Community provides ideas for new Northside identity at Town Hall meetings

Next meeting to be held Saturday, July 14

The Northside Marketing Task Force (NMTF) has been holding public meetings to get inspiration for developing a new North Minneapolis community identity. The process has been fun and interesting where participants break into small groups to summarize the community's personality by identifying the physical assets and emotional benefits of North Minneapolis. The emphasis is on the positive side of community life. Thanks to Top Diner and PCYC for hosting our first two meetings. The next meeting is Saturday, July 14 at 10am at North Regional Library (1315 Lowry Ave.). Future evening meetings will be held:

• Thursday, July 19, 6-8pm - Harrison Park, 503 Irving Ave. No.
• Thursday, July 26, 7-9pm - Webber Park, 4400 Dupont Ave. No.
• Monday, July 30, 7-9pm - Minneapolis Urban League, 2100 Plymouth Ave. No.

For more information, contact stories@northminneapolis.com.

Strategic Partnership Builds Bridges to Opportunity

"A Strategy for North Minneapolis: Retail, Industrial/Office and Workforce," the Northside Neighborhood Alliance (NNA)'s economic market scan for the entire North Minneapolis area, is now available online by clicking on this link. The scan provides vital information that will help move North Minneapolis into the spotlight as a viable place for economic prosperity.

The next NNA meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 31 at 6pm at NorthWay Community Trust, 1501 W. Broadway Ave. NNA is looking for additional community input to determine priorities and identify opportunities for economic development of the region. If you are interested in helping shape the future of North Minneapolis, contact Lance Knuckles at 612-521-4500 or via email.

Getting our stories straight

Adam Hankins, a Carlson School of Management marketing graduate student, will review media coverage of North Minneapolis for NMTF. Hankins comes to the Task Force through the University's Office for Business & Community Economic Development MTAP program for non-profit organizations. This review will assess the images and stories about our community currently in the media. After the new marketing campaign is underway, we will conduct more reviews to see if media coverage changes as a result of our new messages. For more information about NMTF, contact our new email address: stories@northminneapolis.com.

Predatory investment study underway

The Northside Neighborhood Alliance (NNA) and NorthWay are conducting a study of predatory investment practices that have hurt North Minneapolis neighborhoods. The first stage involved interviews with neighborhood residents, housing experts and elected officials to determine what problems people have already identified. Alyssa Erickson, the CURA intern working on this project, has met with dozens of people since starting in early June. An interesting finding is that there are 70 individuals who owned three or more foreclosed properties on the Northside in 2005-07 (one individual owned 11 foreclosed properties). This accounted for 371 foreclosures or about 18% of all those foreclosed in that period. An advisory committee (Anne McCandless, Jerry Moore, Brandon Nessen, Nelima Sitati, Jeff Skrenes, Dorothy Titus and Georgianna Yantos) will choose specific topics for further investigation at its July 9 meeting. For more information contact Alyssa Erickson at research.northwaycom@gmail.com.

Evaluation Advisors providing guidance

NorthWay's Evaluation Advisory Group has met several times to provide staff with advice on asking the right questions to determine the success of NorthWay's mission to reduce poverty and increase community wealth. The group suggested several ways to evaluate efforts to increase financial literacy and promote individual wealth creation. Over the next months, the group will review all NorthWay's existing and proposed initiatives to propose ideas. For more information, contact Allan Malkis, NorthWay's Research & Evaluation Program Manager.

Investing in youth has good community return

April 27, 2007, marked the beginning of a new era where youth are valued as equal partners in building community-based partnerships. That's when 20 young adults, trained in group facilitation, helped lead the Northside Youth Development Collaborative's "Investing in North Minneapolis Youth" event. The event brought more than 70 youth and adults together with leaders of business, philanthropy, higher education and community-based organizations. The meeting produced much dialogue, thought and energy that will result in a community report to provide practical solutions and outcomes for youth and youth-serving organizations. The collaborative is currently undertaking strategic planning to ensure that its work hits the mark and legitimizes youth leadership. For more information or to find ways you can contribute to this effort, email Jawad Towns at Jawad.Towns@co.hennepin.mn.us.

NorthWay supports a new, innovative family-centered initiative

NorthWay Family Project, a new partnership between Minneapolis Employment and Training Program, Hennepin County Human Services and Public Health Department, Minneapolis Public Schools and NorthWay, will assist youth from disadvantaged and low-income families in North Minneapolis to obtain work-based life skills, and earn a wage while gaining confidence and strengthening connections back to the school the youth attends. This is a new concept of reaching an entire family with employment, coaching sessions and a potential career path. The initial goal is to systematically change the lives of 200 families through family-centered employment and training programs. For more information, contact NorthWay's Outreach Program Manager Lance Knuckles, 612-521-4500.