Q&A with Nan Madden on the state budget

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Nan Madden is the director of the Minnesota Budget Project at the MN Council of Nonprofits. Staff there have been busy tracking budget proposals at the legislature and figuring out just how these bills would impact Minnesota the communities the council of nonprofits serve.  Here’s what she had to say about how deep budget cuts would impact Minnesota.    I’ve heard you advocate for a “balanced approach” to the state budget. Where do you see room for compromise at the legislature?[Laughs] This is too big of a problem for an “either, or” solution. We’re going to have to do some things on the revenue side and some on the cutting side. Continue Reading

The New Normal in the neighborhoods: Is the sky falling or isn’t it?

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Meeting at a McDonalds and a bank, an art gallery, and a couple neighborhood councils, we asked participants in the first round of “New Normal” community conversations where their neighborhoods should most focus their resources and energy.Consumer spending is down, unemployment is still up. It’s looking likely that cities are going to take a whacking in the state budget this year, and so are social services organizations that often deal with disparate issues like health, education, family services, and transportation. All these issues, judging by our community conversations, are also fundamentally neighborhood issues.Though times are still tough, most participants in our conversations just didn’t buy that that there will be permanent disinvestment to their neighborhoods, though they agree there may be serious short-term challenges. Many did admit other long-term trends, like an aging population and the need for new sources of energy, would certainly affect the way their neighborhoods operated in the long term. Support of local economy and business development When asked what his neighborhood’s priorities should be, one West Side resident answered, “Local. Continue Reading

Join the conversation on the state budget

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The Twin Cities Daily Planet’s series, The New Normal: Deciding Community Priorities in a Downsized Economy, tackles a different issue each month. In April we’re talking about the state budget. We’re asking people in the Twin Cities: “As the legislature and governor clash over a taxes and spending, what should our priorities be for the state budget?” Come to a Community Conversation! Come meet neighbors over snacks and coffee, exchange ideas and wrestle with some hard choices. Continue Reading

The New Normal on the ground in South Minneapolis: Q&A with Silivia Pérez Sánchez

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Silvia Pérez Sánchez is fond of saying that since God has given her the gift of organizing, she’d better do something with it. And that she has. Pérez Sánchez has been gaining momentum in her efforts to organize Latina women in Powderhorn Park and Corcoran neighborhoods in Minneapolis. A resident of Powderhorn Park and a community organizer at Corcoran Neighborhood Organization, she’s developed a community garden, turned out Latinos for neighborhood events, and trained women in her Latina women’s group, Mujeres en Acción y Poder (Women in Action and Power). Here she talks about safety, youth involvement, beautification and other challenges facing the two neighborhoods.

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New Normal on the ground in North Minneapolis: Q&A with Rowena Holmes

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Longtime North Side resident Rowena Holmes has gotten to know her neighbors better than most. As a crime prevention specialist, she’s been a liaison between community members and the Minneapolis Police Department’s 4th Precinct for 20 years. Holmes says her background in social services has helped her work on neighborhood livability issues in the North Side. She has intervened in neighborly disputes, been summoned to drug houses and notified of youth acting out on the streets. Then there’s the good stuff: She’s knocked on doors and dined with neighbors, attended pot-lucks and organized National Night Outs, and trained block club leaders. Continue Reading