This article is courtesy of the Downtown Minneapolis Neighborhood Association:
The Neighborhoods 2020 Framework Recommendations have been completed and are available for review and comment. The official public comment period is from January 28 to March 31, 2019.
Since 2016, the NCR has been holding conversations with community and neighborhood leaders and elected officials about the needs and goals of our growing and vibrant city, and identifying the role that neighborhoods should play in meeting them. This initiative, called Neighborhoods 2020, culminated in three work groups being established by City Council in the spring of 2018. These work groups consisted of representatives from neighborhood organizations, cultural groups, those with equity/undoing racism experience and representatives appointed by City Council and the mayor. They provided recommendations on three major elements of this work: programming and funding, governance and a citywide community engagement policy. The Neighborhoods 2020 Framework Recommendations build off the recommendations from the workgroups.
The Neighborhoods 2020 Framework Recommendations also align with the Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan, which states that “Minneapolis will have an equitable civic participation system that enfranchises everyone, recognizes the core and vital service neighborhood organizations provide to the City of Minneapolis, and builds people’s long-term capacity to organize and improve their lives and neighborhoods.”
NCR has been working with neighborhood organizations for nearly a decade. As the demographics of our city has changed, so have the needs of the City. With these changes comes opportunities for all of us. NCR believes that the Neighborhoods 2020 process provides a mechanism for the city and our neighborhoods to explore how we can make improvements in our work.
NCR recognizes we will also need to explore changing how our own department functions in order to meet the needs of neighborhoods. The framework document includes new technical assistance and specialty services that go above our current services to neighborhoods.
To view the Neighborhoods 2020 Framework Recommendations, go to: Minneapolismn.gov/ncr/2020. The document is available in English, Spanish, Somali and Hmong. NCR will be holding community informational meetings. All meetings will have interpreters available. These meetings provide a space where residents can submit public comments. Current meeting dates include:
- Feb. 2: Community Connections Conference, Minneapolis Convention Center (English) http://www.minneapolismn.gov/ncr/conf/index.htm
- Feb. 27: Eastside Neighborhood Services 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. (English)
1700 2nd Street NE - March 8: Harrison Community Center 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (held in Lao and Hmong)
503 Irving Avenue North - March 13: Cedar Riverside Opportunity Center 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. (held in Somali)
505 15th Avenue South - March 15: Waite House 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. (held in Spanish)
2323 11th Avenue South
Additional meetings will be scheduled in multiple languages. See the most up-to-date list at Minneapolismn.gov/ncr/2020
If your group would like to have an NCR representative attend a community meeting to speak about Neighborhoods 2020 and take public comments, please contact us using the contact information below.
Submit comments to:
Steven Gallagher
Neighborhood and Community Relations
105 5th Avenue South, Suite 425, Minneapolis, MN 55401
Email: neighborhoods2020@minneapolismn.gov
Comments must be received by midnight, March 31.
The NCR department plans to bring final Neighborhoods 2020 Framework Recommendations to the City Council’s Public Health, Environment, Civil Rights and Engagement (PECE) Committee in April 2019. After approval by the City Council, the NCR department will then draft the program guidelines. Further opportunities to comment on the program guidelines will be available later this summer.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to your neighborhood or community specialist at NCR: Minneapolismn.gov/ncr/staff.
