● Rebuilding after civil unrest. In May 2020, many businesses in the Midway, Union Park, Summit-University, and Frogtown neighborhoods were impacted by civil unrest. I organized and helped distribute millions of dollars from public and private sources to help stabilize our communities:

○ After advocating to our state reps during the 2020 legislative session to get state funding into civil unrest and pandemic impacted neighborhoods, the MN DEED agency announced $7M in grants to businesses in our city.

○ I played a key role in winning these funds, and coordinated with the St. Paul and Minnesota Foundation to share the funding opportunity with the community.

○ These funds helped leverage an additional $2M+ in private funds raised from initiatives like We Love Midway and Midway United to rebuild our neighborhoods and support our local businesses. I collaborated with area chambers of commerce and neighborhood district councils to get these resources out to impacted businesses.

○ When neighborhood businesses were suddenly given eviction notices from the Midway Shopping Center, I worked directly with the businesses, community allies and the property owner to win relocation assistance for the displaced businesses as well as significant additional time for them to be able to find new locations in Saint Paul.

○ The work to restore and repair our neighborhood continues today, and we need to make this a leading focus going into a state legislative session with a projected $17.6 billion surplus.

○ I will continue advocating strongly with our state reps for additional assistance to our neighborhood businesses.

● Supporting new public programs that put money directly into residents’ pockets. I supported the creation of the City of Saint Paul’s Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE). This new office has created innovative programs that put money directly into residents’ pockets, such as guaranteed income and CollegeBound Saint Paul, while building new models of how city government can make people’s lives better.
○ With my advocacy at the Council, the People’s Prosperity Pilot Program pilot program has provided 150 Saint Paul families with $500 per month in guaranteed income for a period of 18 months, and contributes to a national research initiative about the benefits of guaranteed income.

● Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour in Saint Paul. In 2018, I voted for and our Council passed a significant minimum wage increase applying to employers citywide, and I also voted for funding for stronger enforcement of the ordinance to ensure workers get their wages and employers have what they need to adhere to it.

● Supporting community ownership and local co-ops. I supported the development of the Hamline Midway Investment Cooperative, including successfully winning funding to jump-start this community-led initiative with federal American Rescue Plan funds.

○ HMIC is now working to buy and manage commercial real estate so that ownership of local businesses stays in the hands of residents.

○ Not only does this make our residents better positioned to combat commercial displacement, but it also means that when businesses do well, profits aren’t extracted from our communities - they go back to community owners.

● Advocating for community-centered redevelopment. University Avenue, one of Saint Paul’s most vibrant commercial and transit corridors, runs through the heart of Ward 4. I’ve championed dozens of critical redevelopment sites to ensure that current residents can continue calling this neighborhood home even as we grow and welcome many more new neighbors. We need to fulfill the promise of the Snelling-Midway superblock at the edge of Ward 4 and Ward 1 and continue guiding the growth of other sites citywide.

● Nurturing our thriving local arts economy to ensure artists are supported in Saint Paul. I represent the Creative Enterprise Zone in the Saint Anthony Park neighborhood and have championed major investments in the arts:
○ I helped launch the now-annual Chroma Zone mural festival with Cultural STAR city arts funding, employing BIPOC artists whose murals foster creative place-making, tell our community story and define our growing neighborhood
○ I have led the efforts to win state funding and support local zoning and permitting needs for the location and expansion of The Playwrights Center, a destination performing arts center in the CEZ that will serve playwrights of all backgrounds
○ I created a local entertainment district in the CEZ that allows outdoor street events like Blocktoberfest, Chroma Zone and others to more easily serve food and beverages, block off streets for pedestrians/vendors and more.

● Connecting neighborhood organizations with business assistance. Small businesses and community organizations often struggle to navigate the complex web of public funding and technical assistance that may be available to them.
○ Since taking office, my team and I have regularly supported small businesses and helped at least 10 Ward 4 organizations - including youth-serving nonprofits, BIPOC-owned businesses, and arts organizations - to connect with business assistance available to them through city, state, or federal sources.

● Steering city funding into BIPOC businesses. In 2018, I took office and inherited Year-Round STAR Funding that Councilmembers can access to support key projects in their wards. For the first time in years, we conducted a community survey to learn about our constituents’ priorities for these funds and maximize them, rather than doling them out without a clear strategy.
○ My office used that data to make investments in BIPOC businesses and organizations across Ward 4, including the forthcoming Little Africa Plaza in the old Snelling Light and Fan building, the repairing of the Eritrean Community Center on University Ave, and the opening of Black Garnet Books as Minnesota’s only Black-owned bookstore right off the Hamline Green Line stop.

● Championing capital investment in the Hamline-Midway Library and other critical community projects. Community centers, libraries and other city-funded public spaces play an essential role in our neighborhood by providing places for people to connect with resources and make connections with others, which became even more important during the pandemic. These sites need continued investment to provide high quality spaces our residents want and deserve.
○ I supported and won public funding for three major community center projects in our ward: YMCA Midway; Keystone Community Services, which will become a major food shelf and hub for community activities; and the Hamline Midway Library, which will be rebuilt with an $8.1M investment in sustainability, safety and accessibility for generations to come.

I’m running to keep building on this work, and will fight for these and other priorities:

● Exploring policies like a land value tax and higher vacant building fees in Saint Paul to hold wealthy, often out-of-state investors and speculative real estate interests more accountable for the cost of vacant lots and buildings that they own in our community
● Increasing our existing investment in community ownership of commercial real estate to strengthen local businesses and make sure that wealth created in this community stays in the community
● Continue guiding and advocating for major redevelopment opportunities like the Allianz Field development in partnership with the Ward 1 office, the former Luther Seminary site, the Hillcrest golf course site, the Sears site and other opportunities with our community
● Continuing to champion strong labor policies at the City of Saint Paul, including our model Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) ordinance, minimum wage, and strong labor standards in city contracts and agreements.
● Supporting city funding for public art through expanding the Cultural STAR program and working on updated guidelines that make it even easier to use
● Developing a THC revenue-raising measure at the city level to make sure that the recent state law allowing delta 9 edible products is maximized, and that we can use funds from its sales to meet our city’s needs
● Leveraging our trifecta state government, which I helped achieve during the years I was not running, and new state representatives, who I helped organize and built strong relationships with, to win historic levels of investment into our diverse neighborhoods