August 15th, 2010 by Nieeta

August 15th, 2010 by Nieeta

August 3rd, 2010 by Nieeta

Join your neighbors at a National Night Out celebration tonight! Many events will have free food and all will provide an opportunity to continue strengthening our community connections. You won’t want to miss out!

Stop by a National Night Out event in the Summit-University area:

• 790 block Summit (House of Hope btwn Grotto & Avon), 5-9 p.m.
• 270 N. Kent (Hallie Q Brown Community Center), 5:30-7 p.m
• Freeport West Youth Center (Selby btwn Milton & Victoria), 5-7 p.m.
• 400 block Laurel (btwn Western & Arundel), 4-9 p.m.
• 3100 block Pleasant (Irvine Pl./Pleasant/Ramsey), 6-9 p.m.
• 470 block University (btwn Mackubin & Arundel), 4:00 p.m.
• 981 Marshall (First Trinity Church), 6:30 p.m.
• 870 block of Hague (btwn Milton & Victoria), 5:30 p.m.
• Parking lot at Selby/Milton (btwn Selby & Hague), 5:00 p.m.
• Victoria & Aurora (Peace Garden), 1:30-4 p.m.
• 300 block of Aurora (btwn Farrington & Galtier), 5-7 p.m.
• Carty Park (Carroll btwn Grotto & St Albans), 5:30 p.m.
• 1247 St Anthony (Skyline Towers), 4-6 p.m.
• 1120 block of Dayton (btwn Dunlap & Lexington), 6-8 p.m.

August 2nd, 2010 by Nieeta

May 23rd, 2010 by Nieeta

Gordon Parks. Courtesy Los Angeles Times photographic archive, UCLA Library

You’re invited to the first annual Media Arts Premier for the “Transitions: University Avenue” project.  Meet the students, interview subjects, community members and teachers who are making this project possible. The event will begin at noon May 26 at Gordon Parks High School, 1212 University Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55102. Driving Directions

The “Transitions” project combines audio interviews and photography to document the before, during and after of Central Corridor Light Rail Transit development on University Avenue. The project has  interviewed more than 10 community elders.  The project’s “soundslides” will be featured on a website created by the Minnesota Historical Society.

Community listening/brainstorming sessions last winter sparked numerous ideas about how best to serve the needs of students and community through this project. At this premier students will show off a portion of their completed soundslides; the production crew (made up of students, teachers, community members) will describe the production process they’ve used for the project; and we’ll share lunch together, catered by Arnellia’s and Golden Thyme.

May 23rd, 2010 by Nieeta

The Community Justice Project, along with the Aurora/St. Anthony Neighborhood Development Corporation, will be holding a community gathering for Brotherhood, Inc. on the afternoon of Friday, June 4, at ASANDC’s patio, 774 University Ave. The event starts at 2 pm with a short program at 4 pm. Please, come meet us on the patio to learn more about Brotherhood, Inc. and all of its exciting plans!

Brotherhood, Inc.’s mission is to empower African American youth and young adults to envision and achieve successful futures. We seek to break the debilitating cycle of crime and poverty ensnaring African American youth and young adults in the Twin Cities by providing services and support to facilitate permanent lifestyle change. Our goal is to take a holistic approach to community-building through comprehensive, culturally-sensitive social services, educational opportunities and on-site employment.

RSVP by calling ASANDC at 651-222-0399 ext. 100.

April 15th, 2010 by Nieeta

Wing Young Huie

Go to  http://www.theuniversityavenueproject.com for more info….

Public Art Saint Paul Presents Wing Young Huie’s The University Avenue Project — The Language Of Urbanism: A Six-Mile Photographic Inquiry

From May through October, 2010 Wing Young Huie’s photographs will transform Saint Paul’s University Avenue into a six-mile public gallery, revealing the everyday realites of the diverse neighborhoods connected by this urban thoroughfare. Hundreds of images will be displayed in windows and on buildings from the KSTP tower to the State Capitol. Each night at a landmark project(ion) site Wing’s images will be shown on 40-foot screens, accompanied by a soundtrack from local musicians.  Monthly cabarets will feature live community performances and new media presentations. A two-part book from The Minnesota Historical Society Press documents this extraordinary project.

Get Involved:

VOLUNTEERS We are currently recruiting volunteers that will be an essential part of producing this exciting large-scale project. Volunteer opportunities include project outreach, exhibition set-up, installing the photographs along the avenue, nightly running of projection site, community events and exhibition strike. If you are interested in participating, click here to register online.

BUSINESSES along University Avenue, offer your storefront window or building wall to exhibit Wing Young Huie’s photographs. Offered space must be available until the exhibition end in Mid-November. Click here to offer space at your business.

MUSICIANS, submit your music to be a part of the University Avenue Project! Images will be shown nightly on billboard-sized screens at the Project(ion) site, accompanied by prerecorded music by local musicians from an array of genres and cultures to create a musical soundscape that reflects the diverse and unique sound of the city. Take a look at the gallery of images and imagine which of your songs would add layers of meanings to this significant community project. Download this form for more information and to submit your music.

PERFORMERS Once a month The University Avenue Project(ion) site will host a community event to showcase the talents of local individuals, organizations and community groups. Information on how to register for a performance slot at a community event coming soon.

March 16th, 2010 by Nieeta

Elder Kwame McDonald (and the Wize Owl) has announced the Kwanzaa award recipients  for 2009:

UMOJA (unity) – Lisa Lissimore and Sandra Freeman

KUJICHAGULA (Self-determination) – Dennis Presley Sr. and Karen Ruth-Jarmon

UJIMA (Collective Work and Responsibility) – Dr. Beverly Hawkins and John Senar

UJAMAA (Cooperative Economics) –  Arnellia Allen  (owner of Arnellia’s) and Tracy Williams-Dillard (owner of MN Spokesman /Recorder)

NIA (Purpose) – Ron Edwards and Kemet Imhotep

KUUMBA (Creativity) – Felicia Brown and Sheree Ellis

IMANI (Faith) – Petey Mitchell and Jackie Cooper

NDUGU (Family) – John and Shelia Robinson and Steven and Lori Prioleau

MAISHA (Life Long, Long Life) – Dr. Josie Johnson,  David Goodlow, and Seba Ahmed Azzihir

A special thanks to the Cultural Wellness Center and NdCAD for their assistance in hosting the event this year, and also to Elder Atum Azzihir, Elder Bobby Hickman, Elder Mary K. Boyd, Elder Vanne Owens Hayes, Elder Jackie Fleming, Brother Gevonee Ford and Brother Mitchell Palmer McDonald.

Please let the award recipients know that they are appreciated for the work they have done and will continue to do in our community.

March 3rd, 2010 by Nieeta

About 30 people attended the Organizer Roundtable on the Building Sustainable Communities project.

More than 30 attendees from 22 organizations gathered at the Model Cities Communities Room on University Avenue on February 24, 2010, to hear impassioned community leaders share their raw experiences — the triumphs and the difficulties — in realizing the true meaning of collaboration.

Collaboration, in this case, meant creating neighborhood-centric, multi-partner coalitions aligned with the Building Sustainable Communities initiative supported by Twin Cities LISC.

As part of a monthly roundtable series organized by the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability, the event, titled “Community Partnerships for Success,” drew excellent attendance according to Joan Vanhala, coalition organizer with AMS.

“I appreciated the different leaders who talked honestly about their challenges in working with coalitions towards one common goal,” said Vanhala.

Those leaders included Mari Bongiovanni, executive director, East Side Neighborhood Development Company; Staci Horwitz, program director, City of Lakes Community Land Trust; Cathy Maes, executive director, ICA Food Shelf; Judy Elling, executive director of ResourceWest in Hopkins; and Nieeta Presley, executive director, Aurora/St. Anthony Community Development Corporation.

During the two-hour session, leaders outlined the formulation of their collaborative, conveying both excitement and frustration in the challenges and rewards of developing cross-sector partnerships.

“I can see that in the different presentations, we’re at different levels of maturity, and we all came out in completely different ways,” said Bongiovanni. “We [St Paul’s East Side] needed to sit at the table for quite a while.”

After four years, Bongiovanni admitted her collaborative is still working on finding a comprehensive voice, which has slightly fragmented recently due to resident churn in a tough economy. That said, she noted the effort put forth in a multi-year process that started with informational meetings and evolved into 64 organizations sitting at a table calling each other to ask for advice and referrals.

“That was a big step,” she said. “Before we were all in our little silos and hoping that we would get funded and others wouldn’t because that would be more money for us.”

The next Organizer Roundtable will be “Race, Power and Organizing,” which will address the dynamics of race in day-to-day life, and how to integrate racial equity in campaign focus.

Race, Power and Organizing

Noon – 1:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 31
Rondo Community Library
461 N. Dale St.
St. Paul, MN 55103

February 15th, 2010 by Nieeta

Join Model Cities, the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability, Aurora/St. Anthony NDC and other Frogtown Rondo Action Network partners at an Organizer Roundtable — Community Partnerships for Success: Building Sustainable Communities from noon to 2 p.m. Wednesday, February 24, at Model Cities Community Room, 839 University Avenue, Saint Paul. (Map/Directions or Transit Planner)

In 2007, the Twin Cities was chosen by the national Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) to carry out a Building Sustainable Communities demonstration to promote more integrated and comprehensive approaches to community development. Twin Cities LISC is implementing the project with a focus on five areas: St. Paul’s East Side, the Central Corridor, Minneapolis’ north and south sides, and the suburban community of Hopkins. They chose these areas because each offers a multitude of potential partners, opportunities and issues.

Come hear from community leaders involved in the program about their efforts to direct resources toward community-based projects already under way that would otherwise be constrained by limited means and abilities. Join in the dialogue about how innovative partnerships like this can leverage resources for community projects.

Organizer Roundtables are free but registration is required. Light snacks will be provided. Feel free to bring your lunch.