July 11th,
2019, 6:30 – 8:50
East Phillips Park Cultural & Community Center,
2307 17th Ave S.
EPIC web address: eastphillips-epic.com
Office: 2433 Bloomington Avenue S., 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: Shontal Lajeunesse,
Mary Gonsior, Cassandra Holmes, Steve Sandberg, Sarah Santiago, Laura Dale,
Carol Pass and Abah Mohamed
Board
Members Not Present: Rosie Cruz (U)
Members: George Kennedy, Carol Hill, Devika Ghai,
Guests: Shirley Heyer, Shelley Schafer, Makenzie Nolan,
Viviana R.
6:40 Greetings and Introductions
6:42 Agenda:
Approve the agenda, amended, MG, approved by consensus
Minutes: Approve the minutes from June,
BP, GK, approved
6:57 SCOUT
research team presentation
·
The
first survey was from a planning grant which was primarily all research
·
Community
Based Crime reduction grant is a federal grant
o
Little
Earth is a sub recipient of this grant
o
A
lot of rules surrounding federal grants
·
SCOUT
research team expressed gratitude for financially supporting the first step of research
·
A
lot of researchers have come in and done research in Little Earth – but
residents are not typically as involved in the research process as they have
been with this grant and survey
o
Found
it beneficial to use participant action research approach
§
Use
of partnerships
§
Engaging
the community in all of the steps so when the grant goes away the community
knows how to do it
§
Asked
questions that the community cared about and can have action around
·
Doing
a survey now at this point because Minneapolis Police Department willing to
take a similar survey to the community survey which is powerful and rare
·
Co-learning
of SCOUT members,
o
SCOUT
members go out and have residents complete survey,
o
SCOUT
members give residents who have completed the survey a card and they can redeem
for incentive which EPIC is noted as a funder of the incentives
o
SCOUT
members enter data from surveys on the computer
·
The
results shared tonight are from the planning grant
o
Used
youth center data, Minneapolis Police Department data etc. as well
o
Two
main terms the survey focused on
§
Collective
Efficacy – informal social control.
·
How
much the community is willing to intervene during a crime
§
Procedural
justice
·
Does
the person interacting with the police feel like their voice is heard, being treated
with respect, do they feel like they are understood by the police?
·
These
feelings can be more impactful than the outcome of the interaction i.e. arrest.
o
304
surveys completed = 73% which is a very high response rate
o
68%
female, 32% male
o
77%
liked the people around them
o
60%
agreed there is a willingness to help people
o
73%
agreed or strongly agreed that crime is a problem at Little Earth
o
22%
said that during the day Little Earth is not safe
o
48%
agreed sex trafficking is a problem at Little Earth
o
80%
agreed drug dealing is a problem at Little Earth
o
48%
agreed they stay inside during the day
o
38%
agreed they keep a weapon for protection
o
47%
worry they will be hurt by someone when outside of their home
o
53%
worried they will be robbed or have something stolen from them while outside of
their home
o
Willingness
of neighbor to intervene to help
§
41%
said their neighbor is likely to do something if someone was trying to break
into their house
§
31%
said their neighbor would do something if someone was being solicited for sex
§
17%
thought a neighbor would intervene if there was an argument
o
Perception
of police is more negative among people who have been approached by police
(procedural justice)
o
Now
moving to the action stages – implementing the peace making program, education
to success pathway, police/community relationships, (re)establishment of the
SCOUT team, aftercare consultant
o
LERA
owns this data, the Little Earth community owns the data
o
There
is a lot of data that they want to publish, various journals because what
Little Earth has achieved is incredible, including the participant action model
o
LERA
will let EPIC know whether we can publish the two page report
7:34 Re-vote
on Little Earth survey
·
We were out of order at the June membership meeting – spending
requests need to be brought to the EPIC board first.
Motion
from July’s Board meeting: Whereas the June membership meeting had a quorum of board
members and the motion was approved by the board and EPIC members, EPIC
approves funding of $2,000 for the Safe Community of United Tribes (SCOUT)
program for their midpoint survey. EPIC does not need the raw data but would
like the report on the project and survey that can be shared with the community
and EPIC will be acknowledged as a partner in the program. CP, SS, 2
abstained because of conflict of interest, Approved.
Motion from June’s General
Membership Meeting: EPIC will fund up to $2,000 toward SCOUT Little
Earth Survey provided appropriate funding is available and EPIC will be listed
as a funder of these surveys and will be provided a report summarizing the data
and the research team will be invited to give a presentation to the EPIC
community, SS, GK, 2 abstained because of conflict of interest, Approved
Second Vote Tonight:
MOTION: Whereas the June membership meeting had a quorum of board members and
the motion was approved by the board and EPIC members, EPIC approves funding of
$2,000 for the Safe Community of United Tribes (SCOUT) program for their
midpoint survey. EPIC will be listed as a funder of these surveys and will be
provided a report summarizing the data and the research team will be invited to
give a presentation to the EPIC community. SS, LD, 2 abstained because of
conflict of interest, approved
Discussion on motion:
o Needs
to happen by the end of July or beginning of August
o Noted
that data is always presented to Little Earth residents first
o Insurance
concern because we do not currently have general liability insurance
o Majority
of SCOUT team is youth, they will tell residents about the survey, putting the
data into the computer
o Over
50% of the residents at Little Earth are youth
o EPIC
does not have community participation funds currently, but does have youth
programming funds
7:43 Announcements:
·
Next
Board Meeting will be August 3rd
at 10am at the EPIC office (2433 Bloomington Ave)
o
Board
Meetings are open to the public
·
Next
Community Meeting will be August 8th
at 6:30 here at East Phillips Park
·
Phillips Health Fair 2019 – August 14th 10am-2pm
at Waite House Community Center (2323 11th Ave S. Minneapolis)
o
Free
health screenings, kids activities, DJs, raffle, massages, free bike tune-ups,
employers looking to hire and more
·
South Minneapolis Public Safety
Coalition
o
Representatives
of the state, community organizations
o
Deals
with crime in South Minneapolis
o
Meets
monthly – 2nd Wednesday of the month from 3-4:30pm at the Salvation
Army on Lake Street (ADRESS)
o
Over
70 people attended meeting in July
o
Talked
about alternatives to putting people in jail
o
Angela
Conley attended, mayor and city council members not present
o
A
lot from the 3rd Precinct and PRIDE
o
Of
the 70-80 people present, about 15 people were not white
·
East Lake Open
Streets
o
EPIC and EPNI will have tables on Sunday July 21st
o
We need volunteers to fill shifts for tabling a few hours
between 11:00am and 5pm
§
So far:
·
Steve and Brad will be setting up and taking down
o
Brad will bring a canopy
·
Cassie and Sarah each have a shift tabling
·
Public comment is open for proposed modification
of approval process for NRP.
From an e-mail from David Rubedor (Director of
Neighborhood and Community Relations):
o
June 10th officially
began a 45-day comment period, ending July 25, on a proposed change to the plan
modification approval process. The redlined NRP policy document found at http://minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@ncr/documents/policydocument/wcmsp-219206.pdf) shows the proposed change (NRP processes require actions to be
taken in order to modify funding strategies, reallocate funds within approved
strategies or the creation of a new strategy. Currently, the NCR
Department Director has sole discretion to approve or deny these requests. The
proposed policy change does the following:
o
Plan modifications over $100,000 will require the approval of
the NRP Policy Board
o
Plan modifications $100,000 and under will be administratively
approved by the NCR Department Director
o
Authorizes programmatic documents to reflect these changes
o
This policy change
requires a 45-day public comment period, which opens on June 10 and closes on
July 25, 2019. After the public comment period, the NCR Department will forward
this change, and any comments, to the City Council.
o
To submit comments on
these proposed changes please email ncr@minneapolismn.gov or
call Steven Gallagher at 612-673-2905
8:00 Violence
Prevention Grant Update
·
EPIC board recommends that a temporary committee
be formed to oversee the grant
o
So far this committee consists of Abah, Cassie,
Steve (and Rosie if she is able)
o
Board would also like community members to sit
on the committee – please contact a board member if you are interested!
·
EPIC board recommends an additional $2,000 be
earmarked for project support
o
Youth funds might be the best to use
o
Incentives is one thing the additional money
has been discussed to be used for
MOTION: Pending approval of the contract with the program
coordinator and receipt of the Violence Prevention Grant EPIC will provide up
to $2,000 of additional funding for youth program costs if needed. CP, CH,
Amended, Approved.
·
Has EPIC responded to Mary Buchanon in regards
to insurance requirement? If so have funds been received?
o
We are working on getting insurance
8:17 NCEC commissioner
election for our district
·
We are district 7 and there is only one candidate for the
commissioner. We (EPIC) are too late to nominate a candidate
·
Does someone want to attend to elect the only candidate (from
Bryant neighborhood)? The election is Wednesday, July 17th at 6:00pm at the Crown Roller Mill
(105 5th Avenue South).
o
Cassie is planning to
attend
·
The commissioner sits on a large committee, half are elected and
half are appointed to the committee
·
The committee makes decisions that reflect the neighborhood
o
Commissioners propose how much money neighborhoods get, and it
is submitted to the city council
8:27 Update on
proposed 39 unit housing project at 17th and Lake
·
Steve followed up with Graham (from Alondra’s office) about the
labels that were supposed to be used for notification of neighbors near the
proposed development
·
Does someone from EPIC want to attend the planning commission meeting
to ensure the issues brought up at the June conversation with the owner of the
proposed development are addressed?
·
Steve will provide the date and time of the planning commission
to Sarah, and she can send notification of planning commission to our mailing
list with attachment of notes from conversation with the owner of the proposed
development
8:37 Update on
East Phillips Urban Farm
·
Report on last HAC (Hiawatha Advisory Committee) meeting –
yesterday (July 11th 2019)
o
The prior HAC meeting was cancelled because the community
insisted on moving the presentation of the Urban Farm project to the beginning
of the meeting
o
Carol Pass, Brad Pass and Dean Dovolis attended the July
meeting
§
Brad said “if you want to keep arguing, go ahead, this
neighborhood doesn’t give up. If you want to avoid a huge battle, approve at least the 3 acres.”
§
Brad thinks we need to find someone to run for City Council
·
Steve will draft a letter to the Heritage Preservation
Commission and the City of Minneapolis for EPIC and send out
o
To establish the Sears building on the old roof depot site as a
historic building
·
EPNI is pushing for an Environmental Assessment Worksheet as well
8:49 Summerfest
Reflection
·
How did the event go?
o
Rainy – kept people away but great musicians and the people who
did attend seemed to have a great time
8:45 Upcoming
events:
o
Summer Events:
·
Community Garden – All summer
o
9:00AM
Saturday July 13th at 2428 17TH Ave.
·
National Night Out – Tuesday, August 6th
o
National
Night Out (NNO) Funding is available for permitted NNO block parties. EPIC has
approved spending of up to $1,000 for permitted NNO block parties. Funds will
be distributed to block party on a Pro-rata basis up to $100 maximum per party.
Funds cannot be used for food or entertainment.
o
Fall Events:
§
Phillips Community Clean Sweep – October 12th
§
Garden Fall Harvest Party Saturday, October 19th
·
Expand
our October Harvest party (block off the street)
§
Ideas?
8:56 Adjourn
