Minnesota Center for Neighborhood Organizing

What Is MCNO?

 

Click here for more MCNO Videos

Redistricting In Minneapolis

The results of Minneapolis redistricting are in. Find out more about the demographic shifts in Minneapolis city council wards:

Minneapolis Redistricting

 

Come Join CURA for the 5th Annual Neighborhood Smackdown!
Thursday August 11th, 4:00 to 7:00 pm
The McKnight Foundation
710 South Second Street, Suite 400
Minneapolis, MN

Food! Fun! Wrestling Belts! Beer!
A Great Event for Everyone Who Cares About Neighborhood Organizing

There are 364 ordinary days every year and then there is Neighborhood Smackdown! Come watch our valiant contestants as they share their stories of neighborhood organizing and outreach.

The event is free and is open to everyone: board members, staff members, volunteers, youth leaders, community developers, foundations, nonprofits, and allies. If you care about neighborhood organizing, this event is for you!

The McKnight Foundation is generously hosting this event, which includes a barbecue overlooking the Mississippi River – a great time to network.

If you have any questions contact Margaret Kaplan at 612-624-2300 or mkaplan@umn.edu
Please RSVP to Renee Richie at: 612-333-4220 or rrichie@mcknight.org

 

Neighborhood Volunteer Training!

WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 7:00 P.M.
SAINT OLAF CHURCH
2901 EMERSON AVE N. MINNEAPOLIS

The Minnesota Center for neighborhood Organizing is offering in-depth training for neighborhood volunteers.

The training gives participants the opportunity to get individual direct hands-on help for specific neighborhood projects. Do you need to get more people involved in your organization? Raise funds for a project? Clean up a problem property or close down a drug house? Organize a well-run and energized neighborhood meeting? Do outreach to immigrants in your community? You can get help for your project at this training.

This in-depth graining is designed to help volunteers learn organizing fundamentals and apply them effectively to their community groups. The training combines comprehensive coverage of organizing basics, trainings individually tailored to the individual needs of each volunteer and group, long-term follow-through, and group support from fellow neighborhood volunteers

The training will take place once a week on Wednesdays for five weeks. The first topic will be RECRUITING VOLUNTEERS. Other topics will be chosen by the participants and can include such areas as:

*Leadership development
*grassroots and foundation fundraising
*running effective meetings
*Media and communication
*Issues Identification and Organizing
*Organizing under-represented groups
*research

If you are interested in participating, or have questions, call Jay
Clark at 612-625-2513, clark037@umn.edu

 

Broadway School Students featured on MPR

CURA is working with students from the Broadway School who are working together for better conditions and to get credit for classes that they completed last year. Broadway Schhol students were featured in a story on MRP:

Broadway students caught in the middle of credit fiasco

To find out more contact Jay Clark at 612-625-2513.

 

HUD Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Community Meeting

February 23rd, 6:30 pm

Harrison Recreation Center

503 Irving Avenue S.

Are you concerned about having a voice in the future of your community? Our region will more than double its transit system in the next 10 to 20 years. Do you want a safe, healthy, affordable neighborhood with access to a regional transit system, affordable housing, jobs, education and economic development?

Come join the discussion on your experiences in community engagement and the ways that you can be involved in shaping the future of our region. The Community Engagement Team will give an update and ask foryour feedback on ourwork andthe proposed formation of a regional Community Engagement Team Working Group.

Your voice and input on our work is important to us!

Any questions? Contact Margaret Kaplan at 612-624-2300

 

 

Information and Resources about Proposed Changes to NRP

The City of Minneapolis recently proposed changes to the NRP program. CURA is working on putting together maps and resources for organizations and individulas who want to find out more about the proposal. Click here to navigate to our resource page.

 

 

Twin Cities Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Gets the Green Light!

Recently the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that the Twin Cities region, led by the Metropolitan Council, was awarded a 3-year, $5 million grant from the Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant program.

The goal of the grant is to help the Met Council and other regional stakeholders "build on existing regional planning efforts to advance multi-modal transportation choices with access to jobs and housing, transit- and pedestrian-friendly development, environmental preservation and energy efficiency." This is one of the first initiatives to emerge from the Obama administration's Interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities , which joins HUD, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to promote collaboration that leads to planning for more livable communities.

The Minnesota Center for Neighborhood Organizing (MCNO) will work in cooperation with the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability and Nexus Community Partners to lead the Community Engagement Team (CET). The CET will work with community based organizations, community members, and government agencies to ensure increased participation and decision making in developing and implementing a long range vision for the region by populations traditionally marginalized in public planning processes, particularly immigrant communities, communities of color, and low-income communities. The work will include working in cooperation with project partners to develop guidelines and principles of effective engagement, as well as creating recommendations and criteria for investment in community engagement activities. The goal is to support the work of community stakeholders so that they have the information and resources necessary to be a meaningful part of the decision making process about their own communities.  None of the Community Engagement Team partners (MCNO, The Alliance and Nexus) will receive any funding from the HUD grant.

Make sure to check here for regular updates about the project including upcoming events and resources. 

For more information contact Margaret Kaplan at 612-624-2300 or mkaplan@umn.edu

 

 

 

Hmong and Latino Youth Soccer Organizing Featured on MPR!

For community organizers, soccer is an ice-breaker

Check our the link to the MPR article with the audio of the story.

Click here for more information, or contact Yia Yang at 612-625- 5584.

 

Does your organization have a news item, event, or story about community organizing that you want to share? Contact Margaret Kaplan at 612-624-2300 or mkaplan@umn.edu and we will include it on our site!