Minneapolis

Current and proposed City Wide Topic Work Groups  sharing action campaigns city-wide to achieve climate goals 

• Earth Day Clean Ups Sat, April 19, 9:30 am to noon cleanups throughout the city LINK
• Water Quality– Shoreline Clean Ups, Buck Thorn, Adopt a Drain, rccmn.co/water/
• Mpls Stormwater Management Plan – give your comments April 10 to May 8
• Community Solar Gardens co-launching new ones keiko@mplsclimate.org  mplsclimate.org/  
• Community Solar Gardens Join current CEF gardens bryn@cooperativeenergyfutures.com  Oppose SF 2855 & HF2793 proposing to end our MN Community Solar Garden program
•  Home Energy 25 by 25 home energy improvements/cut natural gas use rccmn.co/buildings/
• Healthy Air (outdoor & indoor) giving out air filters, education, retrofits rccmn.co/air-quality
• Healthy Trees – Co-host Tree Walks/Workshops to share resources https://rccmn.co/trees/  
• Community Gardening – seed give aways, boulevard gardens, urban ag, pollinator gardens
• Zero Waste – Buy Nothing, Swap Events, Food Waste, Apartments rccmn.co/zero-waste/
• Resilience Hubs/ Emergency Response Teams/ Food Give Aways rccmn.co/resilience
• Candidate Education, Caucuses, Candidate Forums/LWV www.communitypowermn.org/
• Traffic Calming
• Net Zero New Development
• Green Career Pathways
• Legal Rights and Renter’s Rights
• Green Teams Steering Committee and Advocacy Team rccmn.co/policy-team/

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  By working together through our citywide Minneapolis Green Teams Coalition our neighborhoods can strengthen our

  (1) Outreach Capacity & Communication Channels to reinforce mutual support among neighbors through Block Clubs, Events and Green Teams,

  (2) Effective, Simple Outreach Campaigns we’ll co-develop with nonprofit community partners, city department staff and neighborhood volunteers to engage our neighbors to take specific actions. Minneapolis Green Teams Coalition Current Topic Teams – Healthy Homes, Air Quality, Trees, Zero Waste, Water Quality, and our new Community Solar Garden team – being led by Minneapolis Climate Action

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  (3 ) Funding for Neighborhood Outreach

  (4) Shared power city-wide by linking our Green Teams to build support for our shared agenda in all 13 Wards. Our Green Teams/Ward Teams will meet up twice a year at our local Resilience Hub (Southside, Phillips, Northside) with block clubs, neighborhoods, NGOs, Council members city and county staff to maintain mutual accountability, track progress and plan next steps Co-Implementing our Minneapolis Climate Equity Plan

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  Community Solar Garden team – being led by Minneapolis Climate Action to organize neighborhood associations to invest some unspent NRP Funds to co-develop Community Solar Gardens, sign up neighbors to participate in projects co-owned by neighborhoods to provide a long-term source of steady income for participating neighborhood associations.

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  • Tree Team – with RCC, Tree Trust, Metro Blooms, HNA, Birch Tree Care, Strengthen Community, City of Minneapolis, Hennepin Co, U of MN Tree Stewards, Minneapolis Tree Advisory Commission, CEAC. Engaging neighbors to take advantage of free and low cost trees and free removal/replacement of ash trees, tree watering, creating neighborhood-wide tree canopy visons/plans in partnership with the Minneapolis City Tree Program
  • Water Quality/ Green Space/Resilience Team with the MWMO, Freshwater, Metro Blooms, MPW, MPRB, and MN Water Steward and Adopt a Drain volunteers city wide to keep our creeks and lakes swim-able and litter free and expand win-win solutions to reduce localized flooding & meet water quality goals together.
  • Litter Be Gone/Community Cleanups, adopt a block & litter container,

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  • Air Quality Team – with RCC, CEAC, Environmental Initiative, EJ Coalitions, and Green Zone Neighborhoods – taking practical steps to reduce asthma and improve health, by co-implementing Mpls Climate Equity Plan Indoor Air Quality and Outdoor Air Quality goals and strategies. We’ve distributed 60 box fan filters with Green Zone Residents to empower them to improve their indoor air quality and will soon launch a peer group of community volunteers learning to become home air quality mentors by tracking and improving their home’s indoor air quality.
  • Zero Waste Team – with Minneapolis Solid Waste and Recycling, Recycling Block Captains, CEAC, Eureka, Hennepin County, MN Zero Waste Coalition, Home Grown, scaling up effective actions to Achieve our city and county Zero Waste Goals and learn from other effective local and national zero waste projects (i.e. to retire the HERC sooner)

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  • Net Zero New Development /21st Century Communities Peer learning cohort meeting quarterly to share successful examples with city/ community/developer teams (Nicollet Lake, Hi-Lake, Towerside, Plymouth Ave, Brooklyn Center Opportunity Site, Heights, Rice Creek Commons, Blue Line, etc. to advance equity/inclusion/affordability, air source heat pumps, district geothermal, walkability, mobility hubs, district stormwater, walkability,

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  Green Careers Pathways Collaborative – RCC, MCA, CEE, SAOIC, and 20 community based workforce development partners working with GCPS, CPED, Hennepin County, Unions, Trade associations to recruit, support, place and retain 1,000 new skilled workers to expand contractor crews and new businesses needed to scale up healthy home energy retrofits city wide including energy auditors, Weatherization Techs, HVAC Techs, Solar Installers, Electrical, Green Construction and Energy Navigators

  RCC supports the Green Economy & Workforce goals & strategies in Minneapolis Climate Equity plan! They line up well with the Clean Economy Goals in the State of MN Climate Action Framework & Hennepin Co Climate Action Plan. To mobilize external partnerships and needed resources we recommend adding – Strategy 9 – Coordinate quarterly with workforce development partners (DEED, Hennepin Co. nonprofit, businesses & unions) to plan and secure funding to scale up business and workforce development programs & investments to meet the increased needs for skilled contractors and employees for all the goal areas of the Minneapolis Climate Equity Plan

   

• Nov-12-Neighborhod-Block-Connector-Resource-FairDownload

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  • Share and learn ways block/neighbors are building community between neighbors of all cultural back grounds, home owners and renters i.e. community gardens, little free libraries, movie nights, potlucks at the park, helping with shoveling sidewalks, etc.

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  Minneapolis Green Teams

  Coalition Co-hosted by RCC, Minneapolis Climate Action & FRAYEO

  Invitation for Minneapolis Neighborhood Environment Committees & Community Groups to help implement our new Minneapolis Climate Equity Plan by helping with

  • Strengthening City-Wide Action Campaigns,
  • City-Community Collaborative fundraising for Federal Grants &
  • neighbor to neighbor & business Outreach to share City-Wide Action Campaigns to invite residents & businesses to take specific actions

   

• Green-Team-Invite-Mpls-Nhood-Ward-Citywide-TeamsDownload
• Feb17_MplsGZS_FederalClimateGrantsTopicsWorkshopDownload

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  Let’s Fund $1k Annual Stipends for Neighborhood Liaisons for the Minneapolis Climate Equity Plan in 2024 Proposal Summary

  For the 2025 City of Minneapolis Budget – We’re requesting that the Mayor and City Council to add $80k

  to the Neighborhood & Community Relations or Health/Sustainability department budget to provide

  $1k annual stipends to Minneapolis Climate Equity Plan Neighborhood Liaisons in all 79 neighborhoods (in addition to the $15k base contract with NCR with Neighborhood Associations)

• Proposal-for-Mpls-CEP-1k-stipends-for-Neighborhood-Liaisons-1-1Download

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  Streamlined Climate Equity Plan Outreach Contracts – with neighborhood associations & community partners to achieve specific deliverables – i.e. signing up neighbors for

  Home Energy Squad/ Weatherization, Tree Planting, etc.)

  paid for by current and future state & federal grants the City of Minneapolis and Hennepin Co. and Justice 40 Groups can apply for together.

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  Mpls Neighborhood Green Teams Hosts quarterly meetings of Minneapolis neighborhood organization staff and environment and sustainability committee members AND any interested community members, along with City of Minneapolis Sustainability staff. We have gathered to:

  • ​Share techniques and tips for successful outreach and effective engagement embedded in environmental justice.
  • Leverage our collective voice to support our neighborhood initiatives, goals, and projects.
  • Build skills in communicating about difficult environmental topics.
  • ​Create community and support for each other as we address our environmental opportunities and challenges.

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  • Minneapolis Green Teams meetings are coordinated by Minneapolis Climate Action and Resilient Cities and Communities. COVID and capacity issues meant that Green Teams meetings were not held officially the last two years. Minneapolis Climate Action, FRAYEO and Resilient Cities and Communities held an exploratory meeting on July 11th and we thank all those who showed up! There is obviously excitement, need and momentum to get these meetings going.

  Join our MPLS Green Teams FACEBOOK GROUP to be informed on our future meetings and to share updates.

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  At our Minneapolis Green Teams Coalition quarterly gatherings leaders active with 30+ Minneapolis Neighborhood Environment Committees meet on zoom or in person to share our projects and to build power together to advance neighborhood environmental justice priorities

   

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  Three Possible Levels of City Support for Neighborhood Outreach for the Climate Equity Plan

  • Basic Level – $1k Annual Stipends for Neighborhood Liaisons for the Minneapolis Climate Equity Plan in addition to the $15k annual NCR contracts with neighborhood groups (paid for by Increasing the NCR Budget by $80k
  • Half Time Neighborhood Staffing ($25k per year) for Climate Equity Plan Outreach
  • Full Time Neighborhood Staffing ($50k per year) for Climate Equity Plan Outreach supported by

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  The Minneapolis Green Teams Coalition is co-hosted by Minneapolis Climate Action and Resilient Cities and Communities To get involved please contact:

  Sean Gosiewski, E.D. RCC 612-250-0389 sean@rccmn.co

  Leaders active with Minneapolis Neighborhood Green Teams regularly meet with and build power with their peers active with suburban communities through our RCC Hennepin County Cluster http://rccmn.co/hennepin-communities/ to collaborate to equitably meet our City and Hennepin County Climate Goals https://www.hennepin.us/climate-action on time