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
Join us for the Minneapolis 2024 City Budget Hearing (Truth in Taxation)
Tuesday, Dec. 5 6:05 p.m. City Hall, room 317, 350 S. Fifth Street.
to thank our City Council for voting to o increase the Xcel & Centerpoint utility franchise fee to raise 10 million annually to help implement the Climate Equity Plan.
- Gas franchise fee ordinance This link open a new window(2023-00717)
- Electric franchise fee ordinance This link open a new window(2023-00718)
- Let’s maximize Federal $ for city & community implementation
Let’s work together to co-organize a City-Community Federal Climate Grant Workshop (tentative date)
- When – Sat Feb 17 2024 as part of the Mpls Community Connections Conference at the Convention Center, with NCR, SHHE & Green Zone Committees
- Why – access state & federal funds to support neighborhood climate outreach
- Co- hosts – CEAC, EVAC, Green Zones, SHHE & NCR staff, Great Lakes TcTAC, RCC Mpls Green Teams, Unidos, Just Transition Coalition, Hennepin Co., MPCA, etc.
- Participants – Partner nonprofits,community based & EJ organizations & neighborhood associations, to apply for state and federal funding related to Minneapolis Climate Equity Plan Strategies.
In July of 2023, the Minneapolis City Council adopted Minneapolis Climate Equity Plan, with the support of the Just Transition Coalition. Now we are asking the city council to invest $10 million in 2024 as the first step toward a rapid transition to clean energy.
Neighborhood Association Sign On Letter to support the Council to increase the Franchise Fee for $10 million to implement the Climate Equity Plan
TO SIGN ON TO THIS LETTER, PLEASE USE THIS GOOGLE FORM
The People’s Climate & Equity Plan Background Document
Full funding is necessary to make sure this work is done neighborhood by neighborhood rather than house by house, so that all of the benefits of the clean energy transition are fully accessible to low income communities of color.
Let’s Fund $1k Annual Stipends for Neighborhood Liaisons for the Minneapolis Climate Equity Plan in 2024 Proposal Summary
For the 2024 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)
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
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.
Notes and Next Steps Minneapolis Neighborhood Green Teams MeetUp Thurs Sept 14th, 2023 5:45 North Regional Library Sign up interest form RSVP
We learned about the Minneapolis Resilience Hubs from Bharat Balyan, Resilience Hub Coordinator, and brainstormed ways our neighborhood green teams could help implement theMinneapolis Climate Equity Plan by
- Organizing city-wide campaigns to weatherize homes, plant trees, reduce waste, etc. &
- Strengthening & connecting green teams in each ward to better engage our neighbors.
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.
- 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.
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
RCC Comments to Strengthen the Minneapolis Climate Equity Plan, 5/2/2023
Plan Implementation – https://rccmn.co/collaborative-climate-implementation/
CITY OPERATIONS & ENTERPRISE LEADERSHIP (page 59) – RCC supports strategies 1 to 9 especially (1) Implement a Climate Legacy Initiative to support Climate Action (2) Establish an Enterprise Climate Equity Cabinet
- RCC recommends adding a Strategies 10 and 11 to maintain mutual accountability and transparency on actions taken & investments made (local, state, federal) during implementation
- Strategy 10 – Annual Climate Equity Plan Implementation Report & Budget Requests – each July city staff & the Enterprise Climate Equity Cabinet will give a status update report on Climate Equity Plan implementation to the Mayor, Council, Commissions, partners and public, in collaboration with the City’s Capital Long Range Improvement Committee.
- For each goal area and strategy, the report will include the steps taken, outcomes, gaps and budget requests for the upcoming year for all the goal areas and strategies.
- The mayor’s staff will then be able to consider including these budget requests in the draft City Budget they will present to the City Council in August for the next year.
- Strategy 11 – Launch Collaborative implementation of the Minneapolis Climate Equity Plan – with Topic-Specific Implementation Teams – including city, county, state, nonprofit, business, community-based implementation partners) to align & secure local state & federal funding, solve capacity gaps, streamline implementation, facilitate shared-learning & maintain mutual accountability and transparency during implementation. A nationally recognized (local) Strategy Engagement Platform is Insight Vision.
GREEN ECONOMY & WORKFORCE – https://rccmn.co/green-jobs/
- RCC supports the Green Economy & Workforce goals & strategies in the 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
CLEAN AIR – https://rccmn.co/air-quality/ RCC supports the addition of these goals and strategies we had suggested.
Goal: – Study, mitigate and reduce outdoor and indoor air pollution to improve health outcomes in Minneapolis — with a focus on the Green Zones and other neighborhoods and households experiencing cumulative air quality impacts
Strategy 1 Co-convene, quarterly city/county/community air quality working group meetings to maintain mutual transparency & accountability to act on air quality data; reduce & mitigate air pollution; and improve health outcomes (with a focus on Green Zones and impacted Minneapolis neighborhoods.)
- Address cumulative air quality impacts in Green Zones and impacted Minneapolis neighborhoods.
- Act on city, state and community air monitoring data to reduce point & mobile source air pollution.
- Increase funding for healthy homes outreach and retrofits and neighborhood tree planting on blocks experiencing high levels of outdoor air pollution to improve their indoor air quality, reduce asthma triggers & improve health outcomes.
- Implement residential programs to monitor and improve indoor air quality, especially in air areas with higher-than-average asthma rates
Strategy 2 Address cumulative air quality impacts in Green Zones and impacted Minneapolis neighborhoods.
Strategy 3 Act on city, state and community air monitoring data to reduce point & mobile source air pollution
Strategy 4 Increase funding for healthy homes outreach and retrofits and neighborhood tree planting on blocks experiencing high levels of outdoor air pollution to improve their indoor air quality, reduce asthma triggers & improve health outcomes.
4.1 Neighborhood-wide mitigation of air pollution (i.e. tree planting, vegetative buffers, anti-idling, etc.)
4.2 Household-specific mitigation of indoor air pollution with a focus on households with vulnerable members experiencing asthma, etc. (health care access, air sealing, insulation, indoor air filters, reducing the use of fossil gas appliances, mitigate indoor air pollution sources such as mold and pests, etc.)
4.3 Integrate healthy homes / indoor air quality intervention with all in-home touch-points (Regulatory Services, energy efficiency, electrification, etc.)
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 or Kyle Samejima E.D., Minneapolis Climate Action kyle@mplsclimate.org
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