August 4, 2022

EPIC Community Meeting Agenda 8-11

EPIC Community Meeting Draft Agenda

August 11, 2022, 6:30 – 7:30

Cedar Field Park, 2700 Cedar 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:

Board Members Not Present:

Members:

Guests:


6:30     Welcome

●      Vision and Mission

●      Intros

●      Agenda Approval,

Minutes Approval,

●      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

○      Mark on the sing in sheet that you want to be 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

●      Announcements

o   Next Board Meeting will be: Saturday, September 3 from 10am-11am join online (link to join is at eastphillips.org)

▪        Board Meetings are open to the public

o   Next Community Meeting will be: Thursday, September 8 from 6:30-7:30 at Little Earth Farm (corner of Ogema Pl and EM Stately St)

▪        We will have healing services, food, music, art and a community conversation facilitated by Nonviolent Peaceforce

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   Microgrant program

▪        Get paid to organize and lead community clean ups - Cleaning Captain

▪        Do you have an area on your property that keeps getting tagged (graffitti)? Or are you a public artist? - have an artist create a public art project to help prevent further tagging or help install public art projects

▪        Do you want to organize skill shares for your neighbors - de escalation skills, how to build a bench etc. - EPIC will reimburse you for expenses and pay guest speakers

▪        Would you like free alley lighting on your garage or home to disincentivize crime? EPIC will pay for all expenses - electrician and all

▪        Do you want funds towards a block party? - Get reimbursed for paper products, kids activities etc.

●      Find more information and application at eastphillips.org or call Sarah (612) 354-6802

o   Clean Sweep - the Phillips wide community clean up is looking for new leadership to plan and implement this important event - interested? Could get compensated to do this through our Cleaning Captain microgrant program - Contact info@eastphillips.org

o   Environmental Justice in East Phillips

▪        Interested in hosting an air monitor sensor?

●      Free, but need an outside outlet

●      Provides live access to air quality in our neighborhood - see EPIC’s Facebook page to see live updates of this

▪        Interested in forming an environmental justice/science committee or be a liaison for EPIC? Possible projects:

●      Ask to work on a proposal for Green Zone fund

●      Partner with University or High School course

●      Inquire about led testing of water

 

 

6:40     Claire Weiss, research assistant for a study partnered with  Minneapolis and Saint Paul Parks, working closely with East Phillips Park

 

6:45     Community Discussion topic: Midtown Greenway about Phillips Traffic Safety Improvement Project

 

7:00     Questions for presenter

 

7:10     Community Decisions

1)     LifeStyle Recovery Community Groups proposal - view proposal and budget attached

 

MOTION: The EPIC Board of Directors and EPIC members approve of the LifeStyle Recovery Community Groups proposal with minor changes based on city funding requirements

 

2)     EPIC housing program

a)     EPIC received input from the community in May and June to have home grants.

                                              i)          Wording from proposal that went before the community”

(1)   Home grants: Approximately $20k. Provide approximately two grants of $10k each for housing rehab projects.

b)     After discussions with the city and Center for Energy and the Environment (the organization that does our current housing program), the board was concerned about capacity and starting a new program where EPIC would need to facilitate a lottery, recipients of the grant would need to get bids and complete the house project, all before December 31 2022

                                              i)          Decided to propose the following motion to the community to put the funds towards our current housing program to ensure that the funds are spent before the end of the year

MOTION: Move 20k from Home Grants to the current CEE Housing Program,

 

7:30     Adjourn