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Home My WebLink AboutSeptember 13, 2000CiTY OF COLUMBIA HEIGHTS 590 40Th AVENUE N.E., COLUMBIA HEIGHTS~ MN 55421-3878 (612) 782-2800 TDD 782-2806 HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION MEETING WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2000 7:00 pm OSTRANDER ROOM, MURZYN HALL 530 MILL STREET NE 2. 3. 4. 5. o If you are unable to attend, please contact Shelley at 706-3614. Call to Order Appoint Recording Secretary for Meeting. Roll Call Approval of Minutes from May 10, 2000 Commission Meeting Old Business A. Recap of Joint Meeting with Fridley Human Resources Commission held July 13, 2000. B. Discussion regarding "Taste of Columbia Heights" C. Other Old Business New Business A. Furore Activities of the Commission B. Future Meeting Dates of Commission C. Other New Business 7. Adjournment The City of Columbia Heights does not discriminate on the basis of disability in the admission or access to, or treatment or employment in, its services, programs, or activities. Upon request, accommodation will be provided to allow individuals with disabilities to participate in all City of Columbia Heights' services, programs, and activities. Auxiliary aids for handicapped persons are available upon request when the request is made at least 96 hours in advance. Please call the Deputy City Clerk at 706-3611, to make arrangements. (TDD 706-3692 for deaf or hearing impaired only). THE CITY OF COLUMBIA HEIGHTS DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE ON THE BASIS OF DISABILITY IN EMPLOYMENT or THE PROVISION OF SERVICES EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER CITY OF COLUMBIA HEIGHTS TO: FROM: DATE: SUBJECT: HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION MEMBERS A ]~~ LINDA MAGEE, ASSISTANT TO THE CITY MAN SEPTEMBER 5, 2000 UPCOMING MEETING The next meeting of the Human Services Commission will be Wednesday, September 13, 2000. Enclosed is the agenda packet. I will be unable to attend the meeting, as I will be out of town. Attached is a listing of Commission Members as requested at our last meeting. Also attached are copies of the materials provided by Tammy Schmitz during her presentation at the May 10, 2000 Commission meeting. Best wishes for a productive meeting! LLM/sh HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION The purpose of the Human Services Commission is to aid and advise the Council in the promotion of equal opportunity in employment, housing, public accommodations, public services, education and other affairs that affect the social well being of the citizens of the City of Columbia Heights. The Commission is composed of nine members who are residents of the City and are at least 18 years of age. Members shall serve three year terms. One City Council Member shall serve as the Commission liaison. Antionette LaMere 1375 Pierce Terrace h572~0270 Term expires April 2001 Joe Sturdevant 4848 Seventh Street N.E. h572-8601 Term exprres in April 2002 Barbara Karol 1400 46th Avenue N.E. h574-0466 Term expires April 2001 Sean Clerkin 509 Mill Street N.E. h788-2677 Term expires April 2003 Gloria Holcomb 3919 Ulysses Street NE h782-2197 Tem~ expires April 2002 Tammy Dempsey 1253 Circle Terrace h781-7385 Tem~ expires April 2003 Julie Wesley 4141 3rd Street #102 h782-7564 Term expires April 2002 Barb Hogan 3937 Ulysses Street NE h788-4533 Term expires April 2003 Roger Peterson 4113 Quincy Street NE h788-5589 Term expires April 2003 Julienne Wyckoff 4261 Reservoir Boulevard h788-3465 City Council Liaison Staff Contact: Linda Magee, Assistant to the City Manager Patty Muscovitz, Deputy City Clerk 706-3609 706-3611 Meets quarterly on the second Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. at Murzyn Hall Communications from Dick Little of Community Circle Project .... I called Mr. Little on Thursday, Feb. 25 and explained the school district's interest in joining our city in discussions which wouldv,'o,~,""°;*;'"'h','~l.~ ~,~v,,,~; .... , ,h,,~,,~ new diversity in our community. He suggested that other topics such as housing or education sometimes can help lead to discussions about diversity the round about, but more comfortable way for people who are still getting to know each other. Helping people make personal comnections that last is the big goal. The following cities and organizations have or are currently engaged in the Cmmnunity Circle process and seem to be show4ng results oriented processes: Bloomington, Richfield, Frogtown and WMEP When I asked Dick for contacts with/n these groups which may be able to help us finemne the process up front, he strongly suggested we speak with individuals within the Hmnan Rights Cowanission both in Bloomington and Richfield. Bloomington's Community Circle has put together a power point presentation they are using to make an impact at the City Council and School Board level. He felt R/chfie!d had made strong moves to positive actions,too. In Frogtown, the community Circles brought Hmong people out into the ciBr on a noticeable basis permanently. He felt that process helped the Hmong community feel more at ease asking for help when needed colnpared to their past practice of keeping painful situations to themselves. It also gave them a better sense of ownership in the city. WMEP is currently hosting a circle which pulls in staff, parents, students,etc, to discuss diversity. Community Circles can facilitate for us, work with our own facilitator or just let us use their materials. They have study guides on different topics pertinent to cities and schools,etc. Collaboration is the key--discussion, not argument. The goal is to move people to action from these groups. Bloomington contacts: Human Rights Commission--- 6!,~,~8~,,733 ~ e ~ ,~,~nera~ Office #: ~ o~ ~ 6,,-~94~-~,955 Anne Moening or the ~ ~ Richfield contacts: Human Rights Commission--- 6 ! 2~866~6168 Comn/e McDonald Summer 1999 o Vol. 6, No. 3 Do we avoid talking about the experience of race and racism in our community? This spring, Community Matters set out to find out who is talking and thinking about race and racism and which individuals and organizations are contributing to this personal and public conversation. Throughout our corn munity, people are struggling to overcome prejudices and biases, taking risks to speak out against injustice, and organizing with others to combat racism and promote cultural pluralism. In this issue of Community Matters, stories of innovative community initiatives and personal commitments from across the metropolitan region are shared. Yes, much work is yet *~ be done to dismantle racism imbedded in our public policies and institutions. But the commitment behind this ongoing work deserves to be recognized and acknowledged. Through these efforts, we will become a stronger and healthier community that values and utilizes the assets of all our residents. In This Issue FACE TO FACE: Public Dialogue on Race, Connections and Commitment ................ 3-7 Is "Race" a Valid Concept? ...................... 5 Discovering Common Ground .................. 8-9 Persona/Reflection Feeling Guilty for Being American 10 Guidelines for Multicultural Collaboration .......... 11 Reliving Cultural History ..................... 12-13 Underground Convert ......................... 13 Personal Reflection Taking a Stand: Without Struggle, There is No Progress ........................ 14 Frogtown Pluralism Circle: Our Diversity is our Greatest Asset ......................... 15 Breakfast Club ............................ 16-17 A Personal Experience with the Breakfast Club ....... 16 Breakfast Club Discussion Topics ................. 17 Jewish Community Action ...................... 18 Persona/Reflection Overcoming Fears ............ 19 Macalester College Dismantling Racism Group Opens Minds and Hearts .......................... 20 Twin Cities Healing the Heart of America 2000 Offers Hope ................... 21 Moving Beyond Dialogue: What are the Most Powerful Steps That Could Help Our Community Work Together Across Cultural and Racial Differences ................ 22 Saint Paul New Americans Advisory Committee: A Forum for Immigrant Issues ................. 23 Community Circle Dialogues: Reflection and Action on Education, Housing and Race in the Twin Cities ........................ 24-25 Personal Reflection Daring to be Different ........ 26 Trainings, Workshops, Conferences and Forums ...... 27 FACE TO FACE: Public Dialogue on Race, Connections, and Commitment by David Hennessey The 1999 C/ties at Work public forum series entitled Unleashing the Power of Our Community: A Public Dialogue on Race, Connections, and Commitment, is taking steps to engage Saint Paul citizens in understanding and tackling the complex impacts of racism both in our city and the Twin Cities metropolitan region. Small groups of residents are meeting all over the city this spring, summer, and fall in community circle dialogues and public forums to talk about the impacts of racial and eco- nomic segregation on housing, education, and race. Over 700 people have been invoived in the forums and community circle dialogues since March. What's the relevance of all this talk? Why do we need to continue dialogue about racism in both its personal and institutional forms? Why is it important to tap into and celebrate the cultural diversity of our community? continued on next page Excerpted from Talking Race, an essay by john powell, Executive Director of the Institute on Race and Poverty at the University of Minnesota Law School. Reprinted with permission from Hungry Mind Review, Number Forty-Five, Spring 1998. Community Matters ~ Summer 1999 "America has had a dialogue about race for some time," says Melvin Giles, Facilitator at Catholic Charities in Frogtown. "That's good, but we need a dialogue on racism too. Race is still in the head, but racism goes to the heart. People need to know the burden of pain I (as a Black American) and other people of color carry living in this society. Once people acknowl- edge that pain, the burden can begin to transform from a heavy and para- lyzing struggle to a lighter and healing journey of more understanding and more trust, more peace and less stress. It becomes a shared journey. I can feel light as a feather, as if I'm being carried by the wisdom and knowledge of my mentors and ances- tors. If I have less stress and worry, I can hear their voices. But many peo- ple have so much pain and feel so belittled that they can't even hear the voice of the person next to them." Sonia Alvarez - President of AIvarez Communications, a management consulting firm - says we must continue to address racism because it remains with us in ways that many people don't even see. "Most white people think of racism as deliberate acts against people on the basis of their race," she says. "However, if you ask people of color to define racism, their definition is far more inclusive. Examples include being asked for three forms of ID after the white per- son in line ahead of you is not asked for them or steering people of color into fields requiring less aptitude in math or science. "Many of these acts are subconscious. Many well-meaning people offend, demean and oppress people of color without even knowing it. The only way to reveal the impact of these behaviors is to talk about it - candidly and mutually." continued on page 6 Pain shared, pain divided Pain shared is pain divided. What I've learned from listening to children is that hurt people go out and hurt people. The pain we see in our communities is the grief nobody wants to talk about. It turns to anger. The anger turns to rage. The rage turns to violence, ~nd violence can go in two directions: outward toward the communivy or inward toward ourselves. So there is no judging who .has the most pain; there is just helping each other share the load. -- Adult man Is "Race" a Valid Concept? Editor's note: The following article first appeared in Community Matters, Fall 1997. Is "race" a valid concept? Michael Omi, Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, has noted: "...most scientists feel that racial classifications are meaningless and unscientific. Professor Kenneth Kennedy of Cornell University is quoted as saying: 'In the social sense, race is a reality. In the scientific sense, it is not.'"* Omi discusses several problems with the notion of race, espe- cially as it is codified in current census categories. Just two examples: the categories are based on the need of agencies to have objective data about the very subjective notion of one's identity; and categories, such as "Asian American," that lump together whole continents of 'cultures, languages and historic differences are of questionable use. Some people point out that dividing groups by "race" is a convenient way for the culture in power to control those groups. "i tell funders that too many times we have to go after says Colin Wesaw, Education Specialist at Wilder Forest. "That just keeps us more segregated. We all have the same problems but have to chase after separate pots of money." Shem Shakir, Executive Director of the Frogtown Action Alliance, also notes how much Americans segregate groups by perceived racial or ethnic differences. "Only in America do we do that," he says. "1 believe we do it to keep the different ethnic tribes divided. We need to get away from the 'race issue' and simply address things as citizens." Is "race" a valid concept? Perhaps the Metropolitan Council answers that best in introductory remarks to a publi- cation on demographic trends in minority populations: "...racial analysis is in itself a -racist activity. It groups people by race and compares overall .statistics that generalize charac- teristics for the group as a Whole. The purposes may be Worthwhile, but categorizing, generalizing and analyzing peo- ple perpetuates viewing them. not as individuals, but as mem- Community Matters O Summer 1999 bers of a group, possessing char- acteristics one believes to apply to that group. "What makes race a 'reality' is that people often act on what they believe are racial distinc- tions...Data by race would not merit much attention if it weren't for the legacy of racism..." ** O References: "Racial Identity and the State: The Dilemmas of Classification," remarks delivered by Michael Omi at the forum, Race and Poverty: Our Private Obsession, Our Public Sin, October 13, 1995, spon- sored by The Institute on Race and Poverty, University of Minnesota Law School. "Minority Population Distribution Trends in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area." Metropolitan Council, October 1993. (651) 291-6359. Continued from page 4 Some people add that we must dis- cuss these issues because they also have broader implications - that racism is only one example of how systematic belittling can lead to seri- ous problems. "1 believe that we all feel oppression...and at different times, we all can become oppressors," says Ed Irwin, Manager of Youth Development Programming at Wilder Forest, who helps run historical simulations for youth (See article, page 8). "We need to liberate ourselves by recognizing our com- mon humanity and by empathizing with each other. In Littleton, Colorado, you had two young men who felt oppression in a certain way but did not have the ability to be empa- thetic with other peo- ple around them. So they lost their humanity." Many point out that dealing with racism is only one part of a broader need to embrace cultural differences. "We have significant differences in our population whether these differ- ences are of socioeconomic, religious or ethnic origin," says Pixie Martin, a communications consultant. "It's those differences we need to talk about." Human Relations Consultant Jim McDonnough is a member of the Frogtown Pluralism Circle, a multi- ethnic and multi-agency neighbor- hood group that has been meeting for over two years to counter racism and cultivate a pluralistic neighborhood. (See article, page 15.) "The demo- graphics of Saint Paul are changing," he says. "Frogtown, for instance, went from a neighborhood of European Americans to one with many African Americans and now many Hmong as well. The Pluralism Circle feels it's important to welcome the new people rather than react fear- fully to the changes." The group looks for positive ways to bring different cultural groups in the neighborhood together. Giles, who also meets with the Pluralism Circle, agrees that racism is one part of the discussion of cultural diversity. "Undoing racism is about owning up to what has been done to Native Americans, Mexican Americans, African Americans and others, and liberating us from the injustice of sys- tematic racism," he says. "But many of the newer immigrant groups come from countries where discrimination is based on class rather than race." That means, he says, that discussions about cultural diversity focusing on new immigrants can sometimes divert needed attention from discussions about racism. "It will only be a temporary diversion provided we keep dialoguing. The gift of dialoguing is that the newer folks get to see the similarities of their experience to others' experiences and vice versa." This brings greater understand- ing and true honoring of our diversities. Martin emphasizes that promoting cultural diversity is simply fol- lowing a strong American tradition. "That is one of the strengths of this country," she says. "The immigrant experience is not some- thing that has hap- pened and is finished -it continues. We aren't perfect at it, but compared to almost any other place in the world, we are the only country so open to immigrants." She also notes that many immigrant communities, along with the African American and Native American com- munities, "come from collectivist cul- tures'' that can teach us about build- ing community relationships. "Our tra- ditional American individualism takes us only so far, and we now see how much know-how we lack in creating a sustained village. We can learn about interaction from these more collective- based communities." Alvarez agrees that promoting cultural diversity will tap into the experience of all peoples to help solve community- wide problems. "If we fail to tap into all of the rich resources we have available to us, through other human beings, we are not maximizing our potential as a society. The only way to solve the prob- lems of the whole is to engage the whole in the solution...New insights to old problems are critical to avoid making the same mistakes over and over again." For McDonnough, who has participat- ed in a community circle dialogue in Frogtown, listening to new immi- grants tell their stories reconnected him with his personal family history. judge its cover I used to live in Saint Paul and now Z live in Woodbury. After we moved out there I found a job. When ~ told people' [at work~ where I was from, they automatically thought that I was a thug, was in a gang and might rob the place. Nobody has ever thought that wa~, about me before. I thought it was weird. -- Teen woman "1 felt that as a first generation prod- uct of immigrants, I was removed from the immigration and accultura- tion process my parents and grand- parents went through. But being in a room with new immigrants from another country, I really had a sense I was experiencing my own family his- tory." Learning about other cultures, he says, can help us learn about our own. "To do this work requires tremendous self understanding," Martin says. "You need to know what contributes to your view of the world and what in that view prevents and promotes your engagement with other cultures." She refers to the presenta- tion by the Illusion Theater at the second Cities at Work forum on May 18th. "They laid out three words to guide our work that evening: roots, identity, and community," she says. "All of those elements have to be part of the dialogue." Giles notes that different cultural com- munities may need to approach the racism/diversity dialogue in somewhat different ways. "People of color, espe- cially African Americans, Hmong and Vietnamese in Frogtown and Summit University, have to start talking with each other more," he says. "And there will be times when we have to recognize that some cultural groups have to talk among themselves only. I think that's a giant need especially for European-Americans right now. Whites need to be comfortable with - or at least accept being uncomfort- able with - talking about being white. Because people of color talk or think about their color and racism all the time. Whites need to talk more about being white until it becomes natural." Racism, Alvarez points out, affects everyone, not just people of color. "To paraphrase the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.," she says, "what affects one directly, affects all of us indirectly. Racism plagues the hearts, minds and spirits not only of people of color but of the dominant culture as well." O Mixed labels I have a question for the adults in the me you'd think I was African American. quarter African American, you each other? I just don~t get how you do that. Teen woman it. I know if you look at am only a are we categorizing My grandmother was the oldest living Ojibwas'in the state of Wisconsin...But it very often happens to me that I am considered 'white.' I'm more Native American than I am white. So ?_get very angry with people who make judgments about others based on what they see. -- Adult woman I was in a class where we were watching a movie and a lady died in the movie. When her name came up on the screen, it was a Latin name. A guy in the class said, 'Oh, she deserves to die.~ He didn't realize that I Was Puerto Rican. I guess he thought I was A~'ican American. Late~; when he found out I was a Latina he said, 'I'm sorry. I didn't know you were Latin.~ I just wish we would stop categorizing and quit putting people into boxes and labeling them. I mean, he was a minority himself, and still he labeled me. Teen woman Community Matters I~ Summer 1999 Saint Paul Neighborhood News Discovering Common Ground Since 1995, a unique educational experiment has quietly taught children multicultural communication at Wilder Forest in Marine-on-St. Croix. It brings urban and suburban children and teachers together in a neutral setting to learn about each other in a natural environment. Dubbed "Project Common Ground," the program helps students of different backgrounds dis- cover what they have in common. "We are experiencing the growth of ethnic populations, and we need to get along as a pluralistic society," says Anna Barker, Project Common Ground Coordinator. "We know employment in the future will require workers to get along in teams, to be efficient and creative. These kids are getting hands- on experience in team building." A joint undertaking of the Wilder Foundation and the Stillwater and Saint Paul school districts, the project brings together upper elementary and junior high age youth and their teach- ers at Wilder Forest for three sessions each year. Each session lasts three days and two nights. Multiethnic educators from Wilder Forest work collaboratively with the teachers dur- ing the sessions, while outside groups, such as SteppingStone Theater for Youth Development, often assist. Activities include canoeing and hiking, astronomy and storytelling, winter sur- vival exercises, cultural art, plays and skits, interactive games and skills development, farm activities, journal- lng, and historical simulations such as the Underground Railroad and the Hmong Odyssey (See article, page 12). Barker emphasizes that Project Common Ground is built on four prin- ciples, which she summarizes with the acronym, LACE: leadership, academic achievement, cultural empathy and experiential environmental education. "We want to grow a new generation of leaders who wilt stand up against racism in all its forms," she says. "But you can't understand the myth of race and racism without a solid academic grounding in history, science and the humanities. Then, cultural empathy allows students to feel what it's like to walk in another person's shoes. Finally, experiential environmental education gives students a chance for hands-on, inquiry-based learning in addition to the academic instruction." So far, the reaction of students, par- ents and teachers has been very posi- tive. A program evaluation published in 1998 by the Wilder Research Center noted that 94 percent of all parents surveyed felt that their child's response to Project Common Ground was favorable or very favorable. According to parents, the most valued aspect of the program is the opportu- nity for children to meet and work with children from other classes, cul- tures and ethnic backgrounds. Evaluations during the first two years of the program show that Stillwater students primarily value the experience of working with people from other cultures. But for Saint Paul students "the program appears to have a greater impact on their inquisitiveness and overall interest in school," possibly because they are learning in an out- door environment. According to Barker, the outdoor set- ting is a very important part of the program. "We need a new way of being with our young people that involves hands-on experience using nature as a template," she says with enthusiasm. "The forest is a diverse multicultural ecosystem." She also believes the natural setting helps awaken inquiring minds to solve real- life problems. "They're allowed to ask questions, to be scientists," she says. "And the teachers work side by side with the Saint Paul Neighborhood News Project Common Ground participants fro#c while boarding bus. students and take these units back into the classroom - it all to goes right back to the curriculum." The project began four years ago with discussions between Wilder Foundation President Tom Kingston, former Saint Paul Schools Superintendent Curman Gaines and former Stillwater Schools Superintendent Dr. David Wettergren. The program is pri- marily supported by state desegregation funds. "The idea grew out of questions about how to posi- tively integrate schools in creative, innovative ways, looking back at the lessons we learned from the '6Os," says Barker. "Busing in the '60s obviously didn't work very well, so the idea was to bring young people from both school districts together in a neutral setting to find out what they had in common. And as far as we know, there's no other program like this in the country." Last year Project Common Ground received recognition in the President's Initiative on Race. It is now nationally recognized and highlighted on the White House web site. The program is still developing and will soon expand its reach to high school students. Organizers have been pleased with the program's ability to extend children's horizons. As one teacher wrote in a 1998 evaluation: "This makes kids aware of the larger community. It helps kids understand that the community is bigger than just where they go to school." O -- DH The company We keep It's easy to ' be w~th peopl~ who are like you. It's easy for whites to sit with whites and blacks with blacks. We see that in the [schoo!J~ cafeteria. Maybe you don~t think you have anything!in common With people from another culture, but you ~hould just talk to them. And another thing: maybe ~p~ople look at me and th~nk I m rac~t just because I m white. Or maybe someone who has one bad experience with a black person thinks they'll have the same experience with all black people. But you need to get to know the individual person. That's a big problem for adults - they pass those attitudes on. -- Teen woman We all need to break away from our peer groups and meet new p~ople. -- Teen ma~ Community Matters ~ Summer 1999 Feeling Guilty for Being American by Jodi K/ely Editor's Note: This article was reprinted with permission of the author. It was initially published in The Aquin, the student newspaper of the University of St. Thomas, and later appeared in the Rochester Post-Bulletin. I was standing at a bus stop in down- town Minneapolis when an old man with a scraggly gray beard, John Lennon sunglasses and clashing clothes decided to make me feel guilty for being an American. "Kor-ee-an conflict," he said loudly, pointing at me. "1 fought in that war. You should be grateful because if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be living in this country!" Immediately, every- one turned to stare at me. The man didn't stop. He looked me up and down, nodding, and said, "1 bet you're wondering how I know you're a Kor-ee-an," he said, drawing out the word again. "1 fought in that war. I know what you people look like." That wasn't the first time an incident like this has happened to me. It wasn't the first time I let someone insult me in front of strangers without defending myself. I said nothing and tried to ignore him. What I should have done was speak out against his remarks. Instead I let him board the bus as I stayed and waited another 20 minutes for the next bus to come by. A similar situation occurred when I was at work in downtown Minneapolis. I was in the elevator when an older Caucasian man with a bad sunburn and a preppy tennis shirt stepped on. A younger man followed. The older man turned to me and said casually, "So where are you from?" "St. Paul," I told him. He looked at me, laughed and said, "No, where are you really from?" This time I wasn't as timid as l had been with the Korean war veteran at the bus stop. "1 am really from Rochester," I told him. The man laughed again. "That's impossible," he said. "Even I have my European roots. Where are your ancestors from?" I told him how my dad came from an Irish family and how my mother's side was German. The guy wouldn't give up. "What are you talking about? Unless you're fresh off the boat or from California, you can't be from St. Paul. I mean, where in the Orient are you from?" Unfortunately, I wasn't able to have the last word. He stepped off at his floor, and the other man also exited. The younger man had said nothing. These things happen to me all the time. In fact, it's become so uncom- fortable for me that I have stopped traveling alone with my father. When people see a young Asian woman with an older Caucasian man, the last thing that crosses their mind is the possibility that it could be a father with his daughter. When I worked at the mall in Rochester, customers would talk to me slowly and enunciate their words, assuming my English wasn't good. I even had some peo- ple ask me if l knew May Thuy or Klm Sung or others from Korea, Japan, China and Vietnam. When I went to my boyfriend's hometown to meet his family, one of his relatives asked me if I was a for- eign exchange stu- . . dent. That was a first. It's frustrating because when people ask me questions like that I feel as if I have to explain my perfect English and my Irish last name by telling them I was adopted. The majority of people living in the United States don't have to explain their history, so why should I? When ldo explain myself, some peo- ple take the conversation further, not realizing what they are saying. After learning that I was adopted, some people tell me how friends of theirs adopted a child from Korea, or how a relative traveled to China to pick up their adopted child in person. Those are touching stories, but why are they telling me this? It seems that wherever I go, so does my ethnicity. I don't want people judging me by the way I look. No one does. And I also don't want to have to tell my life story to people in order to explain why my last name is K/ely. I may not fit the old-fashioned defini- tion of "American," but some people don't realize that Americans aren't just black or white. ~ Community M~tt~,r~ ~ ~, ~=~ ~oon Guidelines for Multicultural Collaboration by Marya Axner and Marcelle E. DuPraw Reprinted with permission from the Topsfield Foundation. · Learn from generalizations about other cultures, but don't use those generalizations to stereo- type, "write-off," or oversimplify your ideas about another person. The best use of a generalization is to add it to your storehouse of knowledge so that you better understand and appreciate other interesting, multi-faceted human beings. · Practice, practice, practice. That's that first rule, because it's in the doing that we actually get better at cross-cultural communication. Don't assume that there is one right way (yours!) to communi- cate. Keep, questioning your assumptions about the "right way" to communicate. For exam- ple, think about your body language; postures that indicate receptivity in one culture might indicate aggressiveness in another. · Don't assume that breakdowns in communication occur because other people are on the wrong track. Search for ways to make the communication work, rather than searching for who should receive the blame for the break- down. cation with you. Honor their opin- ions about what is going on. Stop, suspend judgment, and try to look at the situation as an outsider. Be prepared for a discussion of the past. Use this as an oppor- tunity to develop an understand- ing from "the other's" point of view, rather than getting defensive or impatient. Acknowledge histori- cal events that have taken place. Be open to learning more about them. Honest acknowledgement of the mistreatment and oppression that have taken place on the basis of cultural difference is vital for effective communication. Awareness of current power imbalances - and an openness to hearing each other's perceptions of those imbalances - is also necessary for understanding each other and working together. Remember that cultural norms may not apply to the behavior of any particular individual. We are all shaped by many, many factors - our ethnic background, our family, our education, our person- alities - and are more complicated than any cultural norm could sug- gest. Check your interpretations if you are uncertain what is meant. 0 ore inf°rmati°nl check the , ToOl BoX website at: other cultures about it. We can't and blame them. I know there's a country] and of Native Americans being killed. I~m here because my ancestors were brought over here as sla~eS~ but I~m not going to blame somebody for it. I'll create my own.cUlture ?~nd teach other people about the culture of my ancestors. -- Teen woman · Listen actively and empathetically. Try to put yourself in the other person's shoes. Especially when another person's perceptions or ideas are very different from your own, you might need to operate at the edge of your own comfort zone. · Respect others' choices about whether to engage in communi- I)m African American, and there are different cultures within my own culture. But if we continue to blame other cultures for us being here for various reasons, we aren~t going to get anti,here or educate anybody. So I can't blame my~,iend right here for what her people did to my people. ; --Teen woman Community Matters 0 Summer 1999 Saint Paul Neighborhood News Reliving Cultural History You're in a room with a small group of people. You are all asked to write down the four most important things in your life. Then you are told to let go of them one at a time. A whip cracks every time you must part with one of the things you cherish the most - such as a loved one's smile, a safe home, a religious practice. The process continues until everything you value is gone. "Usually there are tears at this point," says Ed Irwin, Manager of Youth Development Programming at Wilder Forest. "People try to hold on to their family members and loved ones. And we talk of how slavery stripped you of your culture and everything you knew. It stripped you of your humanity." This is a part of the Underground Railroad scenario, one of three histori- cal simulations conducted by Wilder l especting The anger and the hurt block productivity. recognize anger, to see and But then it's time to move on...to accomplish the meshing of different Cult~ral groups. -- Teen woman Forest staff to help Participants empathize with the history of a people - African American slaves running for freedom, Native Americans moving from home to home as their lands are carved up, or Hmong refugees fleeing soldiers ordered to kill them. "The intention is to make the group empathetic with that piece of history," says Irwin. "We're talking here about real-life situations. We don't do this to play hide and seek in the woods or to scare people. We're doing it so we can empathize with our ancestors, better understand each other and then focus on reconcil ation" The simulations, which are conducted on request for groups of youth and/or adults, are just a part of Wilder Forest's programs in youth develop- ment and cultural awareness and part of its ongoing dialogues about diversity. "We work in a multi- cultural setting where the dialogue is con- tinuous,'' says Irwin. "We want to empower Participants with a sense of history and with skills in communi- cating, conflict resolution, problem solving and facili- tation.'' He notes that they often do the simulations in conjunction with multi- cultural and culturally specific camp programs. Located at Marine-on-St. Croix, Wilder Forest is a center for community build- ing and youth development, offering groups the chance to run their own programs, retreats and conferences, or to create new experiences using Wilder's natural environment and staff resources. The historical simulations are usually offered for groups of about 15 people at a time. Each one is carefully structured to give people an historical frame of reference, a re- creation of the oppressive system in question, a simulated field experience outside and a debriefing afterward. A typical Underground Railroad simu- lation starts with the paying of drums and taus c, followed by historical lectures about pre-colonial Africa, slavery in America, and the under- ground railroad. Then the group is taken through a series of exercises simulating the slave ship journey, being stripped of their pride, culture and will to resist, imag- ining what it's like to work as a slave and hearing stories of living under slavery. Finally, the group prepares to escape to freedom. A "conductor" leads them out into the night woods, .emphasizing that their goal is to make it to freedom together, and that free- dom is more a state of mind than it is an actual location. Along the way, they will be pursued by slave catchers as well as helped by various friends. Community Matters ~ Summer 1999 Saint Paul Neighborhood News "Mahmoud Et-Kati, a Macalester Professor of History, talks of history and humanity as being the same thing," Irwin says. "The ability to be empathetic is the ability to understand a people's story. If I know your story, it's hard for me to exploit you. But if I don't know your history, it's easy for me to exploit you." Slavery, he says, depended on slave owners remaining ignorant of the history of the people they enslaved. The entire experience lasts two to three hours. A similar simulation shows how Native Americans in Minnesota viewed the conditions that ]t'~S SO ' this business o package that you are in is,, Because your soul is whag~counts. Your soul is equal to anyone ehe~s, and you can learn just as well as anyone else. But the white establishment has brought racism to you, so now you are wondering if you are not at fault. The fact of the matter is that until they learn to give, you will not be able to do anything. -- Adult man led to the 1862 uprising, as they were forced to move from their land. Another simulation traces the journey of Hmong refugees as they fled their homes at gunpoint to Thai refugee camps and finally to America. Plans are underway to add simulations of the Irish American and Swedish American immigrant experiences. Irwin reemphasizes that the point of the simulations is to foster empathy and reconciliation. "Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa talks of the need for wounds to be reopened sometimes so that they can heal right," he says. "Because sometimes the scab over the wound festers and rots. That's how slavery has been in America. We've never really allowed the wounds to be opened up so that we can cry to- gether, forgive each other, and move on. We do these simula- tions to get in touch with our own humanity." 0 -- DH information i?i,: abOUt all of the pro: i~ii. :grams and facilities at i!! :Wilder FOreSt, call 433 5 98. : ,mPle of "A young man came here for the Underground Railroad. His teacher had required him to come. His father was an 'Enforcer' for Hell's Angels. The young man had seen a lot of violence and believed in white supremacy. He had a leather coat, spikes - he really lived the part. "After the Underground Railroad experience he came up, reached out, and embraced me. And he said: 'To be honest, this is the first time I ever wanted to touch a Black man without intending to harm him.' He knew when he got home he would be beaten because his dad hadn't wanted him to take the journey. "Since then he's actually started helping us do the Underground Railroad. But the most powerful part of the story came about a month ago: he told me his dad is changing because of his (the son's) lifestyle. Now his dad encourages him to be involved with us. "You hear story after story like this. I think for some people, this experience is the first time some- one's giving them permission to deal with their feelings about slavery and not just with their intellect." 0 -- Ed Irwin, Manager of Youth Development Programming, Wilder Forest Community Matters 0 Summer 1999 Taking a Stand: V thout struggle, There is No Progress by Venise N. Battle, Cretin-Derham Hall High School I am a sixteen year old African American teenager who is well accus- tomed to the prejudices of American society. In my sophomore year of high school, I immersed myself in an unconventional education that broad- ened my horizons on the subject of diversity. It began when I joined my school's diversity group, 'RR.I.D.E.' (People Realizing Individual Dreams Exist). Two morals that I have learned from this experience are: "Diversity is more than skin deep" and "Silence is a form of oppression." Since then, it has been a priority of mine to share this knowledge with my community. My name is Venise Battle. I am taking a stand. Diversity is more than skin deep. I first thought diversity only involved the racial origin of a community. I believed it was primarily a "black and white" issue. However, I have come to learn otherwise. Diversity does not only include your racial origin, but also your gender, culture, age and socio- Teen watch Just because we're , people seem to think we commit crimes. You go alone to shop at stores, and if you watch carefully you see people following you around...I don't like that - they have no business following me when I'm just trying to shop...It hurts even thinking about it. economic status. I have learned that there are prejudices beyond racism: sexism, ageism and classism, to name a few. With this knowledge, I realize that prejudice exists not only between communities, but within communities. Intercultural and cross cultural, both equally unjust. Silence is a form of oppression. It is said that silence some- times is the best answer. Yet, with issues of diversi- ty, it is the worst answer. I have learned that silence is a way to avoid discussion and leave an injustice unnamed. When used as an answer, prejudice is tolerated. When prejudice is tolerated, oppression is sustained. Prejudice is a big problem. A class- mate of mine once asked, "How can we make a difference? The problem is so big!" Well, my stance is that we make change by setting examples, e.g., not tolerating prejudiced com- ments or jokes in our homes, cars or while having fun with our friends. Ending prejudice also requires a con- version of the heart. A person must have an example of love before they can begin to love. Setting a no toler- ance attitude is a start. I refuse to tolerate prejudice. I have taken action by becoming involved in diversity projects. One such project is the Minnesota Independent School Forum Diversity Conference which was planned by a group of students from several independent schools. At the conference, over 200 people attended discussions about issues of race, gender, ageism, and several other subjects. I participated in the planning and organization of this event because I believe that by creating an environment that stimu- lates conversation around issues of diversity, someone will walk away more aware and be able to teach others to take a stand against prejudice. My inner strength l~as been tested. What has brought me through and has allowed me to continue learning is God. I now see diversity as something we humans have lost sight of. I feel that the unity of nations and love between all people is a goal that God has for us. We were not born to hate. We were created to love. When I stand against prejudice, I stand against hate. When I stand against hate, I stand for the love of all mankind. This September, I will embark upon my senior year of high school. Even though I will be leaving my school, I hope to pass on the torch to another student, so that the progress in stand- ing against prejudice will continue. The road ahead is a long and difficult one. Nevertheless, in the words of Frederick Douglass, "Without struggle, there is no progress. 0 Community Matters ~ Summer 1999 Saint Paul Neighborhood News Frogtown Pluralism Circle: Our Diversi y is our Greatest Asset by Anna Lucas, Frogtown Catholic Charities In December 1996, a group of neigh- borhood residents and service providers from Model Cities, Saint Paul Rehabilitation Center, Catholic Charities, Hmong American Partnership, Saint Paul United Way and the Wilder Foundation formed a collaboration to address racism in the communities where we live and serve. The Frogtown Family Center joined the Circle in 1998. Our first initiative was to hold an Undoing Racism retreat with the Peoples Institute for Survival and Beyond. That retreat set the stage for the Pluralism Circle's commitment to combating racism, not only as individ- uals but within our organizations and throughout the Frogtown community. Over the past two years, the Pluralism Circle has sponsored several commu- nity healing ceremonies and peace The Pluralism Circle Vision/Mission Statement The Frogtown Pluralism Circle actively seeks to engage and support individuals, organizations, and communities in: · Undoing the insidious web of individual bigotry, prejudice and institutional racism; · Countering racism on all levels; · Healing the wounds of the past; and · Cultivating a dynamic pluralistic neighborhood where diversity is welcomed, respected, and seen as an opportunity for growth. pole plantings in Frogtown. Several organizations in the Circle have spon- sored anti-racism training for their staff and volunteers. The Pluralism Circle works to help people in our neighborhood learn more about each other and to treat each other with respect. We are working to get rid of racism and to combat unfair, racist systems and institutions in our com- munity. The Pluralism Circle actively engages all individuals and organizations inter- ested in our vision and mission. The challenge, as we grow, is to sustain the meaningfulness and the relation- ships of our work and to continue to find ways to share our learning with the Frogtown neighborhood. Getting past the surface exploration of racism to making real, lasting change is a process that requires a safe space where trust is built and can be count- ed on. The members of the Frogtown Pluralism Circle continue to build a foundation for true lasting social change within ourselves, our organiza- tions and our communities. We want the Frogtown neighborhood to be known across the Twin Cities as a place that welcomes and respects all people. We want to fulfill our respon- sibility for making this dream a reality. 0 le Frogtown Pluralism Circle :meets at 633 University Avenue On the third Thursday of every ! ~Onth at 9:00 a.m. You are !~ Welcome to join us. For more ,information, call Melvin Giles i!:~: at (651) 265-5712. Community Matters ~ Summer 1999 Saint Paul Neighborhood News Breakfast Club How to address the realities of racial tension and division has been a strug- gle for religious institutions across the nation for years. The Breakfast Club, a concept developed by the Chicago Urban Reconciliation Enterprise or C.U.R.E., is a unique opportunity that provides a model for individuals and communities to deliberately bridge racial and cultural barriers. The Breakfast Club program partici- pants include racially diverse church leaders from different congregations who meet in pairs every month for a year. The church leaders are assigned a partner from a different race and ethnicity. Over a shared meal, the pairs.intentionally discuss issues of race ~n order to gain an understanding of how someone from a different cul- tural and racial background thinks and feels. By breaking down racial barriers, personal relationships, understanding, and respect are explored and experi- enced. These relationships can then potentially lead to working further together on community initiatives to combat and dismantle institutional and personal racism. "We think these informal gatherings can have educa- tional, institutional and neighborhood impact as well as build some deep personal and private relationships," said Reverend Roger Quant of First Covenant Church on Saint Paul's East Side. Members of Pastor Quant's congrega- tion are participating in the Breakfast Club along with an East Side African American church, Word of Life Christian Fellowship and Unity Baptist Church in the Summit University neighborhood. So far almost 70 indi- viduals (or 35 pairs) from these con- gregations have made a commitment to meet once a month for 12 months. Community Matters 0 Summer 1999 Saint Paul Neighborhood News According to some of the materials provided by C.U.R.E., "the one-year commitment provides the framework that will encourage accountability and incentive to meet when the discus- sions get heated or challenging." The Breakfast Club program empha- sizes that, through the Church, a com- mon bond can help address racial ten- sions and differences. However, the gulf between racial groups persists. The Breakfast Club is based on racial righteousness versus racial reconcilia- tion. Whereas reconciliation implies that there is a need to restore some- thing that has been broken, racial righteousness implies that there is something new to be forged spiritually. Each Breakfast Club participant receives a monthly mailing that includes resources to help guide the discussions. The 12 topic areas are list- ed in the table. Monthly phone calls from the Breakfast Club coordinators evaluate the progress of the groups and provide additional support as needed. Every quarter, a large group meeting brings all the pairs together to share their experiences and learn from others. At the end of the year, participants will be surveyed and asked to support the materials and meeting costs for a new Breakfast Club member. O Community Matters ~ Summer 1999 Saint Paul Neighborhood News Jewish Community Action by Amanda Seigel, Jewish Community Action Jewish Community Action (JCA) was founded in 1995 with the mission to bring together Jewish people from diverse traditions and perspectives to promote understanding and action about social and economic justice issues in Minnesota. JCA unites individuals and congregations to bring a distinct Jewish voice to broader community efforts to address social and economic problems. The organi- zation provides leadership and training to increase Jewish advocacy and activism on social justice issues and seeks to develop coalitions with communities of color and religious communities. In 1998, Jewish Community Action conducted a congregational inreach program, in which JCA members sur- veyed members of their congregations on current social issues. The three main issues identified during the inreach were racial justice, afl able housing, and community reinvestment. This discovery led to the formation of working groups for each issue. JCA's Racial Justice Working Group seeks to build anti-racist lead- ership and action in the Jewish commu- nity. The group's objectives include developing anti-racism training that can be pro- vided in the Jewish com- munity and working with communities of color on local issues. As part of this work. JCA serves as a member of the Governor ~ Commission on the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday events, and has worked for the past two years to help coordinate events. JCA also sponsored "Intersecting Rhythms," a series of cultural programs exploring African American and Jewish American identity, expres- sion, and cross-cultural dialogue. JCA's Affordable Housing Working Group contributes to JCA's ongoing involvement in affordable housing issues. The group's objectives include preserving subsidized housing and other affordable housing, increasing affordable housing in urban and sub- urban areas, and promoting training and advocacy for Russian and English speaking members of the Jewish com- munity around affordable housing issues. JCA is active at the legislative level in mobilizing members of the Jewish community to influence afford- able housing policy and work with other local affordable housing advocacy groups. One form the grown-ups instance~ my . really racist. I try not to la} that affect me because right now One of my greatest role models is a white man, Chris Vandel. He~s one of my greatest role models. When ! see somebody like him being a leade~; I think that maybe I can take his position one day and follow in his footsteps. ' -- Teen ~ JCA's Community Reinvestment Working Group seeks to explore and increase Jewish investment in core urban areas of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The group's objectives include promoting Jewish institutional invest- ment in community development insti- tutions such as credit unions, and establishing specific financial goals related to Jewish investment in Iow- income communities. This work is part of national initiative sponsored by the Philadelphia-based Shefa Fund to stimulate stronger and more visible American Jewish Institutional invest- ment in Iow-income community devel- opment projects. 0 Community Matters 0 Summer 1999 Overcoming Fears by Angelique Beards, Guadalupe Area Project I think there is a fear about things that are different from what we know. So because of this fear, we avoid it. We avoid it by mocking it or ignoring it. People do these things because they are ignorant. We only know ourselves and beyond that, there are some things we choose not to explore. In order to overcome this fear, I believe we must become more I i l,m Z am from God, Creator of all, I am from thegarden, where the apple was ate. The place where the world was at one time harmonious. but now is just the complete opposite. I am from a place. A place I have never been. Anotherplace where I was happy. I am from the ship that brought me to where I am now. The place where many of my greats jumped and then drowned to their death. I am from the beatings we received only because we tried to leave. I am from the struggles we endured to be free by law~ not knowing that once free we would always in some small way still be imprisoned I am from confusion. Confusion because I am also the counter. I am from a place where we decided we wanted more. We weren't happy. We had to bring misery to others also. I am from the ship that brought them here. I was the captain. I am from the hand that chained and enslaved those people and then raped them. I am the one who took the children~ screaming, from their parents arms. I am from all this. All this I have done never knowing that one day it would become one. From all of that it has transformed me to become who I am now: I am irony. I am love and hate. I am greed. I am power. I am man. I am woman and child. I am up. I am down. I am Black. I am White. I am respect. I am looked up to and also looked down upon on. I am all these things. All these things are me. I am everything... I am thefuture...I am the past. And I am now. IAM~E! m Angelique Beards knowledgeable. I can't think of a bet- ter place to do that than at school. At school, there is a common ground, a neutral territory where the opportu- nity for us to face and overcome our fears is waiting around every corner. School has a very diverse atmosphere, but more times than not, you will see segregation. People cling to what they know and to people like themselves. To break this bad habit, I think infor- mation needs to be available for everyone. I feel that the schools should have more discussions about diversity, and there needs to be more productive activities during celebra- tions of Black History month, Hmong New Year, Day of the Day, etc. There also needs to be more multicultural and diverse staff on board who can help us initiate the process of learning about our own heritage and other cul- tures. By doing this, there will be less looking down and more looking up at a person because they are different than you. From this learning process an under- standing will develop, and from this understanding some walls can get knocked down and bridges built in their places. 0 Community Matters (l~[~ Summer 1999 Saint Paul Neighborhood News Macalester College Dismantling Racism Group Opens Minds and Hearts by Mathew Abt$, Macalester College Dismantling Racism Group The Dismantling Racism Group (DRG) is a multiracial, multiethnic, and multi- cultural learning community struggling to unlearn racism. Composed of local community members, Macalester stu- dents, staff, faculty and alumni, DRG is creating an anti-racist institutional philosophy for Macalester College and its surrounding commu- nity. Recently, DRG joined other student groups to initiate an internal review of multi- culturalism at Macalester. This effort has heightened awareness of the ongoing problem of institutional racism on campus and in the community. DRG has offered introductory anti- racism training conducted by the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond (New Orleans) and Crossroads Ministry (Chicago). Almost 100 indi- viduals have attended, and 40 have completed advanced anti-racism train- ing with the People's Institute. The experience with this training has been tremendously valuable. Upcoming training opportunities are available August 11-13, and DRG invites anybody interested to attend. At a recent DRG meeting, several DRG members shared with Community Matters. Matt Before my involvement in DRG I focused my time on proving that I was not a racist. Until I was nine years old, I lived in a mainly African American neighborhood. I went to the local school and played with the local kids - African Americans, Laotians and Mexicans. Since I was nice to people of color - and I didn't tell racist jokes - I thought I couldn't be a racist. The training provided a few definitions that transformed my thinking. One was white privilege, which is defined as the advantages white people have because people give us the benefit of the doubt when we apply for a job, or a mortgage, or try to get an apart- ment or an education. People of color are discriminated against in subtle and blatant ways on a daily basis. I think white privilege is obvious to people of color, and I felt a little foolish that it had to be pointed out to me. Now that I see white privilege, the real challenge is acting on this knowledge. Chris As I became aware of white privilege and institutional prejudice, I began to see power in every interaction. I came to understand that untamed power is one of the main dangers of an institu- tion. Everyone thinks they are doing what is in others' best interest, but without accountability, there is no way to be sure. Accountability is one of the most important aspects of the Dismantling Racism Group. Nathan Being a native of South Africa, I have experienced the brutal injustices of racism almost my entire life. I did not expect to receive any new information or insights on the matter. However, the first day of training proved to be a real shock to my sensibilities. I was confronted with the radical notion that all white people were racists by virtue of their white privilege and their participation, whether conscious or unconscious, in a racist system. It dawned upon me that it was precisely because white people refused to acknowledge their own racism that it (racism) was able to propagate and fester in this society and my own. In my country white people consider their racism to be a desirable and ben- eficial state of affairs for everyone involved, whereas in this country, white people believe that racism is a relic of the past, or the burden of minorities. My experience with DRG hasn't been confined to the culpability of white people. I have also realized my own continued on back page Community Matters 0 Summer 1999 Saint Paul Neighborhood News Twin Cities Healing the Heart of America 2000 Offers Hope by Hector Garcia, National Conference for Community and Justice In January, the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCC J), invited concerned individuals and organizations to attend the St. Paul and Minneapolis showings of the National Conversation on Race, Ethnicity and Culture broadcast from Hartford, Connecticut. Since February, this group has been meeting monthly at the Minneapolis Community Development Agency to build better connections between local anti-racism efforts and to create a stronger voice for these efforts throughout the Twin Cities community. In the year 2000, the group plans to sponsor a Twin Cities enactment of a project known as Healing the Heart of America. Originated in Richmond Virginia in 1993 with the work of a nonprofit organization, Hope in the C/ties, the project is now spreading to other cities to help heal the wounds of racism and bring about racial rec- onciliation and cooperation. The for- mer capital of the Confederacy and a port of entry for African slaves, Richmond recently has become an example of how honest conversation can break down stubborn and old barriers between races. The newly elected Tim Kaine recently became the first white mayor of the city to publicly express regret for the history of slavery. This was a gesture toward reconciliation that is still unique in the nation and a strong indication of a move away from tradi- tional race-based politics. In 1998, other community leaders in Richmond convened teams of elected officials, community activists, and business people from around the country to offer testimonies about the positive impact of the Hope in the Cities' work on Richmond's business sector and the community as a whole. The Twin Cities Healing the Heart of America 2000 will be based on the Richmond model. It will include a con- ference and a Unity Walk through his- tory and will be preceded and fol- lowed by a series of community dia- logues about personal experiences and perspectives with race. The dia- logues in the Twin Cities will be facili- tated by Hope in the Cities and NCCJ. In an interview by Nation's Cities' Weekly, published by the National League of Cities, Rob Corcoran, the national coordinator for Hope in the Cities, said, "If talk is done well, that is action. If people truly go through the dialogue experience, they are going to be different people, behave differently, relate to other people dif- ferently....We can bring communities together through shared history." The Unity Walk through history will need to be quite different in the Twin Cities than it was in Richmond. Whereas Richmond's historical sites of racism on the Unity Walk were primar- ily related to relations between blacks and whites, the history of the Twin Cities will be told through a series of multiracial and muir/cultural stories. These stories can help break down barriers, identify cultural blind spots and help to create further progress in racial har- mony and cooperation. The rich heritage of the United States provides an inspirational precedent to all planners and participants of the Twin Cities Healing the Heart of America 2000. The excellence and strength in the country's economy and government is due largely to the rich resources provided by the native and immigrant groups which formed it. This precedent presents a challenge throughout the next millennium to Minnesotans. We can promote and implement a commitment of resources to create and strengthen our communities based on racial equality and justice. 0 you are interested in learning ~ more about this project, call ~i Hector Garc~a, Executive D~rector !!of the National Conference at ii(651) 659-0401. Community Matters ~i:. Summer 1999 Saint Paul Neighborhood News Moving Beyond Dialogue: What are the Most Pow~ Steps That Could Help Our Community Work Together Across Cultur~ and Raci~ Difference~? On May 18, participants at the Cities at Work forum, Face-to-Face: How we Interact met in small groups to discuss this question. The following list summarizes the responses recorded by each of the groups that evening. Create more time and space for engaging in cross-cultural dialogue and public discussion with neighbors and others Continually challenge our own racial and cultural prejudices, biases, and assumptions and those of others Insure that the public schools offer a multicultural curriculum that is affirming and inclusive of the diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds of the student population Insure that the composition of the public school administration, teachers, and staff reflect the racial and cultural diversity of our school population and have adequate training and resources to be supportive and responsive to these diverse groups Nurture and celebrate the pluralism of our community to preserve the rich cultures and ethnic heritages found in our community Explore more ways for people of all cultural and racial backgrounds to tell and share their stories Find more opportunities to learn from and with youth Initiate and promote more community-based multicultural collaborative efforts Community Matters ~]~ Summer 1999 Saint Paul Neighborhood News Saint Paul New Americans Advisory Committee: A Forum for Immigrant Issues by Bob Webber, New American Advisory Committee The Saint Paul New Americans Advisory Committee (NAAC)is a vol- unteer committee established by Mayor Norm Coleman. NAAC pro- motes relations and connections between Saint Paul's growing immi- grant community and the Mayor's Office. NAAC members are appointed by the Mayor, but NAAC meetings are open to the public. In fact, the advisory committee encourages any- one interested in discussing social and/or political issues that affect immi- grants to attend the meetings. Over the past year, exploring how to engage the immigrant communities' active citizenship has been one of NAAC's major concerns. Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer and Bert Black guided committee members on a tour of the Secretary of State's office in May. The committee also recently met with the Saint Paul Police Department and hopes to collaborate soon on some materials that will facili- tate relations between the police and new immigrant communities. Last year, the NAAC focused its work on welfare reform and studying the fast-growing Somali community. A panel of Somali leaders and activists helped to design and organize a public forum. A brochure about the Somali community was also developed for community-wide distribution. Sirad Osman, a Somali job counselor recently joined the committee. The Mayor's Office sends a representa- tive to every meeting. Cha Yang cur- rently represents the Mayor. Bob Webber is the Chair and Interim Secretary. NAAC meetings are held bi- monthly at the Hubbs Center, 1030 University Avenue West. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 26 from 4:00-5:30 p.m. If you would like to attend a NAAC meeting or would like more information about the committee, please contact the Mayor's Office at (651) 266-8510. O Root causes of pain I think we are only dealing with the surface issue. We talk about all the pain people feel ~rom racial stereotyping], but we are not talking of the sources that cause the pain...I can try to have good personal relations with people, but-if~-am systematically .......... advantaged as a white person, that will undercut my personal efforts day in and day out. So when I hear you asking how discrimination feels I~m not sure that's the critical question. I already know how everyone feeh to be discriminated against. I agree that the pain of discrimination is 1 O0 percent valid. I~m just saying we need to look at the root causes of that pain and not just talk about interpersonal relations...I would suggest we take a critical look at how we divide our resources. Look at a map of the Twin Cities: most of the African American people are living right in the center and most of the whites are in the suburbs. Then look at the way money goes to the schooh - the suburbs put money in their schooh and the inner city schooh get less funding. That problem goes much deeper than interpersonal relationships. Adult man Community Matters O Summer 1999 Saint Paul Neighborhood News Community Circle Dialogues: Reflect/on and Act/on on Education, Housing and Race in the Twin Cities by Dick Little, Education and Housing Equity Project There is growing ethnic and racial diversity within Saint Paul and the entire Twin Cities region. We are becoming increasing polarized along the lines of race and class. Demographic changes in the central cities, suburban communities, and school districts point to serious issues of equity and access to opportunity in both housing and public education. Community-wide study circle pro- grams have taken place in many com- munities across the country (See side- bar, next page), but the Twin Cities community circle dialogue project is the first attempt at a region-wide pro- gram. With the growing national attention to regional policy issues such as urban sprawl, segregation, social equity, and transportation, the region- al approach to community circle dia- logues is an innovative model. Recently, the community circles on education, housing and race in the Twin Cities were selected by the President's Initiative on Race as a model of a "Promising Practice for Racial Reconciliation" and as an inno- vative approach to our nation's racial problems. Metro-wide Community Circle Dialogues The community circle dialogues on education, housing and race, initially launched by the Education and Housing Equity Project (EHEP), encour- age civic engagement and multi- cultural conversations to help build more inclusive communities in the Twin Cities. In 1997, EHEP and part- nering organizations, including the Minnesota Minority Education Project and the Metropolitan Interfaith Council, sponsored the first "commu- nity conversations" or community cir- cle dialogues on the challenges of segregation in education and housing. In the fall of 1998, a new round of community circles was launched in the Minneapolis Public Schools. The community circle dialogue project has brought together hundreds of people in dozens of communities throughout the Twin Cities region, who met in "community circles." Suburban moms, city dwellers, recent immigrants, small business people, the underemployed, people of color, pas- tors, police officers, teachers and many others have met in small groups to explore the related issues of hous- ing and school segregation. Dialogue participants share personal experi- ences with prejudice and racism and develop their ideas for building inte- grated and inclusive communities that work. In 1999, several major community activities had their genesis in the circle dialogues of 1997 and 1998. The innovative and inclusionary housing legislation sponsored by the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability was recently passed into law by the 1999 State Legislature. MICAH (Minnesota Interfaith Coalition for Affordable Housing) and the Illusion Theater Community circle dialogue participants share experiences at June gathering. Community Matters ~ Summer 1999 Saint Paul Neighborhood News produced and performed the fair housing theater event "Like Waters Rolling Down" in churches and synagogues around the metro area this past year. The Alliance for Metropolitan Stability and MICAH were both partners and sponsors of the 1997 community circle dialogues on hous- ing, education, and race. Another idea that grew out of the community circle dialogues, still in the development stage, is the creation of a property tax check-off as part of mortgage and utility payments. The funds donated will contribute to a metropolitan affordable housing fund. The small monthly donations will support fair housing initiatives and reduce up front expenses for households attempting to access better housing. The community circle dialogues can also lead to new rela- tionships and partnerships that contribute to overcoming racial stereotyping and discriminatory attitudes. A circle con- vened by Saint Paul's Commonbond Communities, Inc., brought together residents of one of their developments in Oakdale with nearby residents who had initially opposed the introduction of affordable housing in their neighborhood. New understandings, new connections and new commit- ments by residents are building a shared community. Community Circle Dialogues in Saint Paul In the spring of 1999, the Cities at Work public forum series kicked off their fourth season with "Unleashing the Power of Our Community: A Public Dialogue on Race, Connections and Commitments." Cities at Work community circle dia- logues were convened to complement the citywide forums by engaging Saint Paul residents in dialogue at the grass- roots level. A new discussion guide was developed. Experienced facilita- tors were recruited and trained by the Minnesota Facilitators Network and Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution. A training workshop on "Understanding Community and Institutional Racism" was offered by Minnesota Churches Against Racism. In Saint Paul, twelve community circles have met this spring; more are planning tc~ convene in the fall. Each circle is ethnically and racially diverse, consists of 8 to 15 participants, and meets for approximately 10 hours spread over five sessions. Examples of circles meeting this spring are the Frogtown Pluralism Circle, and the SPNN (Saint Paul Neighborhood Network) Circle. In all, more than 50 community circles have or will be con- vened in both Saint Paul and the Twin Cities area. Cities at Work and EHEP co-sponsored a gathering of the community circle participants in June. In November, Cities at Work will hold its final forum, "Beyond Tolerance: A Call to Action." The forum will capture the results of the community circle conversations, generate ideas for community action and continued on back page Community Circle Dialogues Engage Citizens Across the Country The Cities at Work and EHEP community circle dialogues are modeled after a high- ly successful study circle program devel- oped by the national Study Circles Resource Center (SCRC), headquartered in Pomfret, Connecticut. Study circles have been used throughout the country to generate reasoned citizen dialogue, decisive policy input, and grass-roots problem solving. SCRC is a national partner in the Twin Cities circle dialogue project. The community circle or study circle process is one important way to achieve new levels of citizenship, interaction and civic action on difficult issues affecting the community. Large scale, community- wide and metro-wide community circle programs can have a significant, cumula- tive impact. These impacts range from new friendships, to neighborhood projects, to city-wide action plans, to new legislation. Citizens who participate in community circles often become more involved in the civic life of their community. Examples of other community study circle programs that SCRC has assisted include suburban Cleveland (race relations), Maine (community violence), Oklahoma League of Women Voters (criminal justice) and Lima, Ohio. In Lima, communities of faith joined forces with the state university, labor unions, the chamber of commerce, and the mayor and city council to initiate the first city-wide study circle program on race relations. Study circle participants in Lima have done everything from building a new playground to changing the make- up of a regional board. A statewide study circle program in Oklahoma helped the state legislature enact sweeping changes in the criminal system. O Community Mat~ers O Summer 1999 Daring to be Different by Natasha Leskia My name is Natasha and l'm a sixteen year old Gothic cheerleader. I know that seems like a strange combination, but it's not really what you think. It's just me being myself. That's the whole point of Gothic, and that's the whole reason why l became one, because I wanted to be myself. I don't know when exactly I became a 'Goth.' I guess it was just always inside me. I choose to wear dark make up and dark clothing only because that is the look I like. But I choose not to limit myself. I go through days looking like "Preps" or "Dirties." Why should I have to be one way? By doing that, I lose myself in a look. I first found myself being shunned by many children my age when I joined up with people at my school called "Dirties." It was through my conversations with these people I finally started fighting for what I believe in: open mindedness and the ability to accept people for who they are. A few of us got together with the small and unheard of Human Rights Commission at our school. We talked about how we wish people would understand us as we understand them. We surprised many of the members when we joined the group. We surprised people because they believed "people like us" didn't care, and wanted just to rebel against society. The truth is, at first, I wanted to rebel and show everyone I didn't have to be who they wanted me to be. Then I realized that this was who I really was, and is who I am. I was the Gothic cheerleader, I was the one who could be understanding, and I was the one who wanted to see things change. My friend, Al, and I went and spoke at the "Healthy Community, Healthy Young" Bloomington's Human Rights Natasha with friends and partners from the Galaxy Youth Center in Bloomington. Commission meeting. We spoke with the mayor of Bloomington and mem- bers of the school board. I'm pretty sure we made some of them change their minds about what they thought of our kind. I talked about my experi- ences and realized maybe if t tell more people, more will change. All sorts of things happen to those who choose to be different. We get called names, have things thrown at us, and have people move away from us as we come near, or even walk by. I have received such looks that you just want to curl into a ball. I have had people point and talk about me. I never really minded, because I just felt they were close minded. It was not until one time I walked through the mall by myself that I realized how dangerous it was to want to be free. I now can shrug that off, and tell peo- ple stuff like, "that's what happens when you choose to be yourself." As sad as it is that things like this happen to kids my age, it happens to many more kids today because of their race or religion. I know a lot about the injustices experienced by the African Americans years ago, and even up through the 60's. I know that also some people still treat them wrong. When I heard about the underground railroad experience, I jumped at the chance to go, knowing I'd learn more, and hoping that we could share our knowledge. We went through the experience, and we tried to reach freedom like the runaway slaves did, it was all so real, many of us cried. We were left, running through farms, across fields, in forests, and even across lakes. We lost only one person. We might have lost another, but my friend and I refused to leave her. I would rather be caught too, than to leave a friend behind. I know I might not be a "Goth" for- ever. I can accept that, but I know right now this is who I am, and this makes me happy. I realize I may never fit in with other kids, but who wants to when you can be yourself? And finally, I know that maybe, someday, if I keep sharing my thoughts, I can help someone else realize what they want, and who they are. Even if someone only thinks about this cause for 10 seconds, progress has been made and I am happy. O e e e e e ® e ® o o e o e e o o e e o o o o o ® o e e e e o o e e o e e e e o o e e ® e o e e o e e e o e o e e ® e e ° Bulletin Board National Council of Nonprofit Association; lOth Annual Conference The Spirit of Association - Learning and Working Together July 15-17, 1999. Saint Paul Hotel, 350 Market Street, Saint Paul. Fee: NCNA Regular Members, $300; Additional NCNA Team Members; $250, NCNA Supporter members; $350, and Non-members; $400. For more information, call (202) 467- 6262, Fax: (202) 467-6261, or visit the NCNA website at 222.ncna.org Macalester College Anti-racism Training August 11-13, 1999. Weyerhauser Board Room, Macalester College, 1600 Grand Avenue, Saint Paul. For more information, call Liz McKay at (651) 696-7080. Management Assistance Program for Nonprofits Board Leadership Orientation August 10, September 9, October 12 and November 11, 7:30-9:30 a.m. 2233 University Avenue West, Suite 360, Saint Paul. Fee: $15 includes "Board Orientation Guide." To register, call Mary Nehring at (651) 647-1216, ext. "0." Build a web page Now enrolling for September class. Date TBD, Earle Brown Continuing Education Center, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul campus. Fee: $195 per organization. Each organiza- tion can send 2 people. To register, call Sheldon Mains at (651) 632-7233 or email, swm@mapnp.org Fundraising Clinic "Booster Shot" Session August 11, noon-1:00 p.m. Follow-up Q & A brown bag session for all alum- ni of MAP's fall and spring fundraising clinics. Fee: Free. For more informa- tion, call Christine Hammes at (651) 632-7224 or email: cbh@mapnp.org Fall Fundraising Clinic September 22, 29, October 13, 27, and November 11.8:00 a.m.-12:00 noon. Fee: $425 for all five sessions, $375 if register before August 27. For more information, call Christine Hammes at (651) 632-7224 or email: cbh@mapnp.org Minnesota Council of Nonprofits 1999 Annual Conference The Nonprofit Place in the World: Repositioning the Nonprofit Role in Local and Global Society Thursday and Friday, October 7-8. Duluth Entertainment Convention Center. For more information, visit the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits web- site at 222.mnen.org Community Matters welcomes contributions and feedback If you have success stories from your neighborhoods to share, resources you have dis- covered, upcoming events, training or conference infor- mation to promote, or com- munity issues you would like to explore, Community Matters encourages you to send your ideas in writing to: Barb Rose, Editor, 919 Lafond Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55104 or email, bar@wilder, org. Or if you just want to talk over some possible contributions to an upcoming issue of Community Matters or offer some feedback about some- thing covered in a past issue, give Barb a call at (651) 659- 6031. Future quarterly deadlines are August 15 and November 15. Diverse role models I go to school in the suburbs, and we have tons of students who want to learn about different cultures. We wanted to start a diversiF gro~tp and needed help. Everybody wants to be the football coach or the track coach, b~tt there wasn't one teacher in my school who vol~o~- teered to be the diversi~, leadc~: ~ ~ecd adults to give examples. If yo~ see childrc~ interested and wanti~L~ to lcan~ abo~t ~ ent cultures, yon sho~tld bc right there to help them.' Teen woman Community Matters O Summer 1999 Macalester College... continued from page 20 responsibility and duty with this issue. Many black people rise to positions in institutions where they serve as "gatekeepers" of these institutions. I realized that as someone who could probably become a gatekeeper, I had the responsibility to choose to either perpetuate the status quo or to agitate for change. Art As an aged (50 years old) community member and white male, my perspective on DRG is vastly different. The most important lesson DRG has taught me is that we must model the organization we wish to see. This is about being human with each other. It is about sharing how we feel, having fun, and even disagreeing strongly but always coming back together and heal- ing. DRG has also heightened my awareness of my role as a white male. I can see how we sub- vert multiculturat groups by not shar- ing power and leadership. We are often so busy "getting things done" that we don't realize how we have ignored our colleagues, denied their humanity, and missed the very essence of the work. Finally, I am pleased, proud, and humbled that DRG considers me a member and very much appreciate the intergenerational quality of my experience with DRG. We are learning from each other. O Community Circle Dialogues: continued from page 25 conversations, generate ideas for community action and mobilize citizens to take action in new and different ways that bridge the diverse cultural, ethnic and racial communities that make up Saint Paul. A metropolitan Citizens Summit, sponsored by Minnesota Meeting and Minnesota Public Radio, is also planned for early Winter that will include partici- pants from all of the Twin Cities area circles, and invited commu- nity and public officials. At the Summit, participants will use electronic audience response technology to discover areas of consensus and to prioritize action steps for the community. O Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 1598 Saint Paul, MN AMHERST H. WI LDER FOUNDATION ESTABLISHED 1906 919 Lafond Avenue Saint Paul, Minnesota 551 04 Return Service Requested Education, Housing and Race TWIN CITIES ItRElt fiCTION RESOURCE DIRECTORY The following list is a sampling of community efforts already underway. This list is not comprehensive, but is intended simply as a starting place for generating ideas for action. Achievement Plus Initiative Purpose/Goals: A collaborative partnership of the Wilder Foundation, Saint Paul Public Schools, the City of Saint Paul, the State of Minnesota, several Saint Paul neighborhoods and the East Side YMCA that promotes parent and community involvement in the schools and integrated academic and social support programs and services. Contact: Mary K. Boyd or Michael Garcia Phone: (651) 642-4070 Alliance for Metropolitan Stability Purpose/Goals: A coalition that links the religious, social justice and environmental communities to address the issues of economic development, fair and affordable housing, transit, and the environmental consequences of spra~vling and to involve citizens in regional policy decisions. Contact: Russ Adams Phone: (612) 332-4471 Better Together Purpose/Goals: A network of faith-based social justice initiatives to address segregation, poverty, and urban disparities led by Interfaith Action and the Saint Paul Ecumenical Action Council (SPEAC) on Saint Paul's East Side. Contact: Petey Mitchell Phone: (65t) 771-1152 B.I.A.S. Project, Minnesota Advocates For Human Rights Purpose/Goals: This project builds awareness and support for immigrants and refugees in Minnesota. Contact: Therese Gales Phone: (612)341-3302 Bloomington Human Rights Commission Purpose/Goals: The Bloomington Human Rights Commission ensures that ALL Bloomington citizens have equal oppormrfifies and rights, mediates discrimination complaints, and educates and advocates on human fights issues. Contact: Lorinda Pearson Phone: (612) 948-8735 Center for Cross-Cultural Health Purpose/Goals: This organization serves a s a clearinghouse for information, training and research on the role of culture in health for health care providers and insritut/ons. Contact: Vindoh Kutty Phone: (612)624-4668 Center for School Change Purpose/Goals: An organization formed to improve public education through advocacy and research. Opportunit/es for volunteers include researching how to improve public education. Contact: Joe Nathan Phone: (612) 625-3506 Contact: Nancy Sm/th Phone: (612) 625-7552 Chicano Latino Affairs Council Purpose/Goals: A state-w/de organization that advises the governor and the legislature in Minnesota regarding the issues of the Latino community. Contact: Ytmar Santiago Phone: (651)282-2399 C:~.~udoraXA ttac hL.kctionRe~ourceDirecmry doc CommonBond Communities Purpose/Goals: Common Bond develops and manages affordable housing that serves as a stepping stone to resident success. Contact: Joseph Errigo Phone: (651) 291-1750 Community Action Against Racism (CAAR) Purpose/Goals: includes people of all colors and communities in the fight to eliminate racism by individuals and institutions. CA_AR is working to address multiple issues of systemic racism that impacts our communities. Contact: Leslie McMurray Phone: (651) 603-8319 Community Employment Partnership Purpose/Goals: A partnersh/p of public, private and community organizations that have created a network to support and link job seekers and employers in St. Paul and Ramsey County. Contact: Marie McNamara Phone: (651) 266-4141 Community. Stabilization Project Purpose/Goals: CSP's mission is to spark low income people, tenants and people of color to organize and take action for decent and affordable housing in the core communities of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Contact: Jolene C. Mason Phone: (651) 225-8778 Council on Black Minnesotans Purpose/Goals: Created to help people of African descent partic/pate fully and effectively in M/rmesota's pohtical, social, and economic life. The Council acts as a critical link between the community and the state government on a wide range of important issues. Contact: Brenda Bell Brown Phone: (651) 642-0811 District Five Planning Council Youth Program Purpose/Goals: A youth program that empowers teens to develop their leaders~p potential in their community; to develop job skills and £md jobs, to promote all educational opportunities after high school, and to promote safe and fun recreation. This after school program works to give youth ages 9-13 tutoring opportunities, use computers, learn behavioral skills such as teamwork and cmfflict resolution. Contact: Chris Vendel Phone: (651) 774-5234 Employment Action Center Purpose/Goals: A division of Resource, Inc., serving dislocated workers, women's programs, welfare-to-work and youth and young parents of the Twin Cities by providing career guidance and employment planning services Contact: Jay Dregni Phone: (612) 752-8650 Fro~own Pluralism Circle Purpose/Goals: A neighborhood network of residents and service providers workSng together to dismantle racism and combat unfair institutions in Saint Paul's Frogtown neighborhood. Contact: Melvin Giles Phone: (651) 265-5712 Hamline Midway Alliance for a Prejudice-Free Community Purpose/Goals: A neighborhood group of volunteers targeting prejudice and bigotry in the Hamline Midway neighborhood in Saint Paul, Contact: Cathy Lue Phone: (651) 646-1986 Hmong Minnesota Pacific Association. Inc. (HMPA) Purpose/Goals: HMPA's mission and purpose is to promote leadership, education, self-sufficiency, economic development, job train/rog, crime and drug prevention, the arts, and avenues to better the lives of the Minnesota Hmong community. Contact: Eng Her Phone: (651) 778-8937 C:\eudora~.ttm:hX&¢tionReaour eeDimclory.doc Housing Equity Law Project Purpose/Goals: This project provides free legal services and workshops to low income persons in Ramsey and Washington Counties and to senior citizens in Dakota County in the areas of government benefits, family law, housing, housing discrimination, homelessness outreach and prevention, migrant farm worker issues and education law advocacy. This is a special project of Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services(SM_RLS). Contact: Geneva Ezeagu Phone:(651) 228-9823 Institute on Race and Poverty_ Purpose/Goals: A research and educational institute studying the relationship between housing, segregation, and educational achievement. Contact: john powell or Gavin Kearney Phone: (612) 625-8071 Jane Addams School for Democracy's Learning Exchange Circles Purpose/Goals: A program for Hmong and Latino immigrants to improve language sldlls, prepaxe for the citizenship exam, learn about employment rights, and focus on policy action projects. Contact: Shelly Rottenberg Phone: (651) 690-8786 Jewish Community_ Action Purpose/Goals: A coalition of Jewish people from diverse traditions and perspectives that promotes understanding and action about social and economic justice issues in Minnesota. Contact: Vic Rosenthal Phone: (612) 822-1442 Lutheran Coalition for Public Policy in Minnesota Purpose/Goals: Statewide advocacy office for the Lutheran Church (ELCA). Member of Imn~igration Task Force since 1995.. Contact: Pastor Mark Peters Phone: (651) 224-5499 MetropOlitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing .(MICAH) Purpose/Goals: A membership organization of over 100 congregations that mobilizes people of all faiths to ensure fair, decent safe and affordable housing for everyone in the Twin Cities metropolitan community. Contact: Joy Sorensen-Navarre Phone: (612) 871-8980 Minnesota Churches Anti-Racism Initiative Purpose/Goals: A statewide interdenominational network of individuals and congregations united to struggle against racism and building multicultural diversity in our communities. Contact: Jim and Nadine Addington Phone: (612) 871-3622 Minnesota Fair Housing Center Purpose/Goals: The Minnesota Fair Housing Cente is dedicated to the elimination of discrLmination in housing and enforcement of the Fair Housing Act through fair housing testing, research, education and public policy advocacy on behalf of racial and ethnic minorities, the disabled, and others protected under federal and state human rights laws. Contact: Lawrence A. Winans Phone:(651) 917-8869 Minnesota Housing Finance Agency Purpose/Goals: The Minnesota Housing Finance Agency strives to meet the needs of the people of Minnesota for decent, safe, affordable homes and stronger communities. Contact: Monte Aaker or Pacyinz Lyfoung Phone: (651) 296-9952 Minnesota Housing Partnership Purpose/Goals: Minnesota Housing Partnersh/p supports the creation and preseiwation of affordable housing in Minnesota through technical assistance, education, and legislative advocacy Contact: Ckip Halbach Phone: (612) 874-0112 C:\eudora~.ttnchkActionResourceDirectory.doc Minnesota Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Purpose/Goals: HUD's goala are to provide a decent, safe, sanitary home and suitable hying environment for every American; to fight for fair r housing, increase affordable housing and home ownership, reduce homelessness, promote jobs and economic opportunity, empower people and communities, and restore the public lrust. Contact: L. Peter Best Phone: (612) 370-3000 ext. 2207 Contact: Tony LookingElk Phone: (612) 370-3000 ext. 2239 Minnesota Minority Education Partnership Purpose/Goals: A partnership of organizations dedicated to improving student achievement and success among students of color through parent and teacher training and c~llaborative leadership. Contact: Carlos Mariani-Rosa or Bruce Vandal Phone: (612) 330-1522 Minnesota Parenting Association Purpose/Goals: A state-wide network of parents that provides opportunities for parents and those who care about children to develop and express a collective voice. MPA hosted the Hopes & Dreams, Challenges & Strengths roundtable discussions. Contact: Roxy Foster Phone: (651) 290-4755 Minnesota Senior Federation/Metropolitan Region Purpose/Goals: A 15,000 member grassroots organization dedicated to working on issues and programs that knprove the quality of life for all members of the community. The Federation works on issues that meet the greatest comrnunity good and have the greatest impact on those most in need--d/senfranchised older people. It provides consumer education for the entire community and member benefits that enhance the value of membership. Contact: Andy Hyser Phone: (651) 645-0261 ext. 119 MRA in the Twin Cities/Hope in the Cities Purpose/Goals: An inter-racial, multi-faith coalition of individuals in govermment, business, education, media, religious, and community organizations creating a process of healing through honest conversation on race, recon- ciliation, and responsibility. Contact: Steve Dickenson Phone: (651) 646-8617 National Conference for Community_ and Justice Purpose/Goals: An inter-racial and multi-faith coalition of individuals and organizations in government, business, education, and media creating a process of healing through honest conversations on race, reconciliation, and responsibility. Contact: Hector Garcia Phone: (651) 659-0409 Project Common Ground Purpose/Goals: A collaborative sponsored by the Sahat Paul and Sfillwater public schools to promote understanding and interaction among students of d/verse backgrounds, increase acaderrfic performance, and provide leadership development training through multi-ethnic cross-d/strict teams of students. Contact: Anna Barker Phone: (651) 433-1113 Project Home Support Program Purpose/Goals: This program provides transitional housing relocation and follow-up services for homeless families as they move from emergency shelter into permanent housing. The program's goal is to stop the cycle of homelessness by intervening with sufficient support for homeless families that will enable them to fred and maintain stable housing. Contact: Margaret Lovejoy Phone: (651) 646-8805 ext. 18 C:\eudnr~;~.,~ trachOmA ctionR e~our ceDir ectory.do¢ Saint Paul/Ramsey County Children's Initiative Purpose/Goals: The Saint Paul/Ramsey County Ch/ldren's Initiative includes eight neighborhood family centers that strengthen families to build nurturing communities and raise healthy children. The goals are to improve children's health, development, school performance and family functioning. Contacts: Kathleen Vellenga or Roger Banks Phone: (651) 917-4896 Support Our Schools (SOS) Purpose/Goals: SOS works to strengthen the relationship between the community and the school district by educating the public about public education, and SOS sponsors programs in individual schools designed to improve student achievement. Contact: Roger Bart Phone: (651) 603-8858 Tri-District School 6067 Purpose/Goals: The Tri-Distict School is a community of learners whose achievement and well-being are enhanced by diversity which is valued and celebrated. Contact: May L. Yang Phone: (651) 487-545(7 TURN (Twin Cities Urban Reconciliation Network) Purpose/Goals: TU2~N focuses on racial reconiclaiton and leadership development and has developed extensive resources, workshops, books, and videos on cultural diversity and anti-racism. Contact: Curtis DeYoung Phone: (612) 879-9377 Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity. Purpose/Goals: An organization that brings families and communities in need together with volunteers and resources to build decent, affordable housing. Contact: Julie Gugen Phone: (612)331-4090, ext. 614 Urban Coalition's 50/30 Initiative Purpose/Goals: A project to promote and research home ownership for households of color. Contact: YusefMgeni Phone: (612) 348-8550 U.S. Bureau of the Census 2000 Purpose/Goals: The Partnership Program of the U.S. Bureau of the Census Works with state and local governments, tribal governments, non-governmental organizations, businesses and the media to help accomplish the goal of a complete census. Parmers help to spread the word about the census and to encourage the active participafioU of everyone. Contact: Brenda Bell Brown Phone: (612) 334-4360 Welfare Rights Committee Purpose/Goals: An organization of current and former welfare recipients, low-income people and working poor fighting for basic human rights, dignity and justice. Goals are to combat attacks on poor families, to fight against any cuts in ant/poverty programs, to work for the el/m/nation of poverty and for social and economic justice. Contact: Maureena Ballard Phone: (612) 824-3604 C;\eudorfftAttach~ctionRcsour c~Directory doc Prototype Career Services Purpose/Goals: Serves individual job-seekers, and provides training and materials for job search professionals and career counselors. Visit the website at www.prototypecareerservice.com for L~ormation about career resources and regular breakfast series events. Contact: Tom Carroll Phone: (651) 224-2856 Ramsey Action Program Purpose/Goals: A~ organization dedicated to reducing poverty in Ramsey and Washington counties by mobilizing existing organization resources and resources available from the community, state, city and county governments. Contact: Paul H. French, Phone: (651) 603-5811 Ramsev Action Programs Inc Success for Men of Color Purpose/Goals: A program to increase the success rate of adult men of color in reaching personal and economic self-sufficiency by matching them with educators, service agencies, end employers. Contact: Ike Welbom Phone: (651) 645-6631 Rondo Community_ Land Trust Purpose/Goals: The Rondo Community La~d Trust provides quality, permanently affordable housing for Iow and moderate-income, multi-generational households in the Summit-University and Lexington-Harnline communities. Contact: Greg Finzell Phone: (651) 221-9884 Saint Paul Ecumenical Alliance of Congregations (SPEAC) and Interfaith Action Purpose/Goals: A network of fa/th-based social justice in/tiatives that address segregation, poverty and urban disparities. Contact: Pamela T~viss Phone: (612) 333-1255 Contact: Jay Schm/tt, Phone (612) 333-1258 Saint Paul Housing Campaign Purpose/Goals: A broad-based coalition for neighborhood development and affordable housing. Members include Saint Paul Tenants Union Community Stabilization Project, ~MICAH, Jewish community Action, SPEAC, and Coalition for the Homeless. Contact: Bob Walz, Phone: (651) 646-8805 Contact: Dan Lee Phone: (651) 222-5863 Saint Paul Human Rights Department Purpose/Goals: The Saint Paul Human Rights Depmtment prevents and eliminates discrimination by enforcing the St. Paul Human Rights Ordinance and its Rules Governing Affm-native Requirements in Employment, The deparmxent provides educational and training opportunities that enable recipients to create equitable living and working environments and facilitates collaborations with and between individuals, agencies, and organieations to maximize community resources toward prevention and elimination of prejudice, racism and discrimination. Contact: Aunastacia Belladonna Phone: (651) 266-8968 Saint Paul Public Housine Purpose/Goal: Saint Paul Public Housing helps low-income families and individuals achieve greater stability and self-reliance by providing safe, affordable, quality housing and links to community services. Contact: MayKao Y Hang Phone: (651) 292-6059 St. Paul Public Library Purpose/Goals: The Mission of the St. Paul Public Library is to anticipate and respond to the communities need for information; to facilitate lifelong learning; to stimulate and nurture a desire to read in young people; to provide reading materials to meet the interests of all ages; and to enrich the quality of life in the community. St. Paul Public Schools Contact: Luz Maria Serrano or Dan ROdgriguez Phone: (651) 293-5100 C:\eudora~,~ttazhX&.etionResourceDirectory.doe 48 Steps you Can Take to Help End Racism at Home, at Work, and in your Community 1. Understand the Complexity of Racism 2. Recognize examples of Racist Behavior 3. Get to Know the Changing Face of Racism 4. Avoid Using the Word Race $. Use Nonracist Language 6. Inventory Your Life Experience with Racism 7. Examine Your Personal Views About Racism 8. Reclaim Your Personal History 9. Release the Stereotypes You Have of Others 10. Re]ease the Stereotypes You Have of Yourself 11. Use Humor That Helps, Not Humor That Hurts 12. Develop a Zero Tolerance Attitude for Racism 13. Develop Cross-Cultural Communication Skills 14. Invest Your $$ in Ways to Eliminate Racism 15. Join On-Line Networks to Eliminate Racism 16. Learn the History of Ethnic Minorities 17. Develop a New Mythology of Black and White 18. Develop a Personal Vision of Eliminating Racism 19. Raise Children with Nonracist Beliefs 20. Know What Your Children are Learning Outside the Home 21. Create A Family Environment That Embraces Diversity 22. Honor the Holidays of Other Ethnic Groups 23. Discover Your Family's Ethnic Background 24. Find Unity in Spiritual Diversity 25. Develop a Family Vision of Eliminating Racism 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. Look Beneath the Surface of Your Community Understand Institutional Racism Determine the Views of Community Leaders Eliminate Racism ~n Education Eliminate Racism ~n Employment Eliminate Racism ~n Agriculture Eliminate Racism ~n Health Care Eliminate Racism m Housing Eliminate Racism ~n Justice and Law Enforcement Utilize the Contribution of Arts To Eliminate Racism Make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a Celebration of Diversity Organize a Civic Event Create a Support Group Develop a Community Vision of Eliminating Racism Know Your Rights Exercise Your Right to Vote Join a National Organization Working to Eliminate Racism Let National Leaders Know Your Views Develop a National Vision of Eliminating Racism Support Global Efforts to Affirm Human Rights The Healing of Persons, Nations, and the World Develop a Global Vision of Eliminating Racism Become a Messenger of Hope Adapted from: We CAN All Get Along: 50 Steps You Can Take to Help End Racism at Home, at Work and in Your Community. By Clyde W. Ford Dell Publishing, 1994 The Forum for Social Economics ISSN 0736-0932 Editor Patrick J. Welch St. Louis University Associate Editors Giuseppe Gaburro, University of Verona David L. George, LaSalle University Mona S. Hersh-Cochran, University of North Texas Herman W. Hoen, University of Groningen James H. Horner, Cameron University Delft Mondragon, Creighton University Christine Rider, St. John% University James B. Stewart, Pennsylvania State University Kenneth W. Stikkers, Seattle University J.T.J.M. van der Linden, University of Utrecht Editor Emeritus Kishor Thanawala, Villanova University · Tine Formn for Social Economics is published each Spring and Fall by the Association for Social Economics. All members of the Association receive the Forum and the Review of Social Economy as privileges of membership. Correspondence regarding membership in the Association should be sent to the Treasurer of the Association, Professor Edward Fitzsimmons, Department of Economics and Finance, Creighton University, Omaha, NE 68178. · Subscriptions to the Forum are available for $5.00 per year to individuals and $7.00 per year to institutions. Editorial as well as business correspondence regarding the Forum should be addressed to the Editor, Professor Patrick Welch, Department of Economics, St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri 63108. · Manuscripts (two copies, single-sided, double-spaced and a DS-DD diskette readable by IBM in WordPerfect) should be sent to Professor Patrick Welch. Authorship should be identified only on a removable first page, and the manuscript should contain an abstract of no more than 150 words. All manuscripts are subject to peer-review. No responsibility for the views expressed by the contributors to the Forum is assumed by the Editor or by the Association for Social Economics. Cvpyri~ht © Iqqq, Association for Social Economics FORUM FOR SOCIAL ECONOMICS Volume 28, Number 2 - Spring 1999 Contents Symposium Urban Sprawl Race, Poverty, and Urban Sprawl: Access to Opportunities Through Regional Strategies .................................................................................... ! john a. powell Saving Neighborhoods by Saving Farms: Metropolitan Congregations United for St. Louis Challenges Urban Sprawl ............................................................... 21 David Rusk Metropolitics: A Regional Agenda for Community and Stability ....................... 33 Myron Orfield Do Economists Have Anything To Contribule to the Debate on Urban Sprawl? (And Would Anybody Listen to Them if They Did?) ......................................... 51 Paul D. Gottlieb -i- -ii- Race, Poverty, and Urban Sprawl: Access to Opportunities Through Regional Strategies john a. powell* University of Minnesota Abstract This article attempts to demonstrate the treed for social justice and urban civil rights advocates to focus on sprawl as well as co. centrated poverty. Tire article posits that these are as much civil rights issttes as enviranme.tal or land use issues arid that sprawl bas frustrated civil rights efforts, btdeed, there is stra.l~ evidence that racialized couce.trated poverty is both a cause and prothtct of sprawl a.d that, due to this interre- latio.ship, concentrated poverty caunot be addressed without addressing sprawl. Ta examine this relationsl, dp, the attthor explores how tire phenomena of gentrification and the cevitalization strategy of irt-fill operate d!fferently ht rich, middle-class, a.d poor cities. Finall3; the attthor argues that concentrated poverty and sprawl are regional issues that ¢'a~r otrl), be addressed on a regiotral level: therefore, it is a mistake for social justice arid urban civil rights advocates Io leave the regional discussiott to etrvironmentaIists and lattd use platmers. This article explores the relationship between sprawl and concentrated poverty. Although there has been inadequate attention given to this rela- tionship, a number of scholars have recently begun to examine it more closely.~ This article strongly supports that effort and will briefly set out some of the historical and current processes that clearly link sprawl and concentrated poverty. In discussing this inattention, I will focus on two specific phenomena related Io concenIrated poverly and sprawl: the failure of urban civil rights and social jus- tice advocales lo target lhe relationship between sprawl and concenlraled poverty on one hand and the oftentimes confusing response to gentrification on the other. The nexus of genlrification and concentrated poverty is possibly the most misun- derstood and least explored aspect of concentrated poverty as a social phc- nomcnon, in the latter half of this essay ! will turn attention to that issue. I engage Ihese issues with a focus on racializcd concentrated poverty.~ Although I am not indifferent to sprawl, per sc, my primary concern is to demon- strate why it is critical for civil rights and social justice advocates to address sprawl and to better understand gentrification in the wider scope of remedying problems associated with concenlrated poverty. Sprawl is not simply a problem that warrants cursory attention by civil fights advocates. Indeed, it is one of the most important structural urban dynamics that frustrates many of the broad aspi- rations of the civil rights movement. The article is written for a wide audience as these issues affect the enlire country, but I am particularly concerned with engag- ing the civil right.~ community. Forum for Social Economics Urban Sprawl and Ils Effects on Central City Communities Urban sprawl, which has long been a reality of the American landscape, has recently drawn atteution as a serious problem that must be addressed.3 While there are still those who would challenge the claim that sprawl is a problem in want or need of a solution,4 a number of policy makers have joined the ranks of environmentalists in the call to address and retard the proliferation of urban sprawl.-$ Terms like planned growth, smart growth, sustainable growlh, and no growth are gaining currency in popular discourse. This evolving public discourse and the problems associated with sprawl usually focus on environmental and land use issues. J, These issues include traffic congestion, long commutes, lost time aud efficiency for businesses, depleting habitats of endangered species, and the destruction of farmland and open space. In sprawl discourse, issues of concen- trated poverty and race, if discussed at all, are too often mentioned as peripheral conceFns. Suburbau residenls aud Ihe environmenl are not Ihe only viclims of sprawl. Sprawl isolates inner-city communilies from ccouomic aud educational opportu- nities. Concentrated poverty, defined as a poverly rate at or above 40% within a given area, is closely aligned with several sprawl-related lrends in urban America. These trends include a decrease in population density in central cities as primari- ly white, middle class people flee, and the movement of employment opportuni- ties to the outer reaches of thc region following this demographic shift away from the central city.7 These sprawl patterns have contributed to the destructive palteru of concentrated poverty and the isolalion of Iow-income communities and com- munilies of color from economic opportuuitics. It was the concentration of mid- die class whiles at Ihe periphery of the regiou thai helped cause and nlade possi- ble thc coucculralion of Iow-income minorities al Ihe ccnler. Racial discrimina- lion and segregalion have played importanl roles in crealiug and reinforcing these sprawl patlerns.~ Racial discrimination in housing, employment, and educational opportunities, has opcraled !o concenlrale poor communities of color in Ihe cen- Iral oily while economic opportunilies as well as Iniddle and upper class whiles have moved oul to subt, rbia. As mentioned above, wilh Ihe suburban flighl that has been occurring over the lasl few decades, much of Ihe employmenl base has also fled Ihe cenlral cities, in 1970, only 25% of the natiou's offices were located iu suburbsP More recent uumbers indicate lhat over 60% are now Iocaled in thc suburbs, m Many oily res- idcnls have nol been able lo follow Ihis migratiou of jobs. The lack of transporla- lion choices iu mclropolilan areas limits options for those without cars and il prc- venls ccnlral city residents from dccessing jobs located in the suburbs:~ There are also limilcd housing choices for lower income residcnls in the suburbs--many -2- Race, Povert3: attd Urban Sprawl developing suburban communities limit or.prohibit multi family housing and have minimum lot sizes and other restrictions that push up the cost of housing? Racial steering and redlining have also played roles in limiting housing choices for many people of color; isolating Ihen'l in cenlral city neighborhoods and declining sub- urbs while denying them the opportunity to develop wealth through home owner- shipJ3 From this isolation of people of color and low-income people in the cen- tral cities, have developed a number of related problems--including chronic unemployment, increased crime, and failing schoolsJ4 ~91ying_t_h_e:~e_p_r~.b.J~ms is bey_ond the ability of.lo.cai go~e~men!s,._e.~p~_al!y_j~n light of.their_declining tax b~.~.~C~.k~ Thc deteriorating slale of many cities drives still more middle class fam- ilies to the suburbs. This pattern continues today as many cenlral cities continue t0 lose population while their suburbs grow.~(, There are some who claim that urban sprawl is a free market outcome and that it is actually the preferred life-style of most Americans, as evidenced by the tremendous growth of suburbs.~7 Such claims do not fully account for the gov- ernment's role in crcati,lg sprawl, as well as Iht lack of access to opporlunities fi)r minority comnmnities. The federal government provided the highways Ihat helped pave the way out for the fleeing middle class, and insured the cheap FHA mortgages that helped buy many suburban homes.~a At the same time, this financ- ing was not initially available to many central city residents and people of color due to official and informal policies of redlining, racial steering, and refusing loans to residents that remaiued in the city? The costs of sprawl, including increased traffic and the increased cost of infras- tructure, are becoming more evidenl every year. People are beginning to realize that the negative effects of hollowing out Ihe urban core caused by sprawl cannot so easily be coufincd lo the central city.2n There is growing evidence that the fate of the city and suhurh arc inextricably liukcd. Studies indicate that the belier the ceutral city does. the better the suburb doe?)2.~..gndduring ih~Tiast.recession, the metropolitan areas with the greatest income differential between central city and suburbs suffered the mosl.22 Inner ring suburbs are now suffering many of the same problems central cities faced a generation ago.2.~ In today's global economy, regions compete with each other for capital and jobs.24 Crippled central cities and decliuing suburbs can serve as a drag on Ihe whole regional economy. Zs There are currently a number of limited anti-sprawl solutions. Many of them are aimed at slowing the outward spread of suburban growth--usually by buying land on the fringe of metropolitan areas. Despite. or maybe because of, these lim- ited efforts most metropolitan areas have uot been effective in slowing sprawl. Even in Ihe absence of effective government action, however, there are signs of change and a possible rcoricntation of middle-class residents back to the city. After years of flight, there are modest signs of people moving back to downtown -3- Forum for Social Economics areas. Cities like Houston, Cleveland, Denver and Chicago are seeing an inllux of upscale residents moving into downtown neighborhoods.26 Although this influx is hopeful, the numbers are usually not enough to offset the number of people still leaving the central city. The weak anti-sprawl movement and the influx of new residents to the city are at best, only partial solutions to sprawl and concentrated poverty. Job growth and entry level employment opportunities are projected to continue to be concentrat- ed in the suburbs of most metropolitan regions? Educational opportunities are still grossly unequal for city and suburban residents? And housing choices con- tinue to shrink as existing affordable housing is being demolished or upgraded out of the reach of lower and middle income residents without being replaced? To effectively address the issues of sprawl and concentrated poverty it is necessary to closely examine how sprawl patterns dictate the location of these opportunities denied to Iow-income communities of color. Regional strategies are critical to remedy these inequities in meaningful ways. Sprawl and Concentrated Poverty: A Nexus Too Often Ignored The growing anti-sprawl movement is frequently spearheaded by those in the sub- urbs who have not traditionally focused on inner city social justice issues. At the same time, social juslice advocates who work on issues associated with racial seg- regation and concentrated poverty traditionally do not focus directly on land use policy outside of their immediate neighborhood? Many anti-sprawl and social justice advocates have failed to recognize the important connections between these seemingly disparate issues. This is more than a small oversight. Political Fragmentation Disables Desegregation Earlier i suggested that sprawl and fragmentation had effectively undermined the aspirations of Ihe civil rights movement. How and when did this occur? Before the civil fights movement there was forced segregation of blacks and whites imposed by law. We are ali familiar with this racial caste system referred to as Jim Crow. The civil rights movement was an attack on that system. However, the dynamics of sprawl and jurisdictional fragmentation largely blunted the civil fights movement. While the civil rights movement was concerned with ending segregation, the court and pol- icy makers adopted a different approach that distinguished intra-jurisdictional segregation from inter-jurisdiclional segregation, thus limiting desegregation efforts and remedies Io segregation within local political boundaries.3~ This clever legal distinction rendered many desegregation efforts virtually meaningless and made a mockery of the goals of the civil righls movement. The increased deference to local political boundaries occurred ahnost exactly at the same time as the early gains of the civil fights movement. This move -4- Race, Povert? attd Urban Sprawl toward greater fragmentation in the wake of the civil rights movement was not just a coincidence, but part of a deliberate move to compromise the idea of inte- gration while responding to the growing demands for racial justice by blacks? Gregory Wether notes the role of political boundaries in maintaining segregation despite the efforts of the civil rights movement. The tendency of boundaries to perform this function has been increased by public polk? produced from the late 1940s to the seventies and early eight- ies. bt the presence of a persistent aversion to blacks on the part of whites, public policy has not ameliorated residential segregation. Rather, it has restructured it by present#tg these whites with altered incentives and institu- ~ tional .fi~rms. The res,It has been a change in the geographic pattern of rather than a redttction itt, residential segregation.33 Wether goes on to note, "Civil rights policy has substantially dismantled neigh- borhood level, or 'intrajurisdictional' [sic], mechanisms of segregation. But fed- eral court policy has reinforced devices which support interjurisdictional [sic] racial segregation.TM This re-sorting of whites, not just to new neighborhoods but to new cities, explains the persistent racial segregation in housing markets and in non-Soulhern schools despite the efforts of Ihe civil rights tnovement. Indeed, one study has shown that the more fragmenled a region, the more racially and eco- nomically segregated it is.35 And itnportantly, blacks were not simply being seg- regated from whites but also from opportunity? One community worker calls the fragmentation associated with sprawl the 1990's version of states' rights? Support for states' rights was a strategy often used by civil rights opponents in the early part of the civil rights movement to undermine desegregation efforts at the federal level. Opponents of civil rights would argue that federal laws governing civil rights infringed on states' rights to govern themselves. Thus, through states' rights they attempted to circumvent the gains of the civil rights movement. There is an historical connection between the push for states' rights and the cur- rent political fragmentation at the municipal level. Both movements have used fragmentation and local conlrol lo prevent desegregation. The local control advo- cated by states' rights proponents was state control to circumvent federal laws. IThe local control and fragmentation associated with sprawl is a more refined ver- sion of the same localism touted by states' rights advocates and is used by resi- dents of the municipalities to exclude Iow income residents of color while trying to auract high tax base resources. I Sprawl, as a method of fragmentation, perpet- uates the dysfunctional dynamic of our regions and is a continuation of the sort- ing and local control movement that undermined civil rights desegregation efforts dating back to the 1950s. -5- Forum for Social Economics The Reciprocal Relationship Between Sprawl and Racialized Concentrated Poverty Concentrated poverty can be equated with racialized space at the urban core because these isolated low-income populations are also disproportionately populations of color.-~ Economist Anthony Downs and urban scholar David Rusk .%ve assertea that' where there is a sprawling metropolitan area with political frag- mentation and a substantial presence of racial minorities, you will have concen- trated poverty and racial segregation at the urban core? This phenomenon is not simply the result of naturally occurring economic sorting or private policy over the last fifty years. Poverty in America is racializcd and systemic; it is the prod- uct of well documented, formal and informal, racially discriminatory federal, state, and municipal policies, including housing and transportation policies that encourage middle-class whites to flee the city for the suburbs.nO Concentrated poverty is both a substantial cause and product of sprawl. On one hand, concentrated poverty has been a strong causative force behind sprawl. The fear of minority ghettoes and barrios and the social problems often associated with the poverty there, is one of the causes of white and middle class flight from the core of metropolitan areas; a flight that has created and exacerbated sprawl patterns? On the other hand, it is the abandonment of the urban core itself that creates and causes concentrated poverty, which is then used to justify white flight. It is not the poor concentrating themselves or moving to the center, but rather upper and middle class residents moving out to the periphery that causes the isolation of Iow-income people of color. Policies that have encouraged sprawl over the last fifty years have also fostered concentrated poverty as key opportunities quickly followed middle-class whites' flight from the urban core. Urban residents were left behind with a decliuing lax base, shrinking employmeut opporltmilies, ti fail- ing educational system, and a shortage of decent, affordable housing? There is an economic incentive for middle-class suburban residents to keep out those wilh high needs and few resources. This, coupled with racial discrimination and whites' aversion to blacks takes a high toll on Iow income blacks? While it is difficult to address issues of sprawl wilhout addressing concentrat- ed poverty, it is virtually impossible to address issues of concentrated poverty without dealing with sprawl? Strategies to alleviate concentrated poverty and racial discrimination center on gaining access to or creating economic and educa- tional opportunities. Since sprawl patterns have largely shaped the spatial place- ment of these opportunities, it is virtually impossible to substantially address con- centrated poverty without addressing sprawl. -6- Race, Poverty, and Urban Sprawl Why .Civil Rights and Social Justice Advocates Have Been Reluctant To Join the Anti-Sprawl Movement 1 have posited that sprawl and fragmentation caused concentrated poverty and undermined the civil rights movement. But if this is even modestly correct, then why is it that traditional civil rights and social justice advocates have not been more active participants in the attack on sprawl? There are a number of explana- tions for the failure of these communities to address sprawl as a strategy for addressing issues of race and poverty. While the list of possible explanations ! provide here is not exhaustive, it presents some of the most significant barriers to working on social justice issues in the context of sprawl discourse. One explanation is simply proxi~nity. Sprawl is primarily, but mistakenly, viewed as an issue at the edge of the metropolitan region, with little impact or direct relevance to the issues of the urban core. Many people involved with social justice issues in the urban core are often unaware of, and as a result, unconcerned with, what is happening so far from their neighborhoods and cities. Most of the active players addressing concentrated poverty issues are people working on a grass-roots level, often through Community Development Corporations (CDCs). The focus of most CDCs is to lift the economic level of the communities' resi- dents,ns It is often not immediately apparent to these communities that the resources they need to bolster their communities are being pushed away by the problems related to concentrated poverty and pulled away by sprawl patterns. Strategies addressing sprawl that seek to increase density and build up the tax base by drawing in the middle-class and businesses to create a more stable, mixed-income community are seldom advocated by anti-sprawl regionalists. Atldili~mally, Ihcsc slralcgics olicn seem irrclcvanl or Ihrcalcuing Itl the present population. A second explanation is the suspicion and resistance that urban communities have toward regional approaches? Regionalism suggests the need to move beyond fragmented jurisdictional approaches toward cross-jurisdictional cooper- ation as a means to address issues that impact the entire region? Many inner-city communities of color have resisted regional strategies for fear of losing cultural control, cultural identity, and political power within their communities. Indeed, this fear is well founded since the redrawing of political boundaries has often been used to disempower the minority community? However, so,ne theorists have failed to addresss concerns over disempowerment by suggesting that, although minority communities may currently have political control over their communi- ties, in reality, due to the lack of resources in their community or re-isolation with- in the political system, this control is ineffectual? The logic behind this position is that, even if minorities have to give up control in order to participate in region- -7- Forum for Social Economics al strategies, they have nothing to lose because, in effect, they have control over nothing significant. The Hobson's choice that is apparently presented by these two assertions is that inner-city communities of color can either have insignificant self-control, or have access to resources but no voice or identity. These are untenable choices that have been, and should be, rejected. But rejecting these choices is often seen as the same as rejection of regional or metropolitan efforts. This is a mistaken assump- tion as the dichotomy these choices present is a false one. Regional approaches are necessary to adequately address the inextricable issues of sprawl, race, and concentrated poverty because these are regional problems and the solutions are not found solely or even primarily within the neighborhoods or cities where con- centrated poverty is located. As the Mayor of Detroit, Dennis Archer, has recent- ly noted, "we can't save our cities unless we save our farmland.''so I have suggested a form of federated regionalism to mediate the concerns about disempowerment and the need for addressing concentrated poverty. S! Federated regionalism is a regional approach that preserves political and cultural status within communities or cities, while sharing regional resources and responsibili- ties, and balanced regional policymaking.52 This approach provides the opportu- nity to preserve and build on the assets of the inner city community while tapping into the resources and opportunities located elsewhere in the region. Another explanation for many urban civil rights advocates' failure to enter the sprawl discourse is their suspicion and skepticism of urban revitalization as a pol- icy for bringing in or maintaining the number of middle class households in the urban core. The fear is Ihat by allowing middle- and upper-income residents into Iheir neighborhoods through in-fill or gentrificalion, complete displacement of Iow-income residents will ultimalely result. This concern has both class and racial underpinnings. While concentrated poverty generally depicts a method of sorting low-income racial minorities at the urban core, gentrificafion is a way in which middle and upper middle class whites are sorted into urban areas by dis- placing Iow-income minorities.-~3 Although gentrification in high poverty cities is often a charged and con- lentious political issue, ! believe that concerns about gentrification are more appropriately raised in rich cities, not poor cities. The issue is more nuanced in middle class cities. This approach may seem counter-intuitive given that rich cities have resources and Iow poverty rates and poverty does not seem to be an issue. But when viewed in a wider context of how racial and class sorting occur in metropolitan areas, the approach takes on clarity. By rich cities, I refer to central cities that have a median per capita income and fiscal capacity close to or above the average for lhe region in which they are sit- ualcd. In addition, rich cities will usually have a growing or stable population base. San Francisco and Seattle arc examples of rich cities. Middle class cities -~- Race, Povert3; and Urban Sprawl are cities that have 70-90% of the regional median per capita income while poor cities have less than70% of the regional median income. Rich cities may appear to have no serious concentrated poverty issues, certainly not of the magnitude of poor cities such as Detroit and Cleveland. This perception, however, obscures how rich cities sort along racial and class lines through gentrificafion and how this method of sorting is related to concentrated poverty.5n Rich cities appear lo have few problems with concentrated poverty because their sorting practices displace or keep most Iow-income minorities out of their cilies where opportunity is con- centrated, while relocating them in nearby poor cities and suburbs. it is possible that a region is doing so well that the isolation of poor minorities associated with concentrated poverty is simply not an issue. However, this situa- tion is not likely, which makes it necessary to examine what is actually occurring in these rich cities and their surrounding regions. In San Francisco, the number of high poverty census tracts has remained comparatively Iow and stable at 12-13 since 1970 while most large American cities in the Midwest and Northeast have experienced a large increase in number of high poverty census tracts during this same time period.5-~ Through a closer examination of the forces behind this Iow number of high poverty tracts, we find that lower-income residents, even those with modest means, are being pushed out of the city and into areas where there is concentrated poverty, such as Oakland, or into other suburbs away from opportu- nity. This is disturbing for a number of reasons. Not only are people being pushed out of their homes and away from opportunity, they are also being pushed into areas with fewer social resources to address the needs of Iow-income resi- dents, in essence, the dynamics of isolation remain the same, they are just relo- cated. We find a similar sorting going on in places like Seattle. Seattle, which had only 9 high poverty census tracts in 1990, is a place where economic resources in the region are concentrated in the central city.s6 At the same time, many of the IoW-income residents are being pushed out into southern working class suburbs such as Renton.-~ This context of gentrification could be called extra-jurisdic- tional gentrification in that low-income residents are not simply being pushed out of their neighborhood but also out of their city. To exacerbate the problems of displaced residents, poor cities and marginal working class suburbs receiving the displaced have declining resources and grow- ing need. in these suburbs many of the long-term residents are white and many of the residents coming in are people of color. This is a recipe for racial tension and rescntment.5~ Because both the Bay Area and the Seattle area are fragmented along jurisdic- tional lines, these rich cities are in a sense subsidized by this sorting process since they do not have to share their resources with the low-income residents they have displaced to nearby suburbs or cities. In so doing, these rich cities fail to take Forum for Social Economics their fair share of responsibility for the social needs they have helped create in other locations within the region. Contrast this experience of extra-jurisdictional or complete gentrificafion with the experience of many high poverty cities. In many high poverty areas or cities, any effort to attract or build housing for middle class households is misconstrued as gentrification. It is both a conceptual and political mistake to confuse gentri- fication with efforts to attract middle class households back to poor cities, how- ever. For example, in cities such as Cleveland and Detroit which have a large number of high poverty census tracts populated primarily by low income people of color? as well as a large number of vacant lots and homes,~ there is an effort to attract middle class residents. The effort to attract middle-income housing in these areas is better characterized as in-fill housing and the goal is to build hous- ing on vacant land or rehab existing housing that is not being used. In-fill hot :sing can be built in areas where there is little or no existing housing or in areas where some housing already exists. While in-fill can involve any type of housing and other non-residential projects, it is the filling in with middle and upper middle class homes that is most frequently associated or confused with gen- trification. Gentrification is usually understood to mean the transition of a neigh- borhood caused by the in-migration of middle and upper middle class residents who are most often white, and the resulting forced out-migration of low-income residents who are frequently people of color? Given this understanding, an in-fill project is not gentrification because no one is being pushed out.62 In-fill housing can be used as a strategy to create stable mixed-income com- munities. In contrast, gentrification occurs when middle or upper income gentri- tiers move into economically depressed neighborhoods to restore older housing stock or build new housing and, in so doing, displace current residents from affordable housing. The mixed income communities that result from gentrifica- tion are generally not stable, but transitional; transitioning from largely Iow- income to exclusively upper and middle-income communities. Revitalization efforts that have the goal of creating stable mixed-income neighborhoods through in-fill or partial/small-scale gentrification, should be distinguished from extra- jurisdictional gentrification that pushes the poor out of the cities. This distinction is vital to strategizing to create stable, mixed-income neighborhoods, cities, and regions. -10- Race, Poverty, and Urban Sprawl Poor Cities Have Much to Gain By Attracting Middle-Income Housing Poor cities tend to possess more than their share of their region's low-income housing. Among other things, this means that the city does not have the buying power or the tax base of other areas in the region. The poor city lacks the resources it needs to attract investment and address the greater social and infras- tructure needs of its residents. Detroit, for example, is a city with an aging infras- tructure that was designed for two million people but now serves a population of just over one million residents mostly of modest means.6-~ Given the dearth of population, especially residents in the middle- and upper-income brackets, Detroit overburdens relatively few residents with the cost of supporting this infrastruc- lure. This places a tremendous economic strain on the city. In addition, many of the jobs and other resources associated with opportunities are more likely to be found outside of poor cites. These cities need a strategy to capture a fair share of the opportunity base, including the tax and job base of the region. Trying to attract middle-income residents and middle income housing is a rational strategy for these cities to pursue because it brings in a much needed boost to revenues, and creates buying power which in turn creates even more revenue for the central cities. Despite the promise of expanding the central city's resources, such strategies are often contentious and strongly opposed by inner city residents of color. Although there are a number of reasons for this opposition, I will focus on four. The first, which has been a primary focus of this essay, is that this method of city revitalization is mistakenly perceived as a gentrification process that will displace inner city residents from their existing neighborhoods? The second is that in poor cities there is still likely to be unmet Iow-income housing needs; causing resis- tance to revitalization efforts that focus on middle-income households with the least need of assistance. The third reason is that it has not been made clear to low- income communities why attracting middle class households will benefit the city or its existing residents. Finally, revitalization efforts are perceived in racial terms. That is, they are viewed as a political ploy specifically intended to pander to white suburbanites and hurt blacks and other people of color. Our history gives all four of these concerns credence. Consider, for example, the urban renewal of the sixties.6-~ This policy, which appears similar to the pro- posed in-fill strategies, often hurt minorities while it benefited whiles? Another basis for these concerns is the fact that whites fled to the suburbs as blacks came to the central city. Because of this, minority communities often perceive any return by whites to the city as an effort to retake the city.67 Indeed, even in Oakland today there is support for this perception as there is some indication that the new mayor is taking a public posture that uses black disenfranchisement to -Il- Forum for Social Econoraics draw whites back to Oakland? There is also the concern that low-income people, often people of color, need assistance in the housing market by developing and subsidizing affordable housing. But the city simply cannot address the housing and other social needs of Iow-income citizens of the region by itself. If poor cities continue to impoil poor residents while exporting oppoilunities and resources, a role historically consigned to cities by the federal government and the region, the cities will cease to function. Despite their often justified concerns, it is a mistake for low-income commu- nities to oppose policies that provide a better balance of mixed-income housing stock in the city. While it is conceivable that some partial/small-scale gentrifica- tion in poor cities will occur, it must be stressed that gentrification is not the cen- tral issue facing poor cities. In fact most poor cities will continue to lose popula- tion especially middle-class residents, even with the implementation of in-fill pro- grams. The pull of sprawl and the push of concentrated poveily that already exist in these cities cannot be adequately addressed unless the sprawl and fragmenta- tion issues are more directly confronted by inner city communities. Rich cities that engage in extra-jurisdictional gentrification usually have small, politically marginalized Iow-income minority populations that cannot alone mount an eYfective opposition to on-going displacement. By contrast, in cities with large numbers of Iow-income minorities, allegations of gentrification are used as a racial coding to oppose whites moving back to the city. The reality is, in most of these poor cities there is little, if any, gentrification occurring. If resi- dents are displaced it is more likely to be to a nearby neighborhood in the city through what I have termed intra-jurisdiction gentrification. While any displacement raises legitimate concerns, the intra-jurisdictional gen- trification that may occur in modest amounts in poor cities and the extra-jurisdic- tional gentrification in rich cites are of a different order. The concern in poor cites is less likely to be displacement in terms of housing but rather a fear of displace- ment in terms of power. There is concern that the influx of whites to the city fore- shadows white domination. While there may be a basis for such fear, as the expe- rience of Oakland appears to be bearing out, cities like Detroit and Cleveland are far from being at risk of political domination by whites. Nonetheless, low-income communities of color in these poor cities evoke the same fears of displacement and disempowcrment to oppose an influx of whites. The future of middle class cities, such as Minneapolis is more difficult to fore- see. The balance in middle class cities is much more delicate and requires con- scant attention. In middle class cities intra-jurisdictional gentrification and dis- placement are more likely to occur than in poor cities. Despite this influx of mid- dle- and upper-income residents, these cities are still losing population and remain oversubscribed in terms of Iow-income housing. In light of this dynamic, similar -12- Race, Poverty..and Urban Sprawl to that of poor cities, it does not make sense for low-income communities to oppose active attempts to attract and keep middle class residents. In middle class cities, middle class ho.using in-fill projects are valuable in low-income neighbor- hoods where there are many vacant lots. Instead of opposing it, middle class cities should welcome middle class in-fill, but with a vigilant eye toward the ulti- mate goal of access to opportunity for Iow-income communities. Regional Strategizing for the Future The common thread for understanding the housing needs and the ways in which oppoilunity is sorted in rich, middle class, and poor cities is through a regional approach. In evaluating each of these types of cities, one must look at how pop- ulation and oppoilunity are being sorted by race and class on a regional level. We must then adopt strategies that give people meaningful access to oppoilunities. From a regional perspective, concentrated poverty in the cities or declining sub- urbs is a method of isolation and containment and should be opposed. If the ultimate goal is to provide Iow-income people of color access to the opportunity structures from which they have been excluded, then communities should seek to build stable mixed-income, racially integrated communities with access to opportunities. There are those who believe you can alleviate concen- trated poverty by bringing opportunities to poor city neighborhoods through localized revitalization effoils, thus avoiding the regional discussion. However, these effoils have generally failed unless they have been linked to a larger metropolitan goal.69 The strategies that should be pursued lo provide access to opportunity differ greatly among rich, middle class, and poor cities, because Iheir experiences of racial and class soiling differ greatly. Poor cities must overcome their fear of dis- placement and recognize that their volatile resistance to the influx of middle- income residents through in-fill is vastly out of propoilion to the actual threat posed. Poor city communities should refocus on the ultimate goal of access to oppoilunities and resources. By refocusing their strategies, Iow-income commu- nities of color and social justice advocates will recognize that attracting middle- income residents and businesses is a logical next step lc) continue the civil rights movement's goal of true access to opportunities. -13- Forum for Social Economics Notes *Thanks go to Rachael Callanan for assistance on this paper. 1. See Rusk, 1995, 1999; Massey and Denton, 1993; Orfield, 1997; Jorgowsky, 1997, 201-213; Downs, 1998, 8; and Freilich and Peshoff. 2. See Galster and Hill, 1992. ("The condition of African-Americans who are per- sistently poor is an extreme expression of racial inequality, and it provides a crys- tallized picture of polarization between African- and European-Americans in the metropolis."); Massey and Denton. 3. Purdum. 4. Gordon and Richardson, 23. 5. Anonymous, Star Tribune (Anti-sprawl policies are being advocated by Vice President Al Gore, New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, and in Maryland, by Governor Pan-is Glendening). 6. Purdham. 7. Jargowsky, 201-203; Foster-Bey. 8. Id. Foster-Bey, 29-30. See also, Massey and Denton. 9. Peirce. 10. Id. 1 !. Jargowsky, 105. 12. Orfield, 58-59. 13. Oliver and Shapiro. 14. Orfield, 2-4; Massey and Denton, I. 15. Orfield, 2-5. ! 6. Wilson. 17. Gordon and Richardson. ! 8. Jackson. 19. id 206, 217. 20. Downs, 1997. 21. Rusk, 72-73, box 2.5 (citing studies by Savitch, 341-357, and Voith, 31). 22. Peirce, 19. 23. Downs, 9; Orfield, 2. 24. See Peirce, 3. 25. Peirce, 19. 26. Brooke. 27. Peirce, 19. 28. Orfield, 39-54. 29. McLeod. 30. Land use policies within inner city commnnities have been addressed through the environmental justice movement. See Collin. 31. In the school desegregation context, Milliken v. Bradley, 418 U.S. 717 (1974), -14- Race, Pover~., and Urban Sprawl provides a forceful example of how political fragmentation curtailed the aims of the civil rights movement. In Milliken, the court ordered the Detroit schools to be desegregated but prohibited an inter-district desegregation remedy that would have included the white suburban districts along with the largely minority school district in Detroit. The narrow focus of the desegregation remedy, as limited by local municipal boundaries, did not remedy segregation on a broad scale and in fact, may have entrenched racial segregation. See Ford. 32. Weiher. 33. Weiher, 87-88. 34. Id., at 88. 35. Rusk. 36. For a good discussion of the Supreme Court's confusing fidelity to local con- trol see Ford, ! 866-1877. 37. Conversation with Mary Gonzalez, Metropolitan Alliance of Congregations, Chicago, Illinois. 38. We not only sort poverty by race and space, we also use space to maintain and create the social meaning of race. So in today's practices, we use the ghetto both to produce 'blackness' and also as a place to consign low income blacks. See Goldberg; Jargowsky; Calmore; Ford; and Rusk, 1999. 39. Downs, 9 (defines fragmentation as a part of sprawl); Rusk, 44. 40. Massey and Denton; Jackson; powell, 1996. 41.1d. 42. See Freilich and Peshoff; Orfield. 43. For a good discussion of whites' aversion to blacks and concentrated pover- ty see Weiher, 87-99. 44. In-place economic developmental strategies, alone, have been ineffective in addressing concentrated poverty on a large scale. Rusk, 127-128; Orfield, 75; Foster-Bey (discussing the limitations of in-place strategies); see also, Bollens, 11, 12 (both in-place and mobility strategies are necessary to effectively address concentrated poverty). 45. Vidal, i 992. 46. powell, 1998, 20; see also Goedert; and Choper. 47. See e.g. Rusk, 1995; Peirce; Orfield. 48. Guinier; Kousser. 49. Orfield; Guinier, 1991. (citing Fainstain and Fainstain.); Guinier, 1991a, 1131-1132. 50. Remarks by Dennis Archer, Detroit Mayor, to the Michigan Farm Bureau/Clean Mchigan Inititative, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Oct. !, 1998. 51. powell, 1998, 22. 52. Id. -15- Forum for Social Economics 53. This is not suggesting that only minorities live in concentrated poverty or that only whites live in gentrified areas, although both statements are more tree than not. 54. It is recognized .that the wealth of a region can dislort which category a city falls into, despite this limitation this is a useful way of distinguishing rich, mid- die and poor cities. It is also clear that a city may move from one category lo another. For a discussion of this see Rusk, 1995. 55. Jargowsky, Appendix B (citing U.S. Census Data). 56. Jargowsky, 232. 57. Couklin; Modie. 58. Other U.S. cities have recently experienced racial tension in neighborhoods that were formerly all-white but are witnessing an influx of people of color. Lewis, Brand-Williams and Taylor; Associate Press. 59. In 1990 Detroit had 149 high poverty census tracts while Cleveland had 69 high poverty census tracts. Jargowsky, 224, 225, 235 (citing 1990 U.S. Census Data). 60. The percentage of vacant housing units in Detroit is 8.8, and in Cleveland the vacancy rate is 10.9%. 1990 U.S. Census Data. 61. The term gentrification has been criticized as a misnomer since many gentri- tiers are not from the highest echelons of society, but are in fact middle income. However, gentrificalion will be the term used in this essay because it is the term most commonly used lo describe the phenomena of middle and upper-income res- idents returning to live in Ibc central city, often renovating existing housing stock. See Durham and Sheldon, Ill. 62. Even if people are not directly displaced, it is possible that in-fill could still have the effect of pushing people out by driving up Ihe property values in the area or city which could make it harder for people to slay in their homes. This is a major problem in cities such as Detroit and Cleveland, however. As will become clear later in lhis article, I believe that it is important to distinguish between gentrification and other processes, such as in-fill, that are not likely to nave the impact of displacing large numbers of people. When there is gentrifica- lion in poor cities, it is likely to be intra-.jurisdictional. This means that people will be able to relocate within their home city if not their neighborhood, but il also means they remain tied lo a jurisdiclion with a limited taxing capacity. I am not suggesting in Ihis article that gcntrificalion in poor cities does not occur. It can and it docs, but usually on a very modest scale. There may be very good reasons to challenge even modest gcntrification in poor cities but this should not be con- fused with in-fill or Iht need to attract middle class housing stock. For a recent example of a dispute over gentrification in Detroit see Puls. 63. Sugruc. -16- Race, Povert).; and Urban Sprawl 64. Our history offers very few examples of stable integrated neighborhoods. Most historically white neighborhoods that experience an influx of people of color, particularly blacks, reach a "tipping" point, a point at which whites feel threatened by the growing minority population and flee. When this occurs, neigh- borhoods rapidly shift from predominantly white to predominantly black. See Wether, 19-22. In a related phenomenon, black neighborhoods that undergo gen- trification experience a rapid shift by which middle- and upper-class whites move into and transform the neighborhood and lower-class blacks are forced to move to other "affordable" neighborhoods. Although both phenomena point to the ephemeral nature of integrated neighborhoods, the key difference is that with "tip- pin.g" there is no actual "squeezing out" of whites, whereas, with gentrificalion, the relocation is involuntary. 65. Halpern, 64-71. 66. See id. 67. Sugrue. 68. See Nieves; Malier and Ross. Brown who is the new white mayor of Oakland, California may be engaging in what l call strategic racism. Strategic racism is a polilically motivated effort to curry favor with whites after establishing a reputa- tion as being supportive of pro-black policies, in other words, lo demonstrate to outsiders that lhe politician has not been "captured" by blacks. Brown appears to be adopting this strategy by publicly attacking blacks, particularly Police Chief Joseph Samuels, to attract non-blacks and investment back into Oakland. This has been an effective strategy with a number of politicians. See Edsall, for a relat- ed phenomenon called "wedge politics" where politicians play the "race card" to gain political favor; see also O'Reilly. 69. See s~q~ra note 43. References Anonymous. (January 17, 1999). "Smarter Grow'th, Gore's Plan to Contain Urban Sprawl." Star Tribune. 24A. Associated Press. (March 31, 1999). "Diversity Brings Racial Tension to Small California City; L.A. Suburb Considered Among Safest Communities." The Baltimore Sun. 12A. Bollens, Scott A. (1997). "Concentrated Poverty and Metropolitan Equity Strategies."Stat!fi,-d Lam' and Policy Review. 8: !-23. Brooke, James. (December 29, 1998). "Denver Stands Oul in Mini-Trend Toward Downtown Living." The New York Times. A ! O. Calmore, John O. (1995). "Racialized Space and lhe Culture of Segregation: 'Hewing a Stone of Hope from a Mountain of Despair'." Universit.v of Pennsylvania Law Review. ! 43:1233-1273. -17- Forum for Social Economics Choper, Jesse H. (1984). "Consequences of Supreme Court Decisions Upholding Individual Constitutional Rights." Michigan Law Review. 83: 1-212. Collin, Robert W. (199'4). "Review of Legal Literature on Environmental Racism, Environmental Equity, and Environmental Justice." Jourttal of Environmental Law attd Litigation. 9:12 l- 17 I. Conklin, Ellis E. (March 20, 1998)· "Many Priced Out By This Area's Housing Market·" Seattle Post-lntelligencer. Cl. Downs, Anthony. (1997). "Suburban-lnner-City Ecosystem." Journal of Property Management. 62: 60-66. __. (Fall 1998). "How America's Cities Are Growing: The Big Picture·" Brookings Review. ! 6, 4: 8-11. Durham, James Geoffrey, and Dean E. Sheldon, ltl. (1986). "Mitigating the Effects of Private Revitalization on Housing for the Poor." Marquette Law Review· 70, I: 1-40· Edsall, Thomas Byrne. (1992). Chain Reaction. New York: W. W. Norton, Co. Fainstain, Susan, F. and Norman I. Fainstain. (1989). "The Racial Dimension of Urban Political Economy." Urban Affairs Quarterly. 25. Ford, Richard Thompson· (1994). "The Boundaries of Race: Political Geography in Legal Analysis." Harvard Law Review. 107: 1843-1921. Foster-Bey, John. (1997). "Bridging Communities: Making the Link Between Regional Economies and Local Community Development." Stall, rd Law and Policy Review. 8: 25-45. Freilich, Robert H., and Bruce G. Peshoff. (1997). "The Social Costs of Sprawl." Urban Lawyer. 29: 183-198. Galster, George C., and Edward W. Hill. (1992)· Tire Metropolis in Black and White: Place. Power. and Polarization. New Brunswick: Center for Urban Policy Research. Goedert, Jo Ann Grozuczack. (1988). "Jenkins vs. Missouri: The Future of Interdistrict School Descgration." Georgetowtt l_~aw Jottrttal. 76:1867- 1916. Goldberg, David Theo. (1993). Racist Cttltttre. Cambridge: Blackwell. Gordon, Peter, and Harry Richardson. (Fall 1998). "Prove It: The Cosls and Benefits of Sprawl·" Brookings Review. 16, 4: 23-25. Guiner, Lan:. (1991a). "The Triumph of Tokenism: The Voting Rights Act and the Theory of Black Electoral Success·" Michigan Law Review. 89: 1077- !154. · ( 1991 b). "No Two Seats: The Elusive Quest for Political Equality." l, qrginia Law Review. 77:1413-1514. . (1994). Tire Tyranny of the Ma. joriO': Fun~httnental Fairness itt Representative Democrat?. New York: Thc Free Press. -18 - Race, Poverty, and Urban Sprawl Halpern, Robert. (1995)· Rebuilding the Inner City: A History of Neighborhood Initiaves to Address Poverty in the United States· New York: Columbia University Press· Jackson, Kenneth T. (1985). Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanizaiton of the United States· New York: Oxford University Press· Jargowsky, Paul A. (1997). Poverty and Place: Ghettos, Barrios, and the A,terican City. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Kousser, J. Morgan· (! 999)· Colorblind Injustice: Minority Voting and Rights and the Second Reconstruction. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press· Le..wis, Shawn C., Oralander Brand-Williams and Janet Taylor. (March l l, 1999). "Racial and Ethnic Tension Strain Suburban Schools." The Detroit News· Massey, Douglas S., and Nancy A. Denton· (! 993). American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass. Cambridge: Harvard University Press· Matter, Phillip, and Andrew Ross. (March 17, 1999). "Looks Like Oakland Police Chief's Heave-Ho Is Imminent·" San Francisco Chronicle. Al I. McLeod, Ramon G. (June 16, 1998). "Rental Housing Crunch Hits Poor Hardest." The San Francisco Chronicle. Al. Modie, Neil. (November 6, 1998). "Give 'Em Shelter, Rich Suburbs Told." Seattle Post-httelligencer. Cl. Nieves, Evelyn· (March 30, 1999). "A Bullish Jerry Brown Barges On, Stepping On Toes·" The New York Times. Al4. Oliver, Melvin L., and Tho~nas M Shapiro· (1995). Black WealtlffWhite Wealth: A New Perspective tilt Racial htequality. New York: Routledge. O' Reilly, Kenneth. (1995). Nixon :~ Pta,o: Presidents and Racial Politics from Washington to Clinton. New York: The Free Press. Orfield, Myron. (1997). Metropolitics: A Regional Agenda for Communtiy and Stability. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institutions Press. Peirce, Neal R. (1993). Citistates. Washington, D.C.: Seven Locks Press. powell, john a. (1996). "How Govermnent Tax and Housing Policies Have Racially Segregated America." Karen B. Brown and Mary Louise Fellows, eds. Ta. ring America. New York: New York University Press. 8{)-I 15. · (Fall 1998). "Race and Space: What Really Drives Metropolitan Growth." Blvokings Review. 16, 4: 20-22. Puls, Mark. (March 5, 1999). "Neighbors Fight to Save a Piece of Detroit's Past: City Wants to Clear Classic Homes for New Development." The Detroit News. A I. -19 - Forum ~,r Social Ecommtics Purdum, Todd S. (February 6, 1999): "Suburban Sprawl Takes Its Place on the Political Landscape." The New York 7~mes. A I. Rusk, David. (1995). Cities Without Subttrbs. Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center Press. __. (1999) h~side Game/Outside Game. New York: Brookings Institution Press. Savitch, H.V. (November 1993). "Ties thai Bind: Central Cities, Suburbs, and the New Metropolitan Region." Economic Development Quarterly. 7: 341- 357. Sugrue, Thomas J. (1996). The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and h~equality in Postwar Detroit. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Vidal, Avis. (1992). Rebuilding Communities: A National Study of Uri~an Community Developtnent Corporations. New York: Community Development Research Center of Robert J. Malino Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy. Voith, Richard. (September-October 1992). "City and Suburban Growth: Substitutes or Complements.'?" Business Review of the Federal Reservce Bank of Philadelphia. 21-31. Wether, Gregory R. (I 991 ). The Fractured Metropolis: Political Fragmentation and Metropolitan Segregation. New York: State University of New York Press. Wilson, William J. (1997). When Work Disappears. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Irc. -20- Cities at Work 1999 Beyond Tolerance: A Call to Action November 8, 1999 DRAFT Ideas for Action The following list of ideas was generated by action discussion groups at the final 1999 Cities at Work forum, Beyond Tolerance: A Call to Action on November 8, 1999. at Arlington High School. Upon registration, participants signed up for the small groups based on their interests in the topic areas and on personal affinity for particular issues. The action discussion topics were determined by an analysis of the dominant themes that emerged out of the 1998-99 round of Twin Cities area community circle dialogues, including the Cities at Work circle dialogues in Saint Paul, and the Cities at Work public forums addressing the impact of racism in our rapidly changing community. Approximately 900 people participated in the 1999 Cities at Work forums, gatherings, training sessions and community circle dialogues. The impact of racism and segregation on our community's housing and education opportunities was directly addressed in the community circle dialogue discussions. Insure Fair And Affordable Housing for All 1. Advocate for affordable and accessible housing · Educate folks about federal government's role in housing · Encourage preservation and rehabilitation Vs demolition · Focus on Saint Paul City Council's commitment to affordable housing policy · Find more aggressive financial support for nonprofit housing developers · Bring together diverse communities to purchase plots and pool resources for developing affordable housing · Address zoning requirements · Organize broader community support including faith and business leaders Lead Contacts: Greg Finzell-221-9884 Petey Mitchell-771-1152 X 19 Lead Contacts: Russ Adams-612-332-4471 Christy Snow-917-5869 Expand fair and inclusionary housing practices Educate faith based groups to get involved in strengthening inclusionary housing practices Use affirmative marketing to showcase examples in both urban and suburban communities Raise awareness of need for fair and affordable issue in workplaces and among businesses Link affordable housing and fair housing strategies Monitor public agencies Build capacity of communities of color re: housing ownership, production, development Pacyinz Lyfoung-296-9825 Justin Cummins-222-5863 3. Create Housing Information Clearinghouse Communi _ty Resources Identified: First Call for Help Crisis Connection Continue The Public Dialogue On Undoing Racism And Racial Justice 1. Expand opportunities for circle dialogues about race and racism Find ways for public and private partnerships to sponsor dialogues · Build on what others are doing already-leave turf issues beyond · Create opportunities for circle dialogues in high schools with faculty, staff, parents and students · Increase government sponsorship of circle dialogues i.e. City of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, County governments, Metro Council · Use other models i.e. non-linear approach similar to restorative justice model · Use dialogues to move beyond discussion to defining community assets and priorities as a community building tool · Focus on history and the roots of racism Lead Contact: Hector Garcia-659-0401 2. Coordinate community efforts for racial reconciliation and undoing racism · Link organizations involved in combating racism with a central Website or newsletter to keep efforts coordinated and serve as clearinghouse that announces opportunities for action. Use all levels of technology to make sure information is accessible to many · Link research on what works, what is needed, to practitioners in community. Also look at what has been tried and failed and ask why? · Link work being done locally by agencies and community groups to elected officials and major social institutions such s schools, colleges, etc. · Link efforts that develop neighborhood and community leadership · Do a walk through history including story telling that addresses past hurts and include healing ceremony Community Resources Identified: Wilder Foundation, Cities at Work website Wilder Research Center Harmony Worksnewsletter MRA/Hope in the Cities Roy Wilkins Center for Human Relations and Social Justice Just Stop It Campaign-Rev Devin Miller InterRace-Augsburg College local churches Lead Contacts: Lawrencina Mason-Oramaly-612-626-7164 Toni Reams-292-9385 Tzy Lee Ya-659-6036 Antonia Wilcoxin-612- 291-8330 3. Develop faith-based action and response for racial justice · Help churches prepare themselves and mobilize to counter racism thorough training and dialogue groups and stimulate awareness of personal responsibility and racist practices (racial impact statements) · Develop education in Anglo congregations around white privilege and power · Get youth involved · .Develop network of diverse ethnic groups and bring churches together to work together to create systemic solutions Community_ Resources Identified: MCARI Crossroads Ministry Roy Wilkins Center at HHH Frogtown Pluralism Circle Bethel College Lead Contacts: Claude Jones-487-2964 Jim Tyree-642-4026 Rev Becky Sechrist-612-378-2380 4. Fight Hate Crime in our neighborhoods Communi .ty Resources Identified: League of Minnesota Human Rights Commission Hamline Midway Alliance for a Prejudice Free Community Saint Paul Human Rights Department Lead Contact: Cathy Lue-646-1986 5. Link youth with adults to take leadership in further understanding and combating racism · Engage youth and adults in dialogues about racism · Create youth-friendly environments ie rules, procedures, meeting agendas, etc. · Engage youth in planning for action to strengthen and lobby policy and mobilize others · Develop play or theatrical event with youth about combating racism Communi _ty Resources Identified: Armstrong High School-youth dialogues National Youth Leadership Council SEED Youth organizations ie South Side Family School, Wilder Forest, etc Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights Lead Contacts: Julie Wilson-Herkovitz-645-3207 Johanna Bonnei-612-341-3302 Use the Media to Combat Racism and Promote Pluralism 1. Intensify positive media attention on race relations and racism · Create alternative ways to inform public about community circles · Use Internet as forum for community dialogue · Utilize cable access for dialogue event · Find ways to promote pluralism and combat racism through neighborhood newspapers Communi _ty Resources Identified: CAAR West Side Family Center SPPN, KTCA Lead Contact: Melvin Giles-265-5712 Recognize The Diversity In Our Community 1. Welcome New Immigrants in Our Communities Build individual relationships with people from different backgrounds · Challenge people who express biases and prejudices Increase awareness of American privilege · Take time to listen and share stories of new immigrants · Find ways to celebrate the unique cultural diversity found in our neighborhoods and to incorporate that diversity into large community-wide events ie Winter Carnival, etc. · Create public art and theater projects that engage diversity found in our community · Use media to fight anti-immigrant sentiments · Connect with each other about issues-stay informed and inform others including public officials Communi .ty Resources Identified: Heart of the Beast Puppet Theater Forecast Public Arts Illusion Theater CLIMB Theater Lead Contacts: Teresa Glass-265-5717 Chris Dart-645-3207 2. Celebrate diverse cultural heritage through community events and gatherings · Create community access to arts and artists and to local resources ie storytellers, writers, singers, dancers, etc.- An artist registry on the WEB · Create opportunities for cultural events on a neighborhood level i.e. heritage dinners, storytelling, etc. · Create city-wide committee to review how we as a city can plan cultural events to improve cross-cultural understanding and appreciation · Develop culturally based after school programs that use arts to empower students and broaden their experience · Use community issues and problems as catalyst to gather people of different backgrounds together Lead Contacts: Jill Waterhouse-292-0131 Cheryl Kartes-612-788-2107 3. Expand Community Involvement In Census 2000 Communi _ty Resources Identified: Ramsey and Hennepin Counties Saint Paul Public Schools NAACP Minnesota Senior Federation Resources for Child Care Celebrities-Vikings, Wolves, Lynx Church bulletins Lead contacts: Brenda Bell Brown 642-0811 Maya Petrovic 266-6647 4 Create Equitable Educational Opportunities in Our Public Schools 1. Insure equitable educational opportunities and resources · Merge metro and suburban school districts with metro-wide funding to ensure equitable education · Insure that all school site councils in area schools represent demographics of local school · Engage business community in funding of public schools · Find ways to fund public schools through state wide income tax versus local property taxes · Develop urban teacher education program on post secondary level to recruit more people of color to profession · Increase teacher salaries to attract the best and brightest to the teaching profession · Implement more service learning opportunities for youth in our public schools · Evaluate socio-cultural equity of standardized tests · Create new standards for teaching reading · Continue compensatory education funding Communi _ty Resources Identified Metro Council Governors Office-Mae Schunk Minnesota Minority Education Parmership State legislature-Sandy Pappas, Matt Entenza, Carlos Mariani, Larry Pogrniller, etc. Saint Paul Public Schools Urban Coaliton EHEP Lead Contacts: Gary Kwong-642-1702 Judy Brown-224-3492 2. Improve school, parent and community relationships · Hire more bilingual/bicultural outreach staff in schools and community organizations · Develop a more cohesive community vision about education · Inspire volunteerism among students and parents · Develop more parmerships between schools and community groups for mentoring and tutoring · Support efforts to get information to parents in languages other than English · Provide more diversity training and cultural awareness opportunities for school staff and faculty to insure more respect for parents from diverse backgrounds · Find innovative ways for school staff a to learn and listen from parents 3. Support and implement a multicultural curriculum in the public schools · Teach history of institutional racism in schools · Invite parents and other community resources to each culture · Celebrate multicultural gifts of students · Examine use of language in curriculum for power bias, gender/racial bias, etc. · Identify student cultures so curriculum can reflect Communi .W Resources Identified: Saint Paul Public Schools curriculum coordinators COMPAS Minnesota State Dept of CFL Mutual assistance associations Office of Civil Rights Lead Contacts: Dan Rodgriguez-293-5100 Tim Gusk-642-2003 Engage the Business Community in Welcoming and Investing in Our Community's Diversity 1. Promote minority business development opportunities · Design an on-line minority business website or resource that allows minority entrepreneurs to assess available resources and opportunities · Promote investment and patronage of minority businesses, vendors, etc. · Develop minority business support group · Create a website for opportunities for minority contracts and an on-line minority business yellow pages Lead Contacts: Elsa Batica-291-5612 John Rosales-765-8512 2. Recruit and Retain people of color · Improve mass transit opportunities for getting to and from work during night shifts · Coordinate child care needs amongst employers · Review single parent needs in creating wage/benefit packages · Reorganize production schedules to recognize needs of workers from diverse backgrounds · Sponsor community circle dialogues at large, local corporations · Create job opportunities that ensure advancement, job training, and education · Provide on-site ESL skils and training in employer organized systems Community_ Resources Identified: Community Employment Parmership Dimantling Racism Group EHEP Lead Contacts: Marie McNamara-266-4141 Sarah Dennison-687-9000 3. Infuse cUltural awareness in the workplace · Provide opportunities for community circle dialogues in workplace settings · Develop ways to educate workers about diverse cultures through storytelling, dialogue about cultural norms, etc. · Create diversity committees in workplaces · Build cross-cultural work/project teams · Create company-sponsored events i.e. ethnic meals, holidays, celebrations, etc · Develop buddy system for all new hires Community_ Resources Identified: Wilder Research Center Ramsey Action Programs Lead Contacts: Elizabeth Campbell-612-340-1450 Ike Welbom-603-5881 Justine Nelson Christine-Daughter 612-623-3825 UNOFFICIAL DRAFT - 4/23/98 The Ch°iCes for Community Project A Report on the 1997 Round of Community Circles Education and Housing Equity Project Community Circle Collaborative "We need to develop a regional civics that is not about governmental entities. It's about citizens, community groups, businesses, and government agencies coming together to act in the common interest of the region." - William Barnes, coauthor of The U.S. Common Market I. Executive Summary: Principal Findings and Directions for the Future A great experiment in democracy is underway in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Since December 1996, over 350 residents of the Twin Cities metropolitan area have been involved in the Choices for Community program, the first effort of its kind to bring citizens of an entire region together to deliberate on difficult regional issues. The program is being organized by the Community Circle Collaborative, a cross-sector coalition of over 30 Twin Cities organizations. In their Community Circles - small, participatory, democratic discussions - citizens addressed issues surrounding educational and residential segregation. Participants shared their hopes, concerns, and recommendations at a Community Forum held in May 1997. This fall, another round of Community Circles will begin. The program's organizers and sponsoring organizations are determined to bring many more people into these vital discussions. Based on findings from the first round, the program will also facilitate more opportunities for participants to join in implementing the solutions they develop. With the foundation laid in the first year, the second will become a greater springboard for action at the neighborhood and community levels. II. Background: The Community Circle Collaborative "It couldn't happen here." Not in Minneapolis-St. Paul, the political home of Hubert Humphrey: Minnesota, America's sane heartland .... The Twin Cities was immune to urban decline, inner-suburban decay, urban sprawl- and the polarization that has devastated and divided older, larger regions. After all, we were not Chicago, Detroit, or Milwaukee. We were reform minded, and our philanthropic and governmental centers were coordinated and responsive. Then the 1980s hit, marking our Twin Cities with identical patterns of regional polarization .... If it could happen here, no American region is immune. Once polarization occurs, the concentration of poverty, disinvestment, middle-class flight, and urban sprawl grow more and more severe. -- Myron Orfield, Metropolitics (1997: 1, emphasis added) State Legislator Myron Orfield was one of the first citizens in the region to realize that Twin Cities communities were becoming increasingly polarized along the lines of race and class. Changes in regional school districts pointed to serious issues of equity in both housing access and public education. It is within this context that the Community Circle Collaborative (CCC) was launched. CCC is a metro- wide dialogue project that engages citizens from all walks of life, 8-12 at a time, in study circles held throughout the metro area. Originally a parmership among EHEP, the Minneapolis Initiative Against Racism (MIAR), the Minnesota Minority Education Parmership (MMEP), and the Minnesota Fair Housing Center, the CCC initiative has expanded into a wide-ranging coalition of community-based organizations, public staff and officials, and individuals working in a variety of fields, including social justice, race relations, housing, education, religion, law and social research. The Collaborative's members were united by their interest in two central questions: · What are the impacts of existing patterns of residential, economic and racial segregation on the educational achievement and life opportunities of Twin Cities area children and families? · What can or should we do, as individuals and as a community, to enhance educational success and housing and economic opportunities for all children in the Twin Cities area? The diversity in our state is greatest among children .... So this is a long curve. We'd better start getting some of the answers right now, because they're going to affect an entire generation. -Vivian Jenkins Nelsen, INTER-RACE A. What is a Community Circle? The Community Circle process is one way help a community achieve new levels of citizenship and civic action. Large-scale Choices for Community programs - often referred to as study circle programs - have been used all over the country to generate reasoned dialogue, decisive policy input, and grass-roots problem-solving. The impacts of these programs range from new friendships, to neighborhood projects, to city-wide action plans, to new legislation. An evaluation of a study circle program in Greater Cleveland showed basic changes in attitude as a result of the study circles. Study circle participants in Lima, Ohio have done everything from building new playgrounds to changing the makeup of a regional development board. A state-wide study circle program in Oklahoma helped the state legislature enact sweeping changes in the criminal system. Community circles, or study circles, are democratic, highly participatory discussion groups which meet several times to address a critical public issue. The discussions are facilitated, and they follow a framework laid out in a discussion guide specific to that issue. The participants talk about how the issue affects them, then consider some of the larger questions surrounding the issue, and, finally, discuss how they might take action on the issue. Successful organizers have been able to mobilize large numbers of citizens - a "community-wide" program in a medium-sized city can involve roughly 1,000 people in 75- 100 circles. While community-wide study circle programs have taken place in many cities and towns, and state-wide study circle programs have taken place in Maine and Oklahoma, the Twin Cities Community Circles project is the first attempt at a region-wide program. With the ascendance of regional issues such as segregation, urban sprawl, and transportation to the forefront of policy debates across the nation, a region-wide model is a much-needed innovation. We face our greatest challenges at the neighborhood, regional, and global levels. Our governments are structured to address challenges at the local, state, and national levels. - William Dodge, Regional Exceflence Why are these public conversations so unusual? In part, it's because most of what we see today in the media and in public meetings is "positioning" or "posturing." The purpose of this style is to advocate one point of view or another, at the expense of dialogue and, often, of decorum. Although widely accepted in the media, this type of communication ultimately leads to public cynicism and withdrawal from the political process. Not many people want to compete in such a contrived forum. Community circles offer a refreshing change from the narrow and often restrictive discussions of the past and the competitive debates encouraged by the political process. People acting as citizens create new ways of working together and new ways of taking responsibility for what is publicly all of ours. - Dick Little, Education and Housing Equity Project The community circles process recognizes that agreement is not necessary in order for a conversation to be successful. It is necessary for participants to listen, reflect, and speak from both the head and the heart. Mutual respect and a belief in the enlightening and healing nature of sharing ideas - across boundaries of ethnicity, geography, age, gender, socioeconomic status and even language - can go a long way toward making a conversation rewarding for the community as well as the individuals involved. In many cultures, circles are symbols of equality, fairness and completeness. The underlying premise of the Community Circles Collaborative process is that solutions to serious and often divisive issues can be found if we put aside our fears and prejudices and work together. B. The Need: Residential and Educational Segregation in the Twin Cities The Education and Housing Equity Project (EHEP), the [lead?] parmer in the Community Circle Collaborative, was created in early 1995 by a group of education and housing advocates who shared a belief in the pressing need to link the issue of school desegregation with the broader issue of housing and neighborhood segregation. EHEP's mission is to act as a catalyst to build broad-based coalitions and engage the community in public conversations about and advocacy for promotion of racially and economically inclusive communities that give families of all incomes, races and ethnic backgrounds access to schools and housing throughout the metropolitan area. The reason it's critical that we talk is because words have different meanings to different people, and we have different levels of interpretation and reflection from our own experience, our history, our expectations, our own knowledge of where we can go. - Dr. Josie Johnson A few alarming facts highlight the nature and depth of the concerns they wished to address: · The proportion of people of color who live in poverty is higher in Minneapolis/St. Paul than in any other central city in the nation: 37 percent of African-Americans, 40 percent of Native Americans, 32 percent of Latinos. · Concentrations of poverty and income disparities between the region's central cities and its suburbs are also among the highest in the nation. The poverty rate in Minneapolis is 18.5 percent, in St. Paul 16.7 percent, but in the suburbs it is only 4.5 percent. · The central cities are home to only 22 percent of the children enrolled in regional schools, but to 55 percent of the region's impoverished elementary school children. · Between 1970 and 1984, the population of the metro area increased by 9.7 percent but the land it occupied increased by 25.1 percent. The organizations which have joined the Community Circle Collaborative may have widely-diverging views about how to solve these problems. However, all of the paWners share a common concern about the issue of segregation, and a commitment that residents of the Twin Cities region must be actively engaged in addressing it. We know that poverty isn't going anywhere, and racism isn't dead. - Vivian Jenkins Nelsen, INTER-RACE C. Chronology of CCC Events The Community Circle Collaborative is now more than a year old. A brief chronology of its activities and related events appears below. December 1996: The "Beyond Busing" Kick-Off Forum was held for project sponsors. This event was attended by more than 100 people representing a wide variety of organizations: churches, advocacy groups, academia, public agencies and foundations. Significantly, the event took place in the suburbs (in the St. Louis Park City Council chambers), making it clear from the beginning that this was not a central- city effort but a metro-wide effort. The first two speakers, former St. Paul Mayor George Latimer and education expert Josie Johnson, Ph.D., helped to set the context of the project and to encourage and motivate participants. The two speakers who followed them, Curt Johnson, chair of the Metropolitan Council; and YusefMgeni, President of the Urban Coalition, provided information and insights regarding the breadth and depth of segregation problems and costs in the metropolitan area. Following the speakers, individuals representing the state legislature, an outer-ring suburban church, an inner-ring suburban school, a nonprofit housing developer, the media and the Minneapolis Mayor's Office all described why they planned to participate in the project and urged others to join them. As the event concluded, many new sponsors submitted their pledges to participate by organizing study circles. February 1997: Training for study-circle facilitators was held, and the first Discussion Guide for participants was issued. March-June 1997: Study circle discussion groups met 3-5 times each to discuss the two questions given above. Each group produced a brief report summarizing its discussion and findings. Nearly 350 people participated in these discussions. Ma), 1997: CCC held a Community Forum at Macalester College in St. Paul. This forum was attended by many of the individuals who had participated in study circles and gave them a chance not only to share the results of their deliberations and but also to explore the extent of commonalities among the different groups. The Forum featured Martha McCoy, the Executive Director of the (national) Study Circles Resource Center, whose presentation was followed by two "conversations." The first, moderated by Vivian Jenkins Nelsen, President and CEO of INTER-RACE, focused on the first study-circle question (regarding impacts); the second, moderated by George Latimer, addressed the second question, which focuses on potential solutions. (Section III of this report summarizes the findings of all the study circles.) June 1997: The Institute on Race and Poverty delivers to the McKnight Foundation a report entitled "Examining the Relationship Between Housing, Education, and Persistent Segregation." This report identifies the Twin Cities region as one of the ten most segregated metropolitan regions in the United States. The Twin Cities have reached an important time to consider which path it will foflow. This community has already begun to creep down the path so familiar to many large urban areas. If the Twin Cities community is to reverse its course, it must begin now. This community must seriously examine and confront what is happening here, and it must come together for real, proven solutions. -The Institute on Race and Poverty, University of Minnesota July 1997: All study circle reports were submitted to EHEP. In addition, facilitators and group organizers completed a questionnaire intended to help the study-circle organizers to learn more about the process - successes as well as difficulties - and to glean suggestions concerning how better to proceed in the next round of discussions. July-October 1997: Individual participants who represented interested groups made presentations to their respective organizations, local communities and constituencies. Septentber 1997: The National Conference on Race Relations and America's Public Education System takes place. One of the discussion kites is the Twin Cities. Among the practical issues identified are housing segregation, economic inequity, and the need for long-term solutions rather than quick fixes. April 1998: The final report of the first round of study circles, "Beyond Busing: The First Metrowide Dialogue on the Challenges of Education and Housing Segregation," is issued. III. Study Circle Reports A. Issues We are in very deep denial. We befieve we aren't like Detroit, but we are; it's just happening more slowly here. - a community circle participant The necessary first step in trying to solve thorny social problems is to ensure that those problems are understood in much the same way by all. Therefore, the Community Circles focused their attention first on identifying the issues. The problem areas identified by CCC participants fell into four fairly distinct groupings: · Issues related to regional growth and equity in terms of investment, employment and social relations; · Systemic issues related to housing segregation and neighborhood quality; · Systemic issues related to education; and · Issues that arise primarily at the level of the individual. A small degree of liberty has been taken to clarifY meaning or to combine similar thoughts expressed in different ways by more than one participant or study circle. Every effort has been made, however, to retain the essence of what appeared in the study circle reports. Issues shown in italic type were identified by more than one study group. 1. Issues of regional growth and equity When asked to determine how many societies the Twin Cities have become, people responded in two different ways. One group suggested that we have become "three societies: The very rich, working people, and the poor." Another described it differently: "Two - those who work and those who don't." Regardless of how it is said, though, there was a strong recognition among participants that the region has become polarized into distinct, and often mutually distrusting, camps. The issues that appear in this grouping deal with the broad context of regional equity - and inequity. They cluster around three topics: investment, employment and social relations. Investment: Spatial mismatch between available fiscal and economic resources and high-order fiscal and social needs - for example, northern part of region needs more infrastructure Biases in business lending that shortchange women- and minority-owned businesses Need for more entrepreneurship programs, e.g., micro-loans, money circles Perceived and real disadvantages of central-city sites, due to crime, presence of pollutants and an unskilled wor~force A focus on the short-teton and the bottom line, disregarding long-standing evidence that a "rising tide" does not lift all boats Shortage of businesses that are committed to being good corporate citizens Growth containment affects provision and cost of infrastTucture Suburbanites like to have the benefits of the city but do not like to pay for them. -a community circle participant Employment: Spatial mismatch between available jobs and many of the unemployed - e.g., the northern part of the region needs to provide more jobs Biases in job hiring and wage-setting practices Shortage of reverse-commute options that can take inner-city workers to suburban jobs Shortage of quality affordable child care, especially' at "non-traditional" work times Changing workforce demographics: more persons of color, more seniors, more women supporting households Challenge presented by people who are physically or psychologically unable to "work a 9-5 job" Under-recognition by business that well-trained employees lead to greater profitability Lack of benefits with many part-time and low-wage jobs Jobs accessible to residents of poor communities often go to outsiders Lack of sufficient interest in and support for entrepreneurism in minority and poor communities Social relations: Distortions and stereoO,pes in media reporting Reporting of crime that is disproportionate to its occurrence Need for true justice that is timely, fair and makes wise use of parole and community-service options Polarization reinforced by racial categories on government forms General breakdown of family structure and cohesion due to economic demands, lifestyle choices, decline in community support Perceived need to keep track of people with criminal records (e.g., community right-to-know regulations for known sex offenders) Tendency for people to remain close to their support networks Decline in traditional values, especially a decline in personal integrity and responsibility Lack of courage to make wise but unpopular decisions Churches can perpetuate values but are not always good role models. -a community circle participant 2. Systemic issues related to houshtg and neighborhoods There was a generally high level of consensus on housing and neighborhood issues, which clustered around two topics: housing stock and neighborhood environment. By far the most often-cited issue was that of exclusionary suburban zoning and development practices, which were mentioned specifically by one-fourth of the reporting groups. The people who can afford to pay taxes live out in the suburbs, and the inner city has been getting poorer and poorer. It will continue until there is some massive political determination that we'r¢,goio.q to o~ak¢ ouc inner cities tbe moct atfractive.~laces to live, or ar leasr'as a~Tra~five [or all ktnos o[ peop~e as the sul~urbs are. -a community circle participant Housing: Lack of investment in poc~r or declining neighborhoods Poor housing stock that repels stable families, discourages investment Lead-based paint and other health hazards Lack of neighborhood diversity in housing types, which leads to homogeneous populations b~exible central-ci~, zoning and other regulations that prohibit use of many vacant/ abandoned buildings as shelter Shortage of affordable housing Punitive rental property taxes High cost of land Poor enforcement of existing fair housing laws Lack of awareness of opportunities and options among low-income households In Minneapolis, the government is sponsoring the destruction of affordable housing, through zoning, through licensing, through housing codes. The city has destroyed countless affordable neighborhoods. -a community circle participant Neighborhood environment: Unequal power in neighborhood/community relations Inadequate resources for general maintenance, including trash pick-up and yardwork Lack of resources to facilitate neighborhood involvement Transience caused by poor housing stock, low incomes Land-use plans that give highest priority to accommodating cars (e.g., intrusive highway routes) Inadequate transit service ~'equency, hours, direct routing and choice of destinations) Exclusionary suburban zoning regulations (e.g., minimum lot size and square footage, garage requirements, development fees) Redlining (insurance, lending, cab service, police response) Crime and perceptions of crime Need to improve conditions for those who "remain behind" More affluent neighborhoods [have] essentially accepted socioeconomic redlining. - a community circle participant Systemic issues related to education Perspectives on the shortcomings of the educational system were quite diverse but fall into two groupings: One focuses on the in-school experience, the other on the interaction between the school and the surrounding community. The school as educational institution: Teachers not living in the community Few opportunities to experience diversity Institutional discrimination: students receiving differential treatment due to race/color, learning ability, economic status, perceived intelligence, and/or athletic ability, which can lead to artificially raised or lowered expectations Focus on short-term results when long-term solutions are needed Failure to teach the basics Lack of adequate [curriculum] structure Classes that are too big Inability to sustain children's enthusiasm for school beyond 3rd or 4th grade Too few minority teachers Insufficient counselors and inadequate counseling Schools being asked to do far more than teach academics Lack of effective means of dealing with children from problem situations; at-risk children "falling through the cracks" Where we do get the minorities to move out into the suburbs, they have the money, they have the wherewithal, but we... have a problem in the sensitivity of our teachers and our educational system .... One of the biggest problems that [minority kids] are finding is that their teachers are prejudiced. So we move out into the suburbs, and what we encounter are teachers who will not be fair with these kids .... They're also scared of being in school, because they're afraid of being called names, and if there's a fight, they get kicked out. So there's a racial imbalance. -a community circle participant The school in the community: The school system is not user-friendly or parent-friendly Transience disrupting children's stability, ability to learn School violence (e.g., children carrying weapons) Unequal distribution of school resources, both within and between school districts Perception that central-city schools are underfunded Special challenges presented by schools impacted by concentrated poverty Lack of adequate transportation/transit, which results in reduced access to extra-curricular activities and school choice The public-school monopoly - lack of competition and choice Poor nutrition among school children Language barriers among recent immigrants Under-educated, over-worked parents who cannot adequately help their children [Household] stability affects academic achievement Need for transitional housing to support schools You can't learn if you are hungry. -a community circle participant 4. Issues related to individuals These issues reflect more general concerns about the state of our society as a whole as well as the plight of individuals within it. Some of these issues are pandemic - that is, they plague people in all races, 10 classes and locations; others are more specific to particular circumstances, especially the circumstances of those living in areas of concentrated poverty. Society-wide issues: Substance abuse and addiction Breakdown in the institution of marriage Lack of recognition for different family types, e.g., extended families Lack of self-esteem in children due to inadequate parenting Lack of respect for the rights, beliefs and properO~ of others Lack of respect for teachers and other elders Fear leading to isolation, high levels of stress Negative stereotyping Racism Denial of racism/segregation problem Need for more welcoming in the community The white teachers don't like us. When a white kid does something good, they get praised. When we do something good, they say nothing. -a community circle participant Issues more common in areas of concentrated poverty: Low incomes/joblessness leading to extralegal economic activity Poor parental superVision of children and lack of other supportive/responsible adults Lack of employed role models Individuals focused on day-to-day survival unlikely to make education a {op priority Unwillingness or inability to take personal responsibility (e.g., in housing: use of illegal ~ subleases and presence of unaccounted-for tenants) Lack of pride in surroundings High level of mobility leading to instability in family, education Inability to set and work toward goals Entitlement mentality promoted by welfare dependency Victim mentality promoted by discrimination and dependency Describing the problems of the inner city as a result of abstract 'racism' is not helpful because fighting 'racism' seems a futile exercise. -a community circle participant B. Potential solutions We decided early on that the issues of housing, education and jobs were not mutually exclusive, and that if we had to do anything, we had to do afl of them .... One of the things we said is that ff the economic bottom line drives the process, then a rising economic tide should diminish segregation. But does it? -a community circle participant 11 The potential solutions that appear here should be regarded as a valuable first cut. As the Community Circles Collaborative proceeds with its second round of discussions, new efforts will be made to help them develop meaningful and effective responses to those issues. It is also important to remember that many potential solutions are implicit in the issue statements. For example, to address the issue described as "biases in business lending that shortchange women- and minority-owned businesses," a potential solution might be to work to eliminate those biases, or to find other ways to make more investment capital available to women and minorities. Again, as was the case with the issues, every attempt has been made to capture the essence of what emerged from the discussants, while also combining and clarifying ideas where appropriate. When something isn't working, try something new. - a community circle participant 1. Employntent and opportunity Suggestions for increasing employment and economic opportunity generally addressed broad topical categories, such as entrepreneurism and child care. Adopt the OxFam approach that sets up micro-loan and revolving credit programs ("money circles") among groups of inner-city residents. This will help to foster entrepreneurism. Increase funding for women- and minority-owned businesses. Require basic benefits with all full-time jobs. Offer incentives to lenders to make business and home loans to low-income persons. Recruit corporations as community parmers that can help to provide transportation to job sites, child care, and job offers to center-city residents. Improve the transit system by expanding reverse-commute options and using a wider variety of vehicle and service types (e.g., company vans, vanpools, dial-a-ride systems, bus-service rerouting). Expand the funding for and availability of adequate child care. We found ourselves going back and forth. First, someone would say, well, it's an economic solution we need here, or it's an economic cause of this problem. And then right away someone else would counter with, it's lack of community, it's 'heart' things. What we eventually came up with is that we have to have solutions that are addressed to both sides of the problem, because one or the other isn't going to do it. -a community circle participant 2. Societal relations aud resources Suggestions related to social relations focused on communities of faith and sources of information: Partner churches to offer and encourage multi-cultural experiences for their congregations. Provide anti-racism training and materials for media staff members. Work more through communities of faith and rely more on faith-based programs, which are [often] more successful than comparable secular programs. 12 Keep public libraries open for longer hours, especially evenings and weekends. Congregations need to move 'outside the congregational wafts.' -a community circle participant 3. Housing attd neighborhoods The most logical breakdown of potential solutions in this category is between housing and neighborhoods. Housing: Mix small apartment buildings with other housing types in new developments. Allow mixed-use zoning that permits people to live, for example, above stores. Increase the flexibility of various codes to assist large families, for example by allowing three persons in each bedroom. Increase the number of duplexes and triplexes with resident owners. Fund experiments in shared living. Expand the supply of transitional housing. Experiment with ways to reduce the profit motive vis-a-vis construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing. Reinstitute some kind of fair-share housing requirement regionwide. Put teeth in the Livable Communities Act and the Community Reinvestment Act. Provide better and more consistent code enforcement. Increase resources to make landlords accountable for repairs and treatment of tenants. -Offer more widespread down-payment assistance to persons of limited means. 'Couple household support programs with housing choice and subsidy. Test "money circles" as a source of funding for home improvements and other family/household needs. Experiment with payment-assistance programs, similar to existing utility-assistance programs (e.g., voluntary payments by utility customers to help those in need). Neighborhoods: Pair seniors and young parents so they can get to know one another and exchange services, for example swapping occasional child care for lawn mowing Expand and support Neighborhood Watch programs. Improve emergency support systems, as well as awareness of and access to them. People like to be with people like themselves. -a community circle participant 4. Education Ideas for improving public education ran the gamut from those promoting general improvement for all students, regardless of race or socioeconomic status, to those specifically targeting at-risk youngsters from a wide variety of backgrounds. These suggestions fell into several groupings: curriculum and teaching, student support, school choice, recognition of diversity and community relations. 13 If we go back to neighborhood schools, poverty areas must have the best, strongest teachers. - a community circle participant Curriculum and teaching improvements: Teach all students life skills, such as money management, parenting, how to look for a job and how to select appropriate housing. Eliminate state curriculum standards except for testing. Require academic tests at the elementary, middle-junior high and senior high school levels. Rate schools on academic achievement. Develop different learning tracks, including at least one that provides a good education to those who will not go to [an academic]college. Expand work-study opportunities that do not allow teen-agers to work in fast-food places - for example, home construction/rehabilitation. Encourage/recruit corporate sponsorships and internships. Involve businesses in helping students better visualize careers and career paths and learn the skills they will need. Educate students for civic participation. Require community-service hours, even before high school. Equalize school-district spending per child. Lengthen both the school day and the school year. It is time to leave the premise that everyone is qualified to attend college. It is very important for our country to have mechanics, plumbers, carpenters and others who perform such useful tasks. Dignity is in afl work and unfortunately that has been lost. -a community circle participant Student support: Move away from a "fix the kid" approach to a "fix the system" approach. Enhance programs that prevent drop-outs. Offer more tutoring. Expand mentoring programs. Expand after-school activities, especially in the fine and performing arts and other non-athletic program areas. Get truants off the streets and into a community center, workplace or community-service setting. Require uniforms (although not necessarily "traditional" ones). Provide better and more plentiful counseling that is more holistic and incorporates help with chemical abuse. Sponsor "burning issues" clubs, lunches or other time to help youngsters deal with issues at home. Kids are afraid to go to school because of racism, they're afraid because of sexism, homophobia . . . When they're there, the children are so worried about, am I going to get to my next class, am I going to get home, am I going to get beat up on the way home, am I going to have my lunch money for lunch - that learning is secondary. 14 -a community circle participant School choice: Allow children to go to any [public] school they want. Support community schools - "stop busing madness." "Bus for programs, not for numbers." Teachers in the public school system are very unprepared for kids of color. Training needs to address not only multiculturalism but it needs to address some of the factors of poverty and how they impact on kids. They need to look at learning styles. They need to look at how they as teachers can facilitate involvement by parents and community members. -a community circle participant Diversity: Fund learning opportunities that bring together or pair students from divergent backgrounds. Use instruction and programs focused on the environment and ecology to bring together all groups in the community in a common concern and in common enterprise. Train teachers in cultural competency. Imbue the curriculum with diversity, rather than making diversity a "special event" or giving it superficial treatment. Offer scholarships to students of color who agree to come back and teach for a minimum period of time. COmmunity relations: Experiment with "peer parent" and buddy programs that help newcomers feel less isolated and become more involved in their children's schools. ~ Strengthen the non-educational/pre-school support system that helps to relieve problems in the schools, which consists of programs like Head Start, parenting education, mentoring, quality child care and non-school recreation. Incorporate community facilities, such as community centers, social service centers and health- care facilities, within or adjacent to schools to give everyone a "stake" in the success of those schools. I remember when there were three black teachers in the Minneapolis public schools. And yet there were students of color that were going through that school system, combating racism as individuals, and going on to become successful participants in society. We can blame a lot of things on racism, but let's not fall into the trap of using that as an excuse for a lack of achievement. -a community circle participant 15 IV. Preparing for the Future I think a lot of white people believe, but sometimes don't feel that we can say it, that racism is probably a relatively minor cause of the relatively poor performance of minority kids .... It would be incredibly naive to discount the impact of racism on minority kids in our schools, but it seems to me far more significant causes are the breakdown of the African-American family and the lack of role models for young kids. And the sports culture I think is even more important than racism, the idolization of athletes, and the befief that African-American boys in the Minneapolis pubfic schools have - something like 85 percent feel they can have careers in professional sports .... But we don't ever talk about any of those other issues. -a community circle participant An important and meaningful dialogue has begun, all across the Twin Cities, and people of good will from all backgrounds are thinking about economic and racial disparities with great intensity. The community circles generated a profile of many of the important issues. The Community Circle Reports (Section III of this report) contain a wealth of information, insights and ideas that can be used to propel further exploration of the role of race, changing economics and spatial segregation of housing and education throughout the region. They also developed a long and varied list of action ideas. The community circle process also proved its value through the responses of most participants, who viewed it as a valuable experience they would like to continue or repeat. There were, however, some weaknesses in the first round of community circles, including a lower level of action outcomes than in similar programs in other communities. This section of the report provides some analysis of the program and recommendations for the second round of community circles. Recommendation #1: Strengthen the action component As is evident in Section III of this report, community circle participants talked a great deal about action. They developed long lists of action ideas, in the areas of employment and opportunity, societal relations and resources, housing and neighborhoods, and education. Unfortunately, it appears that few of those participants went on to try to implement any of the action ideas. It is also unclear whether the views of participants had any effect on public policy decisions. This runs counter to what could be expected based on the results of study circle programs in other communities. A. Improve the final session of the guide The final session of the Choices for Co~nmunity guide, which was used in all the community circles, led participants t~ough a process of listing the areas of tension or conflict and the areas of agreement that they had come to in their discussions. The volunteer recorder in each group was then asked to summarize these thoughts on a record that was submitted to the Community Circle Collaborative. In study circle guides produced by the Study Circles Resource Center, the final session includes a range of action ideas, divided into categories according to what individuals can do, what small groups can do, what institutions can do, and what communities ~s a whole can do. Those action lists reflect a range of 16 political viewpoints and are meant simply to assist the study circle in its brainstorming about what action ideas fit best in their community. The final session of the revised Choices for CommuniO, guide should include such a list, as well as discussion questions that help participants prioritize those ideas and think about what roles they can play on the neighborhood, community, and regional level. B. Improve the recording process Good records from each community circle can be a valuable asset for structuring an action forum, preparing a report that condenses the deliberations, and giving policy input to public officials. The records submitted from the community circles varied widely in their length, focus, and level of detail. A certain amount of unevenness is to be expected, but more consistency and uniformity would have been extremely helpful. The new Choices for Community guide should include simple forms built into each session, giving each recorder specific guidance in how they report the findings of the group. For the next round, the facilitators should be asked to lead their groups through a summarizing process at the end of each session. This brings the wisdom of the whole group to bear in the recording process, and ensures that the records capture the ideas of the group and the spirit of collaboration. C. Hold a true action forum In May1997, a forum was held for the participants in the first round of community circles. Due to scheduling constraints, that forum occurred before all of the groups had finished their four sessions of deliberation. More importantly, the forum was not structured as an action forum; rather, it was intended to crea!a a large-group deliberation on segregation issues. While some attendees learned a great deal at the forum, it did not prove to be a springboard for action efforts. A true action forum should be held at the conclusion of the second round of community circles. The Study Circles Resource Center suggests: "The action forum at the end of each round of study circles is your most important opportunity to galvanize problem solving efforts. At the kickoff, announce the date of the action forum. Invite the study circle participants, coalition members, area organizations working on the issue, and other community members. Use the study circle records to identify themes which emerged from the groups. At the action forum, give people the opportunity to sign up for task forces on those themes. For example, the task forces for a program on race might focus on themes such as improving police-community relations, reducing bias crime, and dealing with race relations among young people. Ask people with some professional expertise in each topic to join that task force. If you are writing a report based on the study circle records, the action forum is an excellent time to release it. After the action forum, it is critical for program organizers to stay in touch with the task forces. Help them get off the ground by identifying convenors and setting meeting dates. To keep task force efforts in the public eye, create a newsletter which reports on their progress, and encourage newspapers and television stations to cover their work. Provide ways for newcomers to join task forces as the program moves along. The Study circle program in Lima, Ohio, went even further, winning a grant from the Ohio Bureau of Justice Services to fund a Violence Prevention Center. The Center was designed to provide staff time to support the eleven task forces which arose from the study circle program. Finally, it is important to celebrate the task force achievements and build on them. One way to do this is through 17 periodic large-group meetings." -excerpted from Focus on Study Circles, Winter 1998 D. Include more policymakers in the study circles The experience of other communities has shown that a study circle program has its greatest effect on policymaking if public officials themselves are among the participants in the groups. In that way, their authority and expertise is brought into the process, but public officials are treated like fellow human beings rather than experts who have the potential to solve problems by themselves. Their wisdom is included in the mix, but they are not put on the spot. Rather than being treated as the distant recipients of formalized public input, they are treated as powerful collaborators in addressing common problems. Public officials have the chance to hear the concerns of real citizens and realize that citizens are capable of addressing complex issues. Recommendation #2: Create circles which include both city-dwellers and suburbanites One of the most innovative aspects of the Community Circle Collaborative program is its focus on regional issues. Segregation in housing and education is an issue with a regional scope, requiring deliberation and action by people in multiple communities. However, the majority of the community circles were limited to people who lived or worked in a particular area. This made it much more difficult for suburbanites to understand the concerns of city-dwellers, and vice versa. During the second round, institutions could be paired so that each study circle included people from more than one community. For example, a church in Minneapolis with 10 people signed up to participate could be paired with a suburban Kiwanis Club bringing 10 people. The institutions could meet at either site (or an alternate site), and split their pool of 20 people into two community circles. Another strategy which could be used along with or instead of the pairing approach would be to locate all the community circles at "sectional" sites. The Twin Cities region could be divided into sections like the spokes of a wheel, with each section including some urban areas as well as second- and third-ring suburbs. All the participants for that section could meet at a large facility with many rooms, such as a school, college campus, library, or community center. On the first evening, participants could be assigned to diverse community circles on the spot. Since multiple circles would be meeting on the same evening in the same building, participants could be brought together for a brief reporting session (20 minutes) at the end of each session. This strategy was used successfully in a study circle program in Oklahoma, where it also ensured greater media coverage since reporters could attend the reporting sessions and get a quick snapshot of the deliberations. Community circles with a mix of urbanites and suburbanites would probably make the experience more unique, illuminating, and exciting for participants. In addition, action groups or task forces which emerged from the action forum or the community circles themselves would be more likely to combine city-dwellers and suburbanites. That kind of cooperation, in itself, would make a statement to the rest of the region. Recommendation #3: Improving racial, ethnic, and gender diversity A. Race and ethnicity 18 The full group of participants (350+) was fairly representative of the Twin Cities community as a whole in terms ofrace/ethnicity. However, individual groups did not reflect this diversity. As a result, some participants perceived that the process was not representative. A number of comments were made regarding how "the right people aren't here." The suggestions contained in Recommendation #2, above, would help address this problem. However, the Community Circles Collaborative might also expand further, recruiting organizations representing constituencies which weren't adequately represented in the first round. These could include service clubs and congregations that are known to appeal to members of particular groups. Pairing congregations and other sponsoring organizations to promote racial and ethnic intermingling would be a good measure, even if the urban-suburban strategy mentioned above is not utilized. A third approach would involve deliberately assigning volunteers of one ethnicity to join a discussion group dominated by another. Because it is safe to presume that the vast majority of participants are persons of good will and intent, finding volunteers willing to cross barriers should not be difficult. B. Gender The group of participants as a whole was not well-balanced by gender. Men made up only about one- fourth of the participants. The all-female memberships of a couple of study circles even remarked on the absence of male counterparts and asked what could be done to "get the men here." Although gender imbalance is not uncommon for a volunteer group of this type, gender imbalance needs to be addressed in the next round of circle~iDne possible approach would be to specifically invite participation by male-dominated clubs or the men's groups from various faith communities. Recommendation #4: Give more training and support to facilitators The reports from the circles, and the surveys completed by the facilitators themselves, suggest that the quality Of facilitation was uneven. This is one of the potential pitfalls of using volunteers, but it need not be a fatal one. EHEP could turn to professional facilitators to conduct the next round of meetings, but this is not necessary nor even particularly wise. What is needed is better training and support for volunteer facilitators. For example, at least one facilitator complained that the group he or she led frequently strayed from the topic - without any apparent understanding that it is the job of the facilitator to keep the group focused and moving, so it can produce the results it wants within the allotted time. The facilitator training process and packet reflect this failure to teach the basics. Training emphasized the content of the sessions and cultural considerations - both critical topics, to be sure, but not to the exclusion of learning how to lead a productive meeting, keep the group focused, mediate conflict, and handle difficult people ("difficult" here referring to any number of problems, including glibness, silence, stonewalling, attempts to dominate, etc.). Getting people involved in addressing public issues is not a "nice" thing .... What you want people to say is not that it is a nice thing to do but that it's an absolutely necessary thing to do. - Martha McCoy, Study Circles Resource Center 19 Given that some of the facilitators are relatively inexperienced, using co-facilitators might be invaluable. Experienced facilitators could be paired with facilitators who are new to the process. Pairing facilitators of different ethnicities (or a young person and an adult) would also make a statement to the participants about the inclusivity of the project. Having a monitor present to step in and redirect the group's energy might also be helpful. A monitor can keep an eye on several groups at a time and keep tabs on the clock as well. The monitor's presence allows each facilitator to engage fully in the group's discussion and ensure that both substance and direction remain relevant. Moreover, should any facilitator encounter difficulty with a particular group - belligerence, refusal to focus, etc. - someone else is present to mediate and help the group get moving in positive ways again. The presence of a monitor can aid neophyte and experienced facilitators alike. In CCC's case, the difficulties in using monitors are logistical: If each group is meeting at its own place and time, it is simply infeasible for a single monitor to be present. Neither would this be an efficient use of anyone's time. Moreover, the number of monitors available will necessarily be limited by the need for each one to be highly experienced in facilitation and/or team leadership. These difficulties could be overcome through a different approach to scheduling discussions. Recommendation #5: Schedule ali meeting times in advance Ironically, it is possible that individual groups were given too much latitude in scheduling their own meetings - which means that each person's dentist appointment, TV viewing habits, softball league, family demands, vacation and other prior commitments interfered with circle meetings. Multiply this effect by ten or fifteen circle members, and it becomes clear why scheduling was a problem. Rather than leaving the scheduling decision wide open, it may be more effective to set up group meeting times in advance. For example, meetings in each round of discussions could be slated to take place at one of four or five predetermined times at one of four or five predetermined locations. Discussants would be asked to select one of those times and places to participate, either for the entire series or on a meeting- by-meeting basis. Advance sign-ups would probably be necessary in order to make sure that all time slots have enough participants; otherwise, intended participants would have to be notified of a change in plans. Although this approach might entail some additional work on the part of the organizers, it might also eliminate some work by eliminating confusion about who is meeting where, and when. Moreover, sponsoring organizations would remain heavily involved in coordinating meetings and keeping track of participants. Adopting an approach similar to this one could produce several benefits: · It would impose some discipline on the groups and indicate that the study circles are not a social event that takes place only when everyone is free, but a formalized process with demands of its own. · It would allow coordinators to balance the sizes of the circles, eliminating problems caused by poor attendance in some groups while others overflow. · It would allow individuals who might miss one set time to "make up" a session at a different time, thus facilitating participation in the entire series of discussions. · It would allow individuals to sample different locations, if desired, thus exposing them to a much wider range of viewpoints and ideas. · It would enable the circle coordinators at any given location to balance racial and gender 20 representation more effectively, either by pairing sponsoring organizations or by randomly assigning incoming individuals to different discussion groups. It would allow for the efficient use of monitors in support of facilitators. It would put everyone on essentially the same timetable, with a clear beginning and a clear end. One potential drawback to this approach is that some groups would lose the continuity and, hence, the familiarity that foster trust and openness. However, the process itself can help to encourage such openness. Moreover, most discussion groups will probably remain essentially intact throughout the entire series due to individual choices. 21 VI. Appendices A. Background on EHEP, CCC B. Findings of facilitator questionnaire C. List of sponsors and participants [Dick, anything I should add here from SCRC?] 22 Dec-06-99 02:52P P.04 ......................... a~ammm ~mmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmm m mmm.mmm~m~mma~____~____~__m _Yes. ,,. , ,,,,.- . .... I will ~JH, r.;nd ~ Y~', IwJll al,I,cmd It)(.'. Slllnmil, arid n(,'(;(I s,:h()larship ,~s,,,;iNI,4rl(4..'"', (;ily/gl,nl,('/'/,it) I'horl(' I'le~lSe Jfl(licate thc (:UlllZlltmllil~' - ....... (;irt:If: I"lll'lllll (,'4 } in which y()u I~al't. icip,~dod: $ 25 I~aylll(.',li[ (;llclo.~(:d I,() ('river Sllrrlrrlil, i)aytJhh.; (,I ~'.(h, (lard # (Arfimi. Yh'q.,\. Dec-06-99 02:51P P.02 9DN-9 r~q' C0mm. unity Circle Collaborative 2211 RiverSide AVenue, CB 185, Minneapolis, MN 55454 December 6, 1999 Dear Racial equity and access to good housing and schools are perhaps the most important issues we face as a community -- and a nation. We invite you to participate in an important, meeting designed specifically to help the Twin Cities metropolitan community move forward on these difficult issues - The Metropolitan Citizens Summit: Addressing the Challenges of Education, Housing and Race in the Twin Cities, The Summit will be held from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Friday, December 17, 1999, at the Hilton Hotel and Towers, 1001 Marquette Avenue, in downtown Minneapolis. The Summit will be attended by informed citizens, foundation and business leaders and other elected officials who can impact these issues. We have invited those citizens who have participated in the Community Circle conversations on education, housing and race throughout the Twin Cities over the last three years, or who participated in the Cities at Work forums on "Race, Connections and Commitment" over this past year. You will have t.he benefit of meeting with citizens that have taken the time to really think about these issues, As a public official, you are a critical leader on these issues. We need your voice at the Summit; the citizen-activist will benefit from your leadership as well as being able to share their ideas with you. You will leave energized and with a new constituency to help move your policy agenda, The Summit is being convened by the Education and Housing Equity Project, as well as an impressive list of 20 co-sponsors of the Community Circle Dialogue and the Cities at Work projects. You'll see them at the end of this letter. This is not just another meeting. Everyone at the Summit will have a voice, via an electronic voting pad. You -- and your fellow participants -- will give your reaction to policy initiatives now moving forward at the state, regional and local level -- and to ideas now just on the drawing board. We will leave the Summit with a prioritized list of critical policy steps that we feel must move forward to: · Combat racism and enhance racial equity in the region. Address the crisis in affordable housing. · Ensure that every child in the region has access to a good education. Dec-06-99 02:51P P.03 The morning Summit will culminate with a luncheon address by Dr, Lani Guinier-- perhaps the country's leading authority on engaging citizens to build a more racially equitable society. The luncheon with Dr. Guinier will be hosted by the Minnesota Meeting, the region's most prominent public affairs forum, and broadcast live throughout the Upper Midwest. We'll be joined at the luncheon by 200 or more business and professional leaders from the Minnesota Meeting. Dr. Guinier will participate in the Summit and will comment on our deliberation during her important address. The event includes a continental breakfast, snacks and the Minnesota Meeting luncheon. The cost of the event is $25 - to cover the cost of the meals. If you cannot cover the costs, don't worry. We still would very much like you to attend and will cover the cost through our scholarship fund. Simply check "scholarship" on the registration form. If you can't attend the full event, please attend the Minnesota Meeting luncheon, but we'll very much appreciate your full participation. If you have questions, contact Dick Little, Executive Director of the Education and Housing Equity Project, at 612,330.1505. We look forward to seeing you! Sincerely, Sharon Sayles Belton, Mayor of Minneapolis Host for the Metropolitan Citizens Summit Ted Mondale, Metropolitan Council Chair Mary Anderson, Mayor of Golden Valley Mary Hamann-Roland, Mayor of Apple Valley Gail Dorfman, Hennepin County Commissioner Rep, Carlos Mariani-Rosa, Minnesota House of Representatives, Saint Paul Rep. Myron Orfield, Minnesota House of Representatives, Minneapolis Bill Green, Minneapolis Board of Education Director And Partnering Organizations: Alliance for Metropolitan Stability Amherst H. Wilder Foundation Cenler tbr Urban and Regional Affairs Citizens League Education & Housing Equity Project Institute on Race and Poverty Metropolitan Council Metropolitan tnterfaitl7 Council on Affordable Housi/?g Minneapolis Fout]datiot] Minneapolis Mayor's Office Min/3esota Churches Anli-Racism Initiative Minnesota/=air Housit~g Cet~ter Minnesota Housing Partnership Minnesota Meeting/Express Interactive Solutions Minnesota Mino/fty Education Partnership Minnesota Public Radio National Cot~feret~ce. tot Cot~munity & Justice St. Paul Area Council of Churches SI. Paul Foumdalio[~ Saint Paul Pubfic Schools Urban Coalition D~-O~-~ O~:5~P P.05 Lani Guinier Professor, Harvard Law School Author of Lift Every Voice Lift Every Voice: Turning a Civil Rights Setback into a New Vision of Social Justice Having a "conversation about race" is not enoui~h. To achieve true racial justice, we must address getting real economic and political power into the hands of people of all colors. How do we do it? How do we move beyond a conversation about race to action? Dr. Guinier, the first black woman professor tenured at Hazard Law School, will help us answer those questions. Her address will be the culmination of a half-day conference with Twin Cities political and community leaders on building a racially just society. Join us - and them - for this important event. Luncheon Meeting Hilton Hotel and Towers 1001 Marquette Avenue, Third Floor, Salon D Downtown Minneapolis Friday, December 17, 1999 11:30 a.m. luncheon 12:05 p.m. address The price is ~;18 for Minnesota Meeting members, ~;30 for guests. $180 for Corporate reserved tables of 10. Reservations required by December 14 to guarantee a place. Pr,.~senh~.d in association with (-ol¥'lmul~i~ Circles Collahr~raliw., ,.lncl Educ:ation and I lousing ( qul~ Proje~ PIIcme 612.G17.1117 Fax 612.6t /.IL)01 E Marl infoc~.,'mnmeeting.corT~ Web www.rnnmeetir~, cc~m 0 M INNE$O~'A I~EErl NG SDS ~2-0891 P.O. Bo~ 86 MIXN~AFO.I$, MN 55486-089t I, hh,hh,h,lh,h,lh,ll,,,I,,I,I,h,,,,llhhd,h,,ll,,I 1999 Cities At Work Forum Series Ideas for Community Change Background During the spring and fall of 1999, over 900 people in Saint Paul came together at a series of public forums, gatherings, training sessions and community circle dialogues to understand and address the impact of racism in our rapidly changing community. Saint Paul is a strong city, proud of its past and traditions. Today, people from many different cultural and ethnic backgrounds migrate here to live and find work, put down roots and raise their families. The 1999 Cities At Work forum series focused on how we can strengthen our community by recognizing the richness of our multicultural identity and by tapping all of the assets found in our community. This forum series aimed to increase understanding of racism and its impact in our community on three levels: The individual level focuses on personal commitment and responsibility for interacting with people from different cultural and racial backgrounds. ~ The organizational level includes working with others in neighborhoods, schools, churches, and places of employment to bridge differences, build understanding and address the impact of racism in our community. ~ The institutional level includes challenges embedded in our social institutions and public policy. The following pages summarize ideas shared by 245 of the 480 participants in the first three community forums of 1999. Because some people attended more than one forum, this count may overstate the total number of respondents. Feedback from 174 participants in spring 1999 community circle dialogues are also included. The number of people involved in these discussions is small, considering the population of our city. But if these 900 people each talk in depth with 10 other people, and those people each talk to 10 people, we will have reached 90,000 people or one-third the population of Saint Paul. So these ideas are a starting point, a whisper, that can build to a roar and change the culture of our community. Ideas for Community Change The responses have been grouped into seven major themes with the most frequently mentioned ideas listed first. The ideas cut across all levels, including opportunities for action at the individual, organizational and institutional levels. The seven themes are: 1. Make individual commitments to respect and tolerance in daily life 2. Continue public dialogue on race and racism 3. Enrich communities through diversity 4. Create equitable educational opportunities 5. Insure affordable and equitable housing for all 6. Connect with youth and involve them in community change 7. Engage the business community to welcome diversity The following pages detail some of the more frequently mentioned comments regarding each of the seven themes. This information will be used to stimulate more focused dialogue and action planning at the Beyond Tolerance - A Call to Action forum on November 8, 1999. Theme 1: Make individual commitments to respect and tolerance in daily life Reflect on biases and prejudices, and practice becoming not prejudiced. Don't judge or label others. Reach out to people different from self, expanding social group to include greater diversity. Stretch beyond comfort zones. Don't avoid conversation with people you don't know. Get involved in community projects to meet a diverse group of people, and keep in contact. · Make a conscious effort to listen to people of different generations and cultures. Keep an open mind and try to understand other perspectives. · Use skills gained at the forums when interacting with friends and colleagues on a daily basis. Be positive, sensitive, and respectful of others, and do not take others for granted. European Americans need to be aware of their white privilege and consciously decide to not use it. They need to speak out when other European Americans show disrespect to people of color. Theme 2: Continue public dialogue on race and racism · Continue organizing and attending community forums and community circle dialogues, and join others to more effectively address racism. · Share learnings with friends, relatives, colleagues and neighbors. Share knowledge of different cultures. Discuss issues and problems with people who are not yet aware of them. Embrace people experiencing prejudice and help them to get "unstuck". Initiate a gathering of work colleagues or neighbors for a discussion of these issues. · Hold public leaders accountable to address institutional racism. · Invite public officials to participate in community forums and community circle dialogues. · Share strategies for addressing racism with organizations. This could include a youth group, a meeting with school officials, or a church's Social Justice Committee. · Provide more opportunity for intergenerational and cross-cultural dialogue. Continue telling stories as a way of learning about other cultures. Encourage the media to report on diversity issues. Theme 3: Enrich communities through diversity · Focus on activities that build a sense of community for individuals. · Families should make special efforts to ,get to know your neighbors. · Communities should provide opportunities for people to meet others different from themselves. They should bring people together in ways which do not feel threatening to community members. · Initiate community celebrations. Bring community members together to learn about diverse cultures and experiences by participating in celebrations. Theme 4: Create equity in educational opportunities Initiate equitable funding of schools on regional level. Allocate extra funding to schools with large numbers of "at-risk" students, to meet these students' greater needs. · Desegregate neighborhoods. This is the only way to truly desegregate schools. · Recruit more men and people of color to be teachers. This will enable students to better identify with them as role models. · Consider the possibility of neighborhood schools to promote more parent involvement. · Teachers need to teach a multi-cultural curriculum. All students need'to learn about their own and other cultures. All students gain from learning about diverse cultures. · Businesses and schools need to form stronger partnerships. Business could invest more significant resources to help at-risk students. · Teachers need to understand more about the cultures of the children they teach. Language barriers and cultural ignorance lead to discrimination by teachers. Theme 5: Insure affordable and equitable housing for all · Affordable housing should be subsidized. · Anti-discrimination laws must be enforced. · Attend demonstrations and meetings on affordable housing. · Reconsider the current definition of affordable housing. Theme 6: Connect with youth and involve them in community change · More adults should develop mentoring relationships with youth. · Increase opportunities available to youth. Provide opportunities for young people and adults to tell their stories and discuss issues togetherl Adults and youth can learn from each other. · Youth can be capable panners in community change. Their intelligence, energy, and open- mindedness give them the power to be successful panners in improving their communities. Theme 7: Engage the business community to welcome diversity · Opportunities for people of color and women to own businesses benefits everyone in the community. · Adapt the workplace to the needs of a diverse workforce. Greater cultural awareness and cultural competency is needed in the business community. · The business community needs to connect with the diversity found in our city and neighborhoods. Community connections can improve the success of business. · Businesses must attract customers from diverse cultural groups. This is an important customer base, and requires that companies get to know the customers they are targeting. · Recruit the "hard-to-employ". Intentional welfare-to-work programs are needed to utilize every person's talents. Ideas for Community Change 1. Make individual commitments to respect and tolerance in daily life 2. Continue public dialogue on race and racism 3. Enrich communities through diversity 4. Create equity in educational opportunities 5. Insure affordable and equitable housing for all 6. Connect with youth and involve them in community change 7. Engage the business welcome diversity ,community to Communications from Dick Little of Community Circle Project .... I called Mr. Little on Thursday, Feb. 25 and explained the school district's interest in joining our city in discussions which would positively impact the new diversity in our community. He suggested that other topics such as housing or education sometimes can help lead to discussions about diversity the round about, but more comfortable way for people who are still getting to know each other. Helping people make personal connections that last is the big goal. The following cities and organizations have or are currently engaged in the Community Circle process and seem to be showing results oriented processes: Bloomington, Richfield, Frogtown and WMEP When I asked Dick for contacts within these groups which may be able to help us finetune the process up front, he strongly suggested we speak with individuals within the Human Rights Commission both in Bloomington and Richfield. Bloomington's Community Circle has put together a power point presentation they are using to make an impact at the City Council and School Board level. He felt Richfield had made strong moves to positive actions,too. In Frogtown, the community Circles brought Hmong people out into the city on a noticeable basis permanently. He felt that process helped the Hmong community feel more at ease asking for help when needed compared to their past practice of keeping painful situations to themselves. It also gave them a better sense of ownership in the city. WMEP is currently hosting a circle which pulls in staff, parents, students,etc, to discuss diversity. Community Circles can facilitate for us, work with our own facilitator or just let us use their materials. They have study guides on different topics pertinent to cities and schools,etc. Collaboration is the key--discussion, not argument. The goal is to move people to action from these groups. Bloomington contacts: Human Rights Commission--- 612-948-3955 Anne Moening or the General Office #: 612-948-8733 Richfield contacts: Human Rights Commission--- 612-866-6168 Connie McDonald