Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Donate Your USED BICYCLES for a Worthy Cause!


What:  Cycles for Change Bike Drive
When:  Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2015,  6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
                AND Wednesday Sept 30, 2015, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Where:  Conway Community Recreation Center;  2090 Conway St;  St Paul, MN 55119

About the Cycles for Change Bike Drive  
·         Get that dusty old bike out of your basement/garage/storage and into the hands of someone who will use it! 
·         Help support a local nonprofit, Cycles for Change.   Learn more online at www.cyclesforchange.org.
·         Decent condition bicycles are refurbished and put on the road again, while older bikes are also accepted, stripped of usable parts, separated into recyclable materials and recycled.
·         Donations are tax-deductible.

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Dialogue to Action Steering Committee Minutes 9/8/15


In attendance: Chia, Betsy, Christine, Nicole, Leslie, Jens (phone)
Budget update – Stipends will be given after the dialogue to recipients but there is paperwork that needs to be completed; Transportation is covered for those needing assistance through free bus passes donated by Metro Transit through Saint Paul SmartTrips; Betsy will go through the original budget and send out an update on how the stipends will be distributed – total amounts will depend on numbers of facilitators and participants needing assistance.
PED work – Curriculum has been drafted and is being finalized, and the date is October 14. The work has been divvied up among the planning committee for who would do what and there will be meetings between now and the date of the workshop. There will be four 40 minute sessions.  24 PED staff have committed to attend. District councils can have up to 5 reps per council in attendance. There will be an intro, definitions, struggles and challenges and priorities, with actions about how to make things more equitable.  The different levels of racism and equity will be addressed as well as how to do equitable community engagement. The planning group will meet one more time with final draft of the curriculum due on October 1 with run through that day at Arlington Hills. The work will look at how disparities impact livability – we want to be setting high level goals for both community and the department.
Leslie will prepare a three paragraph draft of a press release – include a quote from Mayor’s Office? Quote from Najat?
Updates – Chia and Betsy met with Mayors Office. We will meet with Gwen P and Kathy K directly again to talk about how we will work with them on the Parks dialogues (NOTE: this meeting took place on September 9 and was a positive meeting).  As curriculum is developed, we note that the Met Council has a report on Parks and equity. We are finalizing the parks curriculum.
Facilitators training – 8 people attended and we used the training tools from Everyday Democracy with some rearranged materials. Youth fully participated. We wanted to assure that people were not confused about their roles and the materials, they supported each other and left very positive about the experience. They were to meet with their co-facilitator prior to the actual dialogues.
Outreach plan – We have been sending flyers out and participant forms. Betsy will resend the updated form. We suggest it be announced on the WEQY 104.7. An announcement was sent to ES Review, Jane McClure, reached out agencies, reached out to CAT members and former dialogue participants; Jazz festival in Rondo, Family Values giveaway. Steering committee members will recruit. We need to have SIGNAGE at the site.
Thursday send Steering committee numbers we have for next Monday (NOTE: we only had 2 RSVPs by Thursday…)

October 12 at 10a… next steering committee

OLD HUDSON due for a facelift!!

Coming soon... the city will be doing a mill and overlay of Old Hudson Road between Ruth and McKnight. A mill and overlay is when they grind down the pavement and then put a new upper surface on it - really a shorter term fix. It doesn't involve digging up all the pavement and totally rebuilding the road.

For more information, check out this site.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Dialogue to Action discussions begin - JOIN US!!

On Monday, September 14 District 1 and its sister councils from across the city started off its series of racial equity dialogues on the city's West Side. The first set of dialogues is among Saint Paul Police and youth and their families. About 25 people attended and began the story-telling and trust-building that will form the foundation of our working together to make a more equitable city.

WE ARE LOOKING FOR MORE YOUTH AND FAMILIES TO PARTICIPATE!! Please contact Chia Lor at our office - district1chia@gmail.com or at 651-578-7400 - for more information. We will be meeting every Monday until October 12 (from 6-8p). We have free bus passes for those needing to get to the west side via transit.

These dialogues are facilitated by trained community members, including youth, and were developed jointly over 6 1/2 months by over 40 community members and police representatives. The objective is to find ways that we can work together to deal with the mistrust among communities of color and the police. Please join us!

Starting October 19, there will be a similar set of dialogues between community members and the Saint Paul Parks and Recreation Department. Those dialogues will run every Monday from October 19 until November 16, again from 6-8p, but this time at the Arlington Hills Community Center at Payne and Maryland.

You can view a bit of video from our first dialogue here, courtesy of Channel 5 News.

Pick up a free organics recycling starter kit!!


Ramsey Recycles is offering free organics recycling starter kits that include a 3-gallon bin with a locking cover, compostable bags, information on recycling and the organics recycling punch card. Bring the card in for five punches (one each time you drop off organics) and you’ll get a free Ramsey Recycles t-shirt. Starter kits are available at all of the Ramsey County yard waste sites. Just tell the yard waste site attendant that you want to get started recycling organic waste! 
Learn more about our organics recycling drop-off.