EPIC Community Meeting Minutes
October 10th, 2019, 6:30 –
8:50
East
Phillips Park Cultural & Community Center, 2307 17th Ave
S.
EPIC
web address: eastphillips-epic.com
Office:
2433
Bloomington Ave.,
Minneapolis, MN 55404
Phone: (612) -280-8418
Board Roster: Rosie Cruz, Laura Dale, Mary Gonsior, Cassandra Holmes,
Shontal Lajeunesse, Abah Mohamed, Carol Pass, Steve Sandberg, Sarah
Santiago.
Board Members Present: Mary Gonsior, Cassandra Holmes, Laura
Dale, Steve Sandburg, Rosie Cruz, Sarah Santiago
Board Members Not Present: Shontal Lajeunesse (E), Carol Pass (E),
Abah Mohamed (U)
Members: Carol Hill, George Kennedy, Kim Hayden,
Troy Benjegeades, Peggy Clark
Guests: Shirley Heyer, Kali Pliego,
Richard Hand
6:30 Social
Time
6:42 Greetings and Introductions
6:43 Lieutenant Richard Hand and Kali Pliego from
3rd Precinct
·
People are regularly in touch with Kali about
drug dealing and homeless people at 25th Street near Bloomington
o
boarded house in that area is on Kali’s radar
·
29th Street and 15th Ave
and 16th Ave is also an area that has received a lot of calls
6:57 Approve tonight’s agenda,
LD, StS, Approved
Approve minutes from
September community meeting, StS, LD, Approved
7:03 Announcements
·
Next Board Meeting will be: Saturday, November 9th
at 10am at the EPIC office (2433 Bloomington Avenue)
o
Board Meetings are open to the public
·
Next Community Meeting will be: Thursday,
November 14th at 6:30 here at East Phillips Park
·
Next executive committee meeting is October 29th
at 7pm at the EPIC office
o
Open to public
·
Clean Sweep - October 12th
o
9-10am sign in and free breakfast, get your free
t-shirt and cleaning supplies
§
At either Welna (2438 Bloomington Ave S or
Lutheran Social Services (enter on 24th street-2400 Park Ave S)
o
9am-noon CLEAN SWEEP!
o
Noon to 1:30 free lunch, entertainment and
family fun at Stewart Park – 2700 12th Ave S
·
Harvest Garden Party Saturday, October 19th at 4:30. 2428 17th
Ave S
o
Potluck,
S’mores
·
Men
Against Rape Culture and Breaking Free will be holding a 3rd BBQ on
October 12th at
3pm, at 25th and Bloomington
o
for
homeless Native youth and adults.
o
A
couple other service providers, such as needle exchange, no cops, will also be
present.
o
Meat,
steak and chicken, will be paid for ahead of time
·
Jovis
Francisco – Monday October 14th at 6pm. Location: 2323 11th Ave South (the Waite House)
o
Neighborhood
leader meeting about crime between Lake Street and 24th Street
o
Goal of
this meeting is to prepare for a future meeting with the mayor, council members
and the chief of police to find solutions to implement
·
South
Minneapolis Public Safety Coalition
o
Meetings
have been occurring to address crime issues in South Minneapolis
7:13 Discuss
October 12th Men Against Rape and Breaking Free event
o
Concern
that the event is located at a corner that has been a problem and is such a
residential area
o
EPIC
members stated they would rather have it be located at the park or a parking
lot
7:22 EPIC
updates:
o
EPIC
has filed our taxes and we have insurance
o
EPIC
will be purchasing a mail slot and installing it at our office
§
Vendors
will be instructed to send mail to the EPIC office (2433 Bloomington Ave)
§
By
January the office will be the official EPIC address
o
EPIC
Funding – EPIC will be accepting RFPs for how to spend Neighborhood Priority
Reserve money
§
EPIC
is on probationary status – the city is making sure EPIC is sustainable and is spending
funding from the city
§
EPIC
has regularly been meeting with the city as part of the probation
§
The
city has stated that $175,000 of EPIC funding will be spent on organizations
(501 (c)(3)s or organizations with a fiscal agent) doing work in East Phillips
that follow EPICs priority plan (community connection/public safety/crime prevention; environmental
justice; youth/community wide childhood illness; and adult programming;
community garden)
·
The
city hopes to have contracts by the end of 2019 or mid January 2020 and have
the money used by the end of 2020
§
The
city would like EPIC to have a say in where this money goes, but if EPIC is
unable to the city will decide where the money goes
§
EPIC
hopes to put out an RFP in the next few weeks in a format that is easy to fill
out
·
as
soon as the RFP is put together, EPIC will send it out to the EPIC member email
list – please think of orgs that have a fiscal agent or are a 501 (c)(3)
·
We
want RFPs to EPIC by the November 5th EPIC board meeting to then present
to the community at the November community meeting
·
Money
cannot: be spent on food; or on stipends; or payment for participation; or pay
people’s bills; or be spent on buildings
§
Mention
of having a celebration for Carol Pass in April
o
New housing contract coming soon (for new
homebuyer assistance and rehab assistance)
§
EPIC board met with Stacy Sorenson from NRP who
oversaw our past housing program
§
EPIC is now rewriting our new housing program
§
Would like to have brochure and program in place
by our annual meeting
o
Violence Prevention Grant update
§
Steve has been working to find out the status of
the grant and whether we can still do it – so far he has been unable to get an
answer
o
Roof Depot update
§
The petition is ready to file with the state for
the Environmental Assessment Worksheet
§
EPNI now has two lawyers
o
Developer of the property at Lakes Street and 16th
Ave is planning a meeting for tomorrow October 11th at 6:30 at East
Phillips Cultural Center
§
Developer wants to hear concerns from neighbors
§
Developer flyered 16th and 17th
about this upcoming meeting
8:18 Adjourned, MG,
StS, Approved
