EPIC Board Meeting Minutes
October 5th
2019, 10am – 12pm
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:
Laura Dale, Mary Gonsior, Cassandra Holmes, Steve Sandberg, Sarah Santiago,
Rosie Cruz, Abah Mohamed
Board Members Not Present:
Shontal Lajeunesse (E), Carol Pass (E)
Members: Brad Pass, Frank M. Afflitto
Guests:
Shirley Heyer, Stacy Sorenson, Rachel Cross Bailey
10:11 Agenda Approval, LD, StS, Approved
September Minutes Approval, LD, StS, Approved
10:05 Announcements
·
Next
Community Meeting will be: Thursday,
October 10th at 6:30 here at East Phillips Park
·
Next
Board Meeting will be: Saturday, November 2nd at 10am at the EPIC
office (2433 Bloomington Avenue)
o
Board
Meetings are open to the public
·
Next
executive committee meeting will be the last Thursday of the month from 7-8
from now on, but October it would be Halloween – should we change it for that
month?
o
Open
to public
o
Add
it to schedule that is published on web and in the Alley
·
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
Brad
is no longer able to lead this
o
Cassie
and Steve can help out with this, along with Frank
·
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
o
People doing drugs and homeless people in this
area have left recently, but concerned that an event like this will bring
people back
o
Tabled discussion for community meeting
10:23 Stacy Sorenson – onboard for the new housing
contract
·
This
money must be used on housing:
·
Home
buyer assistance
o
Owner
occupants
·
Emergency
deferred strategy
o
Owner
occupants
·
Deferred
Rehab Loans
o
Owner
occupied or absentee owned
o
Income
limit
·
All
are 10 year programs – if stay in home 10 years, loan is forgiven
·
All
are 1-4 unit properties
·
Consider
income limits on all three programs
o
Upper
income level – i.e. 100%
of area median income
o
Stacy
will let us know what our past guidelines were for income
·
Takes
a month for the city to get it together before community can apply for a
deferred loan
·
Executive
committee will come up with proposal and board meeting will make motion
·
Can
also amend contract down the line if it’s not working for the community
·
Stacy
will let us know if there are renter assistance programs
10:56 Carol’s resignation
·
Carol
has not resigned, if she does resign, she will write a letter
·
Need
to start thinking about board members
o
Continue
to put in Alley what EPIC needs volunteers
·
15th
of every month is deadline for Alley, what we want in the issue
o
Mary
will put the half page together this month
o
Mary
will get info what we owe to the Alley, how to pay etc.
11:08 CPP Application
·
Carol
had conversation with Bob Cooper, CPP contract has been signed, not much left
to do with that
·
Accusation
from CPP that we aren’t getting money out to community, Carol argues that we
are saving our funds intentionally
·
Ask
CPP for the documentation that proves we are out of compliance and what
authority do they have to take away our money in email to NCR about meeting
time
11:29 NCR
·
Options
for money:
o
Would
we be able to pay website person with this money if organization in East Phillips?
Or paying someone to put Alley half page together ($100 per month)?
o
Organizations
from CPP application: Native Youth Arts Collective; Southside Learning Center; Somali
Radio station; Hispanic Baseball League; Clyde Turner programs; EPNI; Latino
and Somali soccer?
o
Mike
Goze (owns property) navigation site 2
o
Sports
youth team at LERA (Little Earth Red Bears baseball and basketball)
o
NACDI
– Native American organization doing voting and census for all of East Phillips
o
Southeast
Homes – Somali chemical awareness program
o
Bike
On community initiative
o
Brass
Messengers (band) – banner or youth music education
o
Men
Against Rape Culture
o
St.
Stephens
o
East
Phillips Community garden; park – cooking classes
o
Park
Board Aquatics
o
Waite
House
o
Nutrition
classes through the U of Mn
o
East
Phillips Cultural Community Center – programs for youth
o
25th
street round about
o
Raices
Centro Cultural Chicano
o
Speed
bumps
o
Greenway
o
Proposal
to enhance the properties EPIC has funded i.e. security cameras
o
Southside
Harm Reduction (syringe clean ups)
o
Signage
for EPIC
·
When
should we expect some money?
·
Meeting
with NCR – October 9th at 6:30 at LERA
11:59 Payments
o
Office
supplies for filing cabinets (files, hanging files); mailbox
o
Utilities
– Brad bring check book to board meeting
§
Tony
would like utilities to be split in thirds
§
Mary
will set up monthly payment going forward - $55-$60 per month
§
Should
EPNI pay part of this?
§
Mary
has paid Tony – a little over $600 for the past year
o
Mailbox-
contact Mark from Welna – Mary is doing this
§
Want
a through the wall slot
§
This
is okay with Mark from Welna
§
Expect
to pay $300 for the box and for someone to install and a lock box
§
Will
write up rules for lock box
MOTION:
Designate $300 for the mailbox slot and for someone to install the slot, LD,
StS, Approved
o
Finance
procedures – approved vendor list; procedures explaining who is doing what?
o
Clean
Sweep, harvest party – have we submitted checks?
§
Mary
will sign check for clean sweep, harvest party will be later
12:10 MOTION: Extend
meeting to 12:35 or earlier, MG, StS
12:21 Violence
Prevention Grant
·
Devika
is no longer interested
o
It
was a fast turn around when the proposal was due
§
EPIC
should have made it go to the board meeting first
§
EPIC
did not recognize that the proposal was not with an organization and we don’t
have the infrastructure to run our own programs
·
What
do we want to do?
o
Would
be very beneficial to the community
o
Can
the grant be passed onto another organization?
o
Frank
and Steve will investigate what our options are with the grant and report back
to the board as soon as possible
12:38 Insurance -
TABLED
·
Appoint
someone to take responsibility for insurance i.e. payments etc.
12:38 Review agenda
request form and funding request form - TABLED
12:38 Logistics:
TABLED
·
Email
transfer – has this happened, do we still want an email address that all EPIC
board members have access to
·
Minutes
– make sure that people are checking for certain things (i.e. if something
shouldn’t be made public etc.) when you are sent a draft agenda via email
because if nobody responds with edits that is the version that goes online
·
Board
members please send agenda items (for both community meetings and board
meetings) to Sarah before executive meetings each month
§
Any
requests for October’s community meeting?
12:38 Green Zone
money
·
Southside
Green Zone looking for residents, community-based organizations and organizers to
submit proposals for $500-$10,000 that would increase community engagement on
environmental health issues in the South Side Green Zone (SSGZ).
·
Projects should align with the Council's priority areas of
(1) Green Economy & Anti-Displacement; (2) Health in Energy & Housing;
(3) Healthy Food Access; (4) Land Use: Air & Soil; and (5)
Self-Determination and Accountability. Project focus should be on increasing
engagement and capacity in the South Side Green Zone.
·
Projects must be completed by December 31st, 2019. Please
feel free to propose new short term projects, or apply for needed boost funding
for existing projects.
·
Deadline
for proposals is THURSDAY October 10th
·
Need
a southside green zone committee member to vouch for you i.e. Cassie Holmes,
Karen Clark
·
Sarah
will send it to the EPIC membership email list plus Frank
·
Yard
signs for the East Phillips Indoor Urban Farm
12:43 Bike On Program
proposal
§
Permanent
Bike On program
§
Need
upfront money to become 501 c3
·
Asking
EPIC for a $999 grant that is contingent on getting the Green Zone grant
·
Need
come back to board with something in writing and will be on the agenda for
November
12:54 Priority list – make sure someone is
appointed where needed and number in order of priority TABLED
12:54 Adjourned
