EPIC
Community Meeting Draft Minutes
April 14, 2022, 6:30 – 7:30
East Phillips Park Cultural &
Community Center, 2307 17th Ave S.
EPIC web address: eastphillips.org
Email: sarah@eastphillips.org
Office: 2433 Bloomington Ave., Minneapolis, MN
55404
Phone:
(612)
354-6802
Board Roster: Mary Gonsior, Cassandra Holmes, David Ingold, Shontal Lajeunesse, Steve Sandberg, Schuyler Sellars, Karen Townsend, Nikolas Winter-Simat, LR Young
Board Members Present: LR Young, Nikolas Winter-Simat, Steve Sandberg, Karen Townsend,Mary Gonsior
Board Members Not Present: Cassandra Holmes (E), David Ingold (E), Shontal Lajeunesse (E),Schuyler Sellars (E)
Members: Amy Luciano, Sonja, Devika Ghai, Rose, Emrys S.
Guests:
Kat Hoffman
6:30 Welcome
●
Vision
and Mission
●
Intros
○
Special
welcome to new board members - Schuyler Sellars and LR Young!
●
Agenda
Approval, NWS, MG, Approved
Minutes Approval, NWS, StS,
Approved
●
Group
Agreements
○
Respect each other; aim for kindness
○
Respect each other's time; aim for
brevity
○
Respect the agenda; aim for unity
○
Own your words, actions, and reactions;
aim for peace
●
How
to become a member
○
Chat
Sarah or email sarah@eastphillips.org with your email address and physical address (to verify you
live in East Phillips)
○
All
members are allowed to vote on EPIC decisions and motions
6:40 Community Discussion topic: Strategic Planning
●
Strategic
plan is giving EPIC a direction
●
As
we brainstorm: What do I want to be involved in? What will strengthen the
community? What is a good use of EPIC’s money?
● Document for break out rooms
●
More
ideas?
○
There
is a Google Form requesting input - in your inbox and on EPIC’s Facebook page
○
Interested
in being more involved in this process? Want to join the Vision Committee?
■ Put your name and contact information in the chat
7:15 Announcements
o
Next
Board Meeting will be: Saturday,
May 7th from10am-11am join online (link to join is at eastphillips.org)
▪
Board
Meetings are open to the public
o
Next
Community Meeting will be: Thursday, May 12 from 6:30-7:30 at East Phillips Park (if it is warm enough
to meet outside we will be outdoors at the park), view the meeting online (link
to join is at eastphillips.org)
▪
We
will be discussing how to use our approximately $140,000 of funds to better
engage with people who are underrepresented in EPIC
o
EPIC
has a housing program! 0% interest! Fix up your home or buy a new home in East
Phillips – Check your email for the brochure or go to: mncee.org/east-phillips:
Programs for East Phillips Residents | Center for
Energy and Environment (mncee.org)
o
If
you smell a foul odor around Smith foundry or Bituminous Roadways call 311 to
report
▪
Write
down your incident number
o
The
March financial report is available here or on at eastphillips.org
o We are excited to
announce that EPIC has hired Joe Meinholz as our Spanish speaking Outreach
Worker for the spring/summer!
▪
Still looking for a Somali Speaking
person to help us talk with neighbors
●
4 hours per week; $21 per hour
●
Outreach
Worker Job Description (eastphillips-epic.com)
o
EPIC
and a neighbor volunteer plan to plant in the roundabout on 25th and 17th
▪
Join
us on April 26 at 6pm at the roundabout to view the design plan, give your
input and plug in to help plant or with upkeep (trash pickup, weeding, watering
etc.)
▪
If
you can’t join, feel free to email sarah@eastphillips.org to give your input!
o
The
East Phillips Garden has open plots!
▪
Contact
Sarah (612) 354-6802 or sarah@eastphillips.org
o
Upcoming
May Indian Month events:
o
May 2 - March (Indian Month, unknown time
and direction)
o
May 6 - DIW Resource Fair? 11am - 3pm
o
May 8 - LERA (Mother's Day Powwow &
Clyde's Birthday?)
o
May 11 - Franklin Library (Giving out
Clyde's book)
o
May 14 - Brooklyn Park's First Native
American Heritage Event 10am - 2pm
o
May 18 - Event held at South HIgh -
(Collaboration of 3 orgs, Indian Ed, ? & ?)
o
May 24 - NACDI Event 11am - 3pm
o
May 27 - IHB Event - 1pm to 3pm
7:20 Community Decisions
Overview
of proposed lighting project
● $20,000 for an alley lighting
project. This would be able to serve about 60-100 homes (depending on the kind
of lighting), applying for additional funding through the Violence Prevention
Fund to help extend the project to reach most of the neighborhood.
●
This
program aims to provide free security lighting on the alley-side of residents’
properties who sign-up for a free lighting fixture/installation. Depending on
electrical power availability on the exterior, electricians will install either
○
a
dusk-to-dawn lighting fixture (ideal for providing consistent brightness and
disincentivizing activity–see picture below) or
○
a
solar motion lighting fixture where power is not available.
.png)
● This project will have decades of
violence-reduction impact (security lights should last decades, solar lights
may only last 1 decade) through this type of environmental change. Overtime, it
is expected that neighbor interactions and presence in alleys will increase as
the space is felt to be safe, and the increased presence in public spaces will
have an exponential impact on reducing violence in the neighborhood (especially
as neighbors are increasingly empowered in de-escalation and violence
interruption training).
● Most of the costs will be associated
with contracting the electricians for installation.
○
$1289.52/dozen
for dusk to dawn lights
○
$37.63/ea
for the solar powered lights
●
Note:
Holy Rosary Church/Centro Guadalupano supports this proposed project
MOTION: The EPIC board and
community members approves of recommending $20,000 of Equitable Engagement
Funds for alley lighting project pending city approval, MG, StS, Approved
Question
about whether it is LED - bad for insects
Question
about light pollution and making sure that it doesn’t add to the problem as
well as aim into other people’s homes
7:33 Adjourn
