway HIA, the Council on Crime and Justice’s Minnesota Expungement Policy Expansion HIA, and the Minnesota Department of Health’s Green Zones HIA. Click the links below to listen to each panelist.

Karen Nikolai, Manager of Healthy Community Planning for Hennepin County, shared her work with the Bottineau Transitway Engagement HIA, highlighting the importance of community engagement in the Bottineau Light Rail Transit (LRT) development that will expand LRT through communities with high rates of poverty and members who are highly transit-dependent. By engaging the communities’ stakeholders through the HIA process, the station area planning for the LRT is being shaped by the needs and vision of the community – which offers real potential to improve health for communities living near the transit stations. Check out Nikolai’s audio below:

Ebony Ruhland, Research Partner with the Council on Crime and Justice (CCJ), spoke to the CCJ’s Minnesota Expungement Policy Expansion HIA – an HIA designed to examine the health impacts caused by the criminal justice system. In particular, this HIA will determine whether a legislative proposal to allow certain criminal records for first-time offenders in juvenile delinquency, theft, and nonviolent drug cases to be expunged, will lead to healthier outcomes for communities disproportionately charged with these offenses. Although in the beginning phases of an HIA process, Ruhland highlighted the uniqueness of this HIA in its plan to include both policy-makers as well as ex- and current offenders who would be impacted by this legislation. Listen to Ebony’s full audio below:

Dr. Cecilia Martinez, Director of Research Programs at the Center for Earth, Energy and Democracy (CEED), shared about the HIA process she is a part of with the Minnesota Department of Health around Green Zones in Minneapolis. This HIA is in progress to evaluate the potential impact of Green Zones as a solution in Minneapolis to be “a community-led approach to transforming communities that have been overburdened with environmental hazards and limited economic opportunities”. Check out Dr. Martinez’ audio below:

The evening concluded with Q & A between panelists and the audience, surfacing some of the reservations that the community had as being a source of yet more research, as well as wanting to see the results of HIAs lead to policy shifts that will create greater health equity in the region. Click below to listen to the Q & A portion of the event.

The audience did not speak into a microphone, but the questions asked during the Q&A are summarized underneath the audio link below. Skip ahead to the time in front of the question to hear the response for each question.

(:49) How can HIAs break down silos? We don’t need more data! How are HIAs useful?
(9:28) How do you see policy makers using HIAs to inform policy and moving racial equity forward?
(14:02) Why do we still have the same policies in place when we have all this data collected that shows such racial disparities?
(20:45) What would be your happy ending – best outcome because of doing these HIAs?
(23:22) Can you aggregate the data to push for policy changes? How do you attribute economic impacts to the HIA?
(28:55) How do we build benchmarks into the data and the grassroots efforts that help circumvent regression?
(32:27) What specific data or info do we need to collect to make policy change around environmental justice (pollution, etc)?

Join Us for Our Upcoming Webinar:

Building A National Network of Regional Leaders: Replicating the Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute

Tuesday March 3, 2015| 11-12pm PST | 1-2 CST (Corrected Time)

Presenters: Uma Viswanathan, Urban Habitat and Terri Thao, Nexus Community

The Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute (BCLI) is a six-month fellowship that trains and places advocates from low-income communities of color onto local and regional boards and commissions through the Bay Area. Preparing mid-career leaders to leverage and enhance their knowledge, skills, and networks to enter political life, the BCLI is not just an individual leadership development program. It is a strategy to change the face of politics, creating a network of diverse and representative leaders who move racially and economically just policies at all levels of government.

During this webinar, BCLI directors Uma Viswanathan (Urban Habitat) and Terri Thao (Nexus Community Partners) will provide an overview of this innovative program and share their discoveries about the replication process as partners from different regions and organizations. Participants will be engaged in dialogue about potential future replications, including individual leader, organizational, and regional readiness for this type of program.

REGISTER HERE!

About Our Presenters

Uma Viswanathan, Director of Leadership Development, Urban Habitat

Uma Viswanathan is a leadership development professional with nine years of experience in national and global strategy and innovation, program and curriculum design and management. As Director of Leadership Development for Urban Habitat, she designs and implements leadership and educational initiatives to further Urban Habitat’s mission of bringing race and class to the forefront of policy decisions in the Bay. Uma directs the Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute (BCLI), In addition to directing the program’s design, curriculum content, recruitment and alumni engagement strategies, she is supporting its replication across the country.

Terri Thao, Program Director, Nexus Community Partners

Nexus Community Partners is a community building intermediary working to build more engaged and powerful communities across the Twin Cities region. At Nexus, Terri runs the Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute (BCLI) which trains and places participants on publicly appointed boards or commissions with the goal to advance equity in the Twin Cities region. Terri is an active community volunteer, serving on the boards of the Asian Economic Development Association, the City of St. Paul’s Planning Commission, CommonBond Communities and the F.R. Bigelow Foundation.

With sub-zero temperatures and an intense wind chill, a small group of community members heated up together on Thursday, February 12^th at the Northeast Bank Community Room by digging into the spicy subject of…

Budgets.

2.12.15 Issue Series Attendees

And why, you may ask, is this topic so steamy? Because, as all four panelists agreed, budgets reflect values and are a significant tool to hold our elected officials accountable. There is especially nothing quite as attractive as seeing funding and resources allocated toward racial justice and more equitable outcomes for communities of color – and this is what our panel addressed head on at our fourth BCLI Issue Series on February 12^th.

Check out the photo gallery here.

Four powerful panelists were invited to share their experiences in the areas of transportation, city and state budgets – specifically addressing the following questions: If budgets articulate values, how are current budgets linked to racial equity? How can we use budgets to hold our elected officials accountable to values of equity?

Brett Buckner, President and CEO of BaseNetwork&Power, kick-started the panel by sharing his experience advocating for racial equity in the City of Minneapolis budget – a battle that sparked significant public backlash when the City Council voted to cut a huge piece of the racial-equity-funding-pie out of Mayor Betsy Hodges’ original proposed budget. Check out Buckner’s audio below:

Leah Gardner, the Minnesota Budget Project’s Outreach Coordinator at the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, spoke next on the even sexier topic of tax law. As Gardner said, the tax code was created to benefit and maintain the status quo, so we have to be active participants at the State Capital, and show up to advocate for a more progressive tax system. Check out Gardner’s audio below:

Lynnea Atlas-Ingebretson, Chair Emeritus of the Parks and Trails Legacy Advisory Committee, shared her experience ensuring the incorporation of racial equity in the development plans of Minnesota’s parks and trails to benefit families and communities of color. Click below to hear Atlas-Ingebretson’s full audio:

Jim Erkel, Director of Land Use and Transportation at the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, closed up the panel by sharing two powerful stories of when diving into the region’s finance and budget pool ended with reallocating transit resources to benefit low-income communities and communities of color, one of which has maintained the current fare system for transit riders. Hear Erkel’s full stories in the link below:

The evening concluded with Q & A between the panelists and the audience. Listen to the full Q & A in the link below, or see the list of questions beneath the link to jump ahead to the time of each question:

(0:21) How do we train and educate our activists to dig for that money [in the city, county or X budget]?
(9:15) There are good paying jobs for organizers and community engagement employees in government – at what point should white candidates withdraw – or are ethnically diverse hires what we should always be looking and pushing for?
(13:46) Has there been any proposals at the City Council to look at best practices outside of Minnesota to accomplish diversity and equity goals?
(20:30) What’s the next step? What’s one action I can take after leaving this room?

Over 40 community members braved the cold and snow on Thursday, January 8^th, to gather at Phillips Community Center for our third BCLI Issue Series of the season. Co-hosted with the Center for Earth, Energy and Democracy (CEED), we brought together a panel of environmental justice and housing advocates to explore the question: How do the issues of affordable housing, environmental sustainability, and racial justice interlink?

Check out the photo gallery here, and listen to the audio of speakers below.

Shalini Gupta, Executive Director of CEED, kicked off the evening with an introduction to energy equity and the explanation of green zones. She highlighted key data including:

Low-income families, many of whom are from communities of color, pay up to 17 percent of their income on utilities and energy due to electric heating and drafty homes, in addition to being cost burdened and paying 30 percent or more for housing.
Many of the funding opportunities and incentives for energy efficiency and green energy development are taken advantage of by homeowners rather than renters, further burdening low-income residents paying for high energy costs.

Check out Gupta’s PowerPoint here for more information, and listen to her audio below.

The panelists then jumped into an exploration of the energy issues within affordable housing, racial justice and a current green initiative, Minneapolis’ Clean Energy Partnership. Click below to listen to the full panel (skip ahead to each panelist: ThaoMee Xiong :02; CM Elizabeth Glidden 7:28; Kathy Wetzel-Mastel 16:44).

ThaoMee Xiong, Policy Director of Minnesota Housing Partnership, shared her perspective as an organizer working with and within communities of color, and the current work that MHP is embarking upon doing research on best administrative practices and legislative policies that benefit communities of color in general and specifically in Greater Minnesota.

Council Member Elizabeth Glidden, Minneapolis Ward 8 City Council Member and also serves as the Council Vice President, discussed her work with the Clean Energy Partnership, a first-of-its-kind partnership with the City of Minneapolis, Xcel Energy and CenterPoint Energy “which will have the City and the utility companies collaborating in new ways to help Minneapolis achieve its clean energy goals.” CM Glidden shared that a community advisory board will be created to help guide the new Clean Energy Partnership, and invited the community to apply for these seats.

Kathy Wetzel-Mastel, Executive Director of PRG, Inc., spoke to her work as a housing developer in the Twin Cities area. Wetzel-Mastel highlighted the importance of responding to the needs of the community ensuring energy-efficiency in the development of affordable housing to guarantee ongoing affordability of units.

The evening concluded with Q & A between panelists and the audience. Listen to the full Q & A in the link below, or see the list of questions beneath the link.

(:44) What does ‘diverse interests’ mean, and how will people of color be on decision-making boards rather than just advisory boards?
(10:15) Can you create some kind of reporting system where utility bill payments can be trade-lines that can be reported as a way to improve credit scores for low-income renters paying such high utility bills?
(13:23) How are all of you reaching out to others to share this [technical information and awareness of opportunities] knowledge in community? How can you ensure the Clean Energy Partnership advisory board will have people of color on it to help make decisions?
(18:50) With resources coming in from federal, state and municipalities, are there going to be minority participation goals implemented to ensure equal distribution among communities of color?

On Thursday, December 4^th, nearly 40 community members gathered at Goodwill Easter Seals for our second BCLI Issue Series of the season. Together we explored how to promote equitable community development without displacing residents and gentrifying neighborhoods in the Twin Cities.

Building on the first Issue Series around organizing and engagement, we discussed the following two questions: How do neighborhoods define what equitable change looks like? How do communities of color benefit from development and prevent gentrification and displacement?

We started the evening with small group discussions around the definitions of gentrification and displacement, then moved into our panel of neighborhood leaders who shared strategies and stories of successful neighborhood-led change that included authentic engagement and representative decision making. Check out the audio links below to listen to each panelist and view the photo gallery here.

Caty Royce, the Director of Frogtown Neighborhood Association, kicked off the panel talking about building relationships and having honest conversations about neighborhood change with new and long time residents. Ms. Royce also spoke to the value of the Frogtown neighborhood being locally controlled, which led to the development of the Frogtown Farm and a small development company designed to Preserve Frogtown and build on the historical blue collar history of the neighborhood.

Shauen Pearce, the Executive Director of Harrison Neighborhood Association, shared her strategies for engaging residents around policy, as well as ways to ensure that the board of HNA reflects the community and therefore leads decision-making around neighborhood developments.

Staci Horwitz, Program Director of the City of Lakes Community Land Trust (CLCLT), expanded on equitable neighborhood change from the perspective of ensuring affordable homeownership for residents, using a community land trust model in the neighborhoods slated for change and development.

The evening concluded with audience questions to the panel. Listen to the full Q & A, or see the list of questions below.

(00:38) How do you inform and raise awareness around policy issues so they are more engaged and informed in the policies affecting their neighborhoods?
(09:15) How is a land trust structured and can people get involved?
(14:10) How can we allow and encourage affordable housing developments more in the inner core of the city versus on the outskirts like North Minneapolis (where there is ample affordable housing, “where we are affordable housed out”), without displacing those who already live there?

“Organizing is harder than brain surgery…
And the reason it’s harder than brain surgery is: everyone thinks they can organize. Believe it or not…they think ‘Oh, I can do that job.’ But nobody walks into the operating room and takes the scalpel out of a brain surgeon’s hand and says ‘Hey, move over. I got this.’ To be an organizer you actually have to get the tools and training to do the job.”

Julia Freeman

On Thursday, November 6^th, the BCLI kicked off our first Issue Series of the season with nearly 50 community members gathered at Gandhi Mahal’s Community Room to explore the role of community organizing and community engagement in the equity movement. Specifically, we explored the following two questions, “What does effective community organizing and engagement look like? How do these two fields intersect and advance racial equity in the Twin Cities?”

The evening began with a group discussion of the differences and similarities of the two fields, before turning over to three panelists who shared their stories of success engaging and organizing for systems change. Check out the photo gallery here, and the links to the speakers’ audio below.

Julia Freeman, Senior Organizer for Racial Justice at Voices for Racial Justice (the former Organizing Apprenticeship Project), shared her experience working toward education equity, engaging those most impacted by racial disparities in education to co-create a rubric for measuring racial equity in schools:

Jay Bad Heart Bull, President and CEO of the Native American Community Development Institute (NACDI), commented how the American Indian Community Blueprint demonstrated the process of engagement with the community around visioning for what American Indians wanted rather than just needed. This led to deep relationships and trust-building within and across communities, which created a large base to mobilize organizing for the Indigenous People’s Day campaign in Minneapolis:

Janice Barbee, Director of Healing Roots and Manager of Building the Field of Community Engagement at Nexus Community Partners, shared her experience working in community over the years in South Minneapolis and the various projects that the community has driven, created and sustained. One of these was the Backyard Initiative, an initiative driven by community members in partnership with Allina Health to create a healthier community in Minneapolis:

The session ended with powerful questions ranging from how to avoid burnout to suggestions for moving from a direct service organization to a social change organization. See below for the list of questions recorded and to listen to the full Q & A.*

1. How do we create shared ownership so communities remain engaged long-term?
2. (2:54) Does a network exist across organizations to build power and movement at systems levels?
3. (6:32) How do we transform direct service organizations into social change organizations?
4. (10:54) How do we avoid burnout?
5. (13:38) What tools or strategies do you use to engage and communicate with those most impacted by issues?
6. (16:43) How do you deal with institutional racism that forces us into silos?
7. (22:45) What advice do you have for people who are doing or want to do work in organizing or engagement?

*There was a question asked about how to deal with funders’ timelines when real engagement takes time; and unfortunately there was an error on the recorder during that portion of the Q & A. Our apologies!

On Thursday, October 9^th, over 90 people gathered at the Dakota Lodge at the Division of Indian Work to celebrate power in community and to welcome the new Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute (BCLI) fellows into the BCLI family. These 15 fellows will be the next group of advocate commissioners advancing racial equity and social justice through locally appointed boards and commissions. Meet the fellows here.

The theme of the night was centered on the Kenyan proverb, “Sticks in a Bundle are Unbreakable;” the idea that we are more powerful collectively than we are as individuals. A panel of two social justice leaders, State Representative Rena Moran and BCLI Alum Roxxanne O’Brien, shared their experiences advocating and advancing equity, while staying grounded in the community. Check out the event’s photo gallery here.

Five key themes emerged from the panelists as messages to the fellows and broader community:

Panelists

Being “in so deep, you can’t get out” – as a reminder to people who do community work that they do not have a choice because it affects them as individuals and their entire community; therefore, we share the collective responsibility to push for equity.
People come to the work where they are; no more, no less. People come to these decision-making tables with only their experiences and it is our job to educate them on differences of opinion, strategies and impacts on underrepresented communities.
Relationships, relationships, relationships. If we are not in the community, how will we know the pulse of our community? Being from underrepresented communities means we come to the work with these relationships and feel that pulse – therefore it is vital that we maintain those relationships to stay rooted and to uplift our communities together once we are on decision-making bodies.
One-on-ones are a powerful tool. The reality is that in Minnesota, we have very few leaders of color at the capital, in elected office, and on boards and commissions. In order to change policies and incorporate equity into systems and institutions, we must find common ground with current leaders to reach some agreements – and one-on-one conversations are very effective at sharing and learning about each other’s stories, values and vision.
We must break out of the matrix. Racial equity and social justice work can be exhausting – especially when caring for families, working one or multiple jobs, and also being expected to show up for rallies, meetings, events and/or one-on-ones. But in order to break the chain of systemic racism, we must show up and break out of the business-as-usual mode of operation. Look at what we can accomplish together in action – together we are unbreakable when we all realize our power and move collectively.

From the community members, to fellows, to alum, to the panelists and the organizers in the room – Nexus is looking forward to what we will accomplish together this year and to advancing racial equity and social justice in the Twin Cities region in the years to come.

We hope to see many of you at our upcoming Issue Series, which are open community events where we highlight the work of partners in the equity movement. Our first Issue Series will be on Organizing and Engagement on November 6, 2014, from 5:30-8pm at Gandhi Mahal in Minneapolis. Sign up to receive e-invitations three weeks prior to each event at www.nexuscp.org. Or contact the program associate, Angie Brown, for more information at abrown@nexuscp.org.

Developing Leaders to Advance an Equity Agenda: Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute Announces its Second Cohort!

Nexus Community Partners is pleased to announce the second cohort of the 2014-2015 Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute (BCLI). The 15 cohort members come from various communities in Minneapolis, St. Paul and the surrounding suburbs and bring a wealth of experience and knowledge working in community, non-profit and private sectors.

The BCLI will train and place these dynamic individuals onto publicly appointed boards and commissions in the Twin Cities. The fellows will have the capacity and community support to advance a regional equity agenda and serve as the next generation of leaders who are representative of, and accountable to, the region’s communities of color and other underrepresented populations. These fellows join a prestigious group of alumni, eight of whom serve on a current board or commission or at a high level policy position in government. Read more about our alumni here.

Nexus is proud to introduce this unique and powerful cohort and look forward to their futures as advocate commissioners and board members:

(Name, Nominating Organization)

Antrinita Wright, Neighborhood Leadership Program (NLP), Amherst H. Wilder Foundation
Carla Kohler, Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES)
Chamath Perera, Asian Economic Development Association (AEDA)
David Martinez, Wells Fargo Community Development Department
David Milton, Mastery Charter Schools / Harvest Education Network
Donna Evans, BCLI Alum
Emilia Gonzalez Avalos, Navigate MN
Falmata Bedasso, Oromo Community of MN
Jamez Staples, Community Elder
Leila Paye-Baker, Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity (HREEO), City of Saint Paul
Nasser Mussa, Oromo Community of MN
Sonya Lewis, AFSCME 3800
Suyapa Miranda, BCLI Alum
Tescil Mason-Kimmons, BCLI Alum
Yolonde Adams-Lee, MN Department of Human Services

Fellows were selected through a competitive nomination, interview and selection process led by a committee of six community members and BCLI alumni. The final cohort reflects a balance in race, gender identity, geography, issue area, experience and target boards and commissions. Read more about the fellows here.

We invite partners and community members to join us for the BCLI Launch Event on Thursday, October 9th from 5:30-8pm at the Dakota Lodge at the Division of Indian Work, 1001 E. Lake Street, Minneapolis, MN 55407. You’ll have a chance to meet our fellows and hear from a panel of long time local social justice leaders on the historical context and significance of people of color and other underrepresented communities joining boards and commissions. Panelists include State Representative Rena Moran, District 65A, and BCLI Alum Roxxanne O’Brien, Inaugural BCLI Cohort. Additional panelists to be announced.

RSVP for the 2014-15 BCLI Launch Event Here

For more information about the BCLI, the Launch Event, or ways to become involved, please contact the program associate, Ms. Angie Brown, at abrown@nexuscp.org, or program director, Ms. Terri Thao at tthao@nexuscp.org.

We are now targeting seats in Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Ramsey County and Saint Paul.

The deadline for submissions is Friday, July 18th by 12 midnight CST
The BCLI fellowship runs from October 2014 – April 2015

“We need to be running our own folks for seats by building power that pursues true democracy…We need to be developing leaders to be bold at those decision-making tables and to never leave their community behind. This is how we tell our own story. This is a story that tells everybody they can belong, and this is how we build our movement.”

Kandace Montgomery, BCLI ‘14

Why Apply?

Join a network of racial equity and social justice advocates influencing policy decisions on local and regional commissions.
Gain integrated perspectives on key local and regional racial equity and social justice issues: economic development, health equity, affordable housing, transit, and workforce development.
Participate in a facilitated learning community of trainers, advocate commissioners and elected officials who share best practices, lessons learned, and key concepts.
Learn commission skills like Parliamentary Procedure, media messaging, and municipal budgeting.

Download the full 2014-2015 Nomination Packet here.

Please note a change in nominations this year: Each organization and each BCLI alum may nominate only one candidate each year (see Page 5 of the Nomination Packet for more information).

Come to an upcoming Information Session!

Please RSVP to Angie Brown at abrown@nexuscp.org – please indicate which info session you plan to attend. Light refreshments will be provided.

Thursday, May 29^th 5:30-7pm at UROC: 2001 Plymouth Ave N, Minneapolis 55411
Thursday, June 5^th 9-10:30am at Hope Community Inc., 3^rd Floor Loft: 611 E. Franklin Ave, Minneapolis 55404
Tuesday, June 17^th 5:30-7pm at CLUES, McKnight Room: 797 7^th St. E., St. Paul 55106
Thursday, June 19^th 6:30-8pm at Brookdale Library, Room AB: 6125 Shingle Creek Parkway, Brooklyn Center 55430

Questions? Contact us:

Ms. Angie Brown
Program Associate
abrown@nexuscp.org
651-289-7029

Ms. Terri Thao
Program Director
tthao@nexuscp.org
651-379-0505

About the BCLI

Nexus’ Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute (BCLI) is a 7-month leadership program that supports, trains and places people of color and other underrepresented community members on publicly appointed boards and commissions that influence and impact equity in the Twin Cities Metro Area. Click here for more information about the BCLI.

Nexus Community Partners is proud to announce the graduation of our inaugural fellows from the Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute (BCLI)! Over 40 friends, family members, knowledge partners and supporters joined the celebration on Thursday, April 10th at the Minneapolis American Indian Center. We honored our twelve graduates as they move beyond the seven-month training toward placement and decision-making on local boards and commissions. Meet the graduates and see what boards and commissions they are seated on or targeting here.

13-14 BCLI Fellows

From left to right: Ilhan Omar, Abdirahman Muse, Cathy Jones, Naida Medicine Crow,
Kandace Montgomery, Maleta (Queen) Kimmons, Marsha Cressy,
Roxxanne O’Brien, Sammie Ardito Rivera
Not pictured: Cynthia Campos, Maggie Lorenz, Mee Cheng

Elder LeMoine LaPointe, who participated in the BCLI Launch Event, opened the graduation with a blessing alongside his two sons, Wakinyan and Thorne LaPointe, and relative Mi-zi-way Mi-gi-zi Desjarlait.

The graduation program featured a slideshow of the various activities of this year’s program, including photos from our Saturday training sessions, the October Program Launch and from the BCLI Thursday Night Issue Series. The fellows then got a chance to share their stories of what this program meant for them personally and for the broader equity movement in the Twin Cities.

From left to right: Kandace Montgomery, Roxxanne O’Brien, Ilhan Omar, Sammie Ardito Rivera

“[I am] part of a group called Advancing Women’s Voices where we gather and we talk about leadership and power within the Somali community and what it means for women to have a voice…We decided to all nominate each other for this [BCLI] and I luckily got picked,” said Ilhan Omar, who was appointed Senior Policy Aide to Council Member Andrew Johnson after beginning the BCLI.

Roxxanne O’Brien spoke about her success on the Minneapolis Citizen’s Environmental Advisory Committee: “It was really frustrating the first few months…being one of the only black women on the board and trying to bring forth my values and experiences…[Until recently, when] we just finally had a unanimous vote to pass equity language to the City Council and the Mayor, which would [bring] some options for floods or emergency situations in our communities that would reach people in poor communities – would reach people of color.”

“I want to see more unity amongst people of color to rise together to get what we need…I was really excited about the possibility [in the BCLI] to work across culture with people working on different issues…I was seated on the Homegrown Minneapolis Food Council this January…I’m glad to be able to expand my work of health and wellness and my knowledge about food systems and gardening within my own community, and larger systems change for all our communities,” shared Sammie Ardito Rivera.

Kandace Montgomery acknowledged that advancing equity through boards and commissions is but one strategy for systemic change: “It doesn’t stop at the city level. There are five legislators of color at the capitol…We need to be running our own folks for seats by building power that pursues true democracy…We need to be developing leaders to be bold at those decision-making tables and to never leave their community behind. This is how we tell our own story. This is a story that tells everybody they can belong, and this is how we build our movement.”

Check out the video of the graduation here, and the photo gallery here.

The graduates were gifted a Certificate of Graduation, as well as a signed copy of local activist and artist Ricardo Levins Morales’ work titled Wellstone Memorial that included a quote from the senator: “Significant social change comes from the bottom up, from an aroused opinion that forces our ruling institutions to do the right thing.”

Nexus President & CEO Repa Mekha concluded the event with the following remarks: “This is not about individuals, but about the power that comes when people from across cultures that have shared vision about change in this world weave themselves together, learn together, and commit together; that’s much more powerful than what any individual can ever do.”

The BCLI has prepared these leaders to serve as the next generation of appointed officials who are representative of, and accountable to, the region’s communities of color and other underrepresented populations – creating real demands and real change for our children, our community and the Twin Cities region.

BCLI staff would like to say a special THANK YOU to all of our funders, knowledge partners, training facilitators, guest speakers, Issue Series panelists, evaluators, nominators, fellows, selection committee members, and all of the BCLI community and family – thank you for all of your amazing work, and for helping with the development and implementation of this program! We couldn’t do this without you!

Keep an eye out for these upcoming 2014-2015 important dates! For more information about the BCLI, contact the program associate, Ms. Angie Brown, at abrown@nexuscp.org, or the program director, Ms. Terri Thao, at tthao@nexuscp.org.

From left to right: Ilhan Omar, Abdirahman Muse, Roxxanne O’Brien, Cathy Jones, Angie Brown, Kandace Montgomery, Repa Mekha, Maleta (Queen) Kimmons, Sammie Ardito Rivera, Marsha Cressy, Terri Thao
Not pictured: Cynthia Campos, Maggie Lorenz, Mee Cheng, Naida Medicine Crow

“Significant social change comes from the bottom up, from an aroused opinion that forces our ruling institutions to do the right thing.” Senator Paul Wellstone 1944-2002

The 2013-2014 Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute (BCLI) Issue Series came to a close with our final Issue Series on Thursday, March 6, 2014. Over 30 community members gathered at the Rondo Library in Saint Paul to discuss Health Equity in the Twin Cities with our panelists Antonia Wilcoxon, Director of Community Relations at the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) and Joo Hee Pomplun, Organizer of the Health Equity Working Committee (HEWC).

View the photo gallery here.

3.6 Health Equity Panel

We kicked off the event with the questions “What does ‘health’ mean to you?” and “What does ‘health equity’ mean to you?” After discussing in small groups, our panelists elaborated on their work in health equity and how it is connected to racial equity in their work and how their work is poised to capitalize on the assets of communities of color in the broader equity movement.

Ms. Wilcoxon shared that “We cannot make these decisions or arrive at some findings here in the absence of the very people that we are talking about because they are not here at the table to speak for themselves.”

Ms. Pomplun shared: “One thing that I’ve always really questioned is the State and however many agencies and institutions keep asking: ‘How do we solve these racial disparities; how do we solve these problems?’ But then they go back into their institutions and … think about it, and do their own little think-tank in their institutions. But the answer is in the community… There is so much readiness, so much passion, so much desire to be out there leading policy, making policy, making the changes that we want to see happen that will benefit our communities to create and advance the equity that is needed and necessary…”

The ensuing discussion centered around involvement of communities of color not only in advisory roles to local government – like the Cultural and Ethnic Communities Leadership Council that Ms. Wilcoxon facilitates – but also as the decision-makers and policy shapers, as Ms. Pomplun shared with her work helping draft a bill to amend a health related tax that would impact communities of color and LGBTQ communities.

The panelists closed by sharing some recommendations on how each of us can incorporate health equity into our own work, as well as ways to become an active member in local decision-making processes around health and health equity.

Check out the full audio recording of our panelists (41:56):

For more information about the BCLI, check out our website and join our listserv to get updates on upcoming events.

We look forward to seeing everyone this November for the beginning of our 2014-2015 BCLI Issue Series!

Antonia Wilcoxon
Director of Community Relations
Department of Human Services (DHS)

“That generated a process in which we created – I say we, but it was really the collective of both state employees which were in a smaller number than the cultural communities – a series of recommendations for the agency [DHS] to undertake… [including] that our agency did not hire the people who look like the people we served, so the agency changed its affirmative action goals to develop some goals for minority hire. Another concern was the fact that as an agency we knew very little about the community we serve, so they really recommended some anti-racism training which the senior leadership went through and they learned how much we excluded the community that we serve, and made some actions to make sure that we include more individuals affected by the disparities in the planning and development of the policies. The Cultural and Ethnic Communities Leadership Council was created and passed into law this past legislative session with the purpose of advising the commissioner of human services on disparities reduction.”

Joo Hee Pomplun
Organizer
Health Equity Working Committee (HEWC)

“It’s so fantastic to have Antonia at DHS, because she is just such a champion and internal person to connect with to understand how the culture works, who to talk to, and just to help us navigate and message what we see as the barriers to the disparity reduction happening at DHS.

…

“[As part of a leadership institute I’m a part of for leaders of color and LGBTQ leaders in policy] we offered… a complimentary bill to this tax [a tax that largely affects communities of color and LGBTQ communities] and we wanted to bring some equity to that tax that would bring some of those resources back into our communities that would bring some benefits and reduce the impact of that tax… None of us ever did a bill before…but Senator Hayden was really fantastic and helped us walk through it and Senator Dibble as well…There is power. There is desire. There is passion. It’s just a matter of us taking those opportunities to do it.”

On February 6th, over 65 community members packed the BCLI Issue Series at the McKnight Foundation to engage in learning and honest discussion about the “Intersection of Equity, Transit and Affordable Housing in the Twin Cities.”

The panel included Owen Duckworth, Coalition Organizer for the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability, Margaret Kaplan, Community Development Director of Minnesota Housing, and Wynfred Russell, Executive Director of African Career, Education & Resource, Inc. The panelists began the conversation by sharing their work in transit and affordable housing through an organizing, nonprofit and systems approach. (Click on the links below to hear each speaker’s segment of the panel. Click here to view the photo gallery).

The speakers focused on several themes, including: the need to have a greater racial equity analysis within organizations and at the systems and institutional levels; the need for more leaders championing and implementing equitable strategies; the need for continuous community engagement; and the need for established communities of color to share their lessons with the new immigrant communities.

These issues are extremely important to Nexus, and for the region, as critical decisions are being made on investments in transportation and affordable housing. It is imperative to ensure that communities benefit from these opportunities, especially given the historical and continued discrimination against communities of color and low-wealth communities. The audience raised some valid and difficult questions including: What makes white, middle-class educated people qualified to make decisions for low-wealth people of color with the lived experiences of inaccessibility to transit and affordable housing? Why aren’t community members with the lived experiences considered the experts and therefore represented on panels such as these?

These are themes that Nexus is familiar with and we work on ensuring that people (majority communities of color and low-wealth) who live these experiences actually inform the decisions that are being made at the systems level and are considered experts. Through the BCLI Issue Series, Nexus is intentional about creating shared spaces where community members and organizers, as well as policymakers and systems representatives, can build relationships and honestly address equity issues in our region. By engaging leaders from all levels of the decision-making process, our collective power to advance equity becomes stronger – and the voices of those impacted by decisions around affordable housing, transit-expansion, jobs, and education can become the voices at the decision-making tables for these issues.

We appreciate the feedback from all attendees regarding suggestions for making these shared spaces stronger and more resourceful – as that is the ultimate goal of the BCLI Issue Series. The suggestions included inviting the BCLI fellows and community members to sit on the panel, clearly defining equity, exploring the divisions between different cultural and ethnic groups in equity work, and many others that will help inform our final Issue Series event on March 6th, as well as the Issue Series for the 2014-2015 BCLI program year.

Click on the below links to hear each speaker’s segment of the panel.

___________________________________________________________________

Owen Duckworth
Coalition Organizer
Alliance for Metropolitan Stability

“As many people who’ve done work on statewide coalitions or issue advocacy coalitions, there’s a real tension at the heart of a lot of these issues especially when it comes to racial equity issues…A lot of the issue advocacy organizations in our state or in our region are not led by people of color, are not necessarily based in an analysis that leads with race equity…There’s also a challenge…when building these coalitions…there’s a number of players that need to be at the table. Not all of them share a racial equity analysis – that’s an understatement. Many of them are literally turned off by the conversation around race…that’s a tension that’s there. But again for the Alliance [for Metropolitan Stability] – we put racial equity in front and center of our mission and hold that lens wherever we go. It’s a challenge again to how we think about building power within, for our member organizations, for our own organization and for communities on the ground.”

Owen Duckworth

Margaret Kaplan
Community Development Director
Minnesota Housing

“One of the things that I think has helped us along the way [of determining and implementing processes for supporting affordable housing] is some really strong leadership – both within our organization itself, with our commissioner Mary Tingerthol – deciding that equity, that community engagement, that engaging with communities in different ways and having voices at the table in different ways as we are making our decisions was something that we care about even if we didn’t know how to do it. And then also I think particularly when you look at the Twin Cities region, having some very strong leaders who are increasingly coming together and thinking about the way that we talk about equity and the way that we talk about disparities and the connection that equity and public investments have with each other in a more coordinated way. I think that helps us make changes in the work that we do.”

Margaret Kaplan

Wynfred Russell
Executive Director
African Career, Education & Resource, Inc.

“The Northwest suburbs are the new frontier…Brooklyn Center is 51-49, it’s the only majority minority city in the state. But if you would look at the representation, the elected officials there, it would give you a completely different picture – even the folks that work at city hall would give you a completely different picture…Brooklyn Park [population] is officially 48% minority…But Brooklyn Park has less than 2% people of color that work at the city and zero on the city council…The organization that I work with [African Career, Education & Resource (ACER) has] been trying to build relationships, build bridges all across the board…Our primary target audience is African immigrants, African Americans and all the minority groups…For some of us who have been fortunate to work with institutions like the U of M and other places, we know what needs to happen; we know some of the deficits that exist in some of these mainstream organizations. So we try to serve as a bridge to connect our community, the larger minority community, with a lot of these mainstream institutions and say okay, how can you help us? We’ve identified the needs, how can you help us deliver to our folks?”

Wynfred Russell

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