MonicaM

Adair Mosley, CEO & President, Departing Pillsbury United Communities

MINNEAPOLIS, MN, AUGUST 16, 2022—Pillsbury United Communities Board of Directors announced today that Adair Mosley will transition out of his role as President and CEO. He will leave September 30 and will step into the role of CEO of the African American Leadership Forum in October.

Mosley has been President and CEO for the past five years and has been with the organization for 11. His time as agency leader has spanned philanthropic and community shifts, devastating tragedies, a global pandemic, and an uprising for social justice. Throughout it all, he has been a champion of meeting the moment with transformative innovation and investment. During his tenure, the agency’s budget grew from $12 million to $16 million. His accomplishments include:

    • Opening North Market, a full-service grocery store in North Minneapolis
    • Establishing Justice Built Communities, an economic development initiative with $20M in starting capital that will build equity in land, labor, entrepreneurship, and capital for Black Minnesotans.
    • Receiving a $1.5 million state appropriation to launch a career and early college program.
    • Securing a $750,000 investment from the Kresge Foundation to launch a policy and mobilization department and $1 million from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota to focus on social determinants of health through cross sector partnership.
    • Raising $1 million to give every member of the North High graduating class of 2022 a post-secondary scholarship

“When I took over this role, I promised to lead ‘change at the speed of community.’ Today, I leave an organization that is fiscally healthy and even more committed to dismantling systems of oppression,” said Mosley. “I am so proud of all that we have accomplished together. I look forward to my next chapter galvanizing policy makers, philanthropy, and corporate partners in pursuit of community’s agenda, and I look forward to doing it in ongoing relationship with Pillsbury United.”

“Thanks to Adair and his leadership team, the tireless staff, extraordinarily generous donors and supporters, PUC is in an exceptionally strong position,” said Heath Rudduck, chair of the board of directors. “We’ll miss Adair tremendously, but he has helped prepare us for the next chapter of the organization’s growth and its steadfast commitment to the prosperity of the communities, people and places we serve.”

The board of directors is in the process of initiating a national search for the agency’s next leader. In the interim, Brenna Brelie, head of operations, will serve as CEO. Brelie has been with the agency for eight years and played a key role in the leadership transition between Mosley and his predecessor, Chanda Smith Baker.

“I’m grateful to have worked alongside Adair for the past eight years. His visionary leadership has changed the trajectory of this organization, and he will definitely be missed,” said Brelie. “However, I am confident our board of directors will find the next passionate leader to continue this legacy at Pillsbury United Communities.”

About Pillsbury United Communities

Pillsbury United Communities is one of Minnesota’s most well-established organizations with 140+ years of service to diverse communities across the Twin Cities and beyond. Pillsbury United Communities has an annual operating budget of $16M (including affiliates) and 150 change agents. We are community builders co-creating enduring change toward a just society where every person has personal, social, and economic power. Our united system of programs, neighborhood centers, social enterprises, and partnerships connects individuals and their families across the region. More information about Pillsbury United Communities is available at www.pillsburyunited.org

Becca Tripp

Sisterhood Boutique celebrates its 10-year anniversary

We can’t believe that we’ve been here this long. We have been working hard to change lives for the many young women who have been a part of our program. And now it’s time to celebrate!
 In 2012, a group of East African girls began discussing the gaps they were seeing in their community—they wanted the same opportunities as the boys! With support from the youth development team at the Pillsbury United Communities Brian Coyle Center, these entrepreneurial young women developed the concept for a resale clothing store and launched the Sisterhood Boutique in 2014. For the past eight years, the Sisterhood Boutique has been providing a safe place for East African girls to learn and grow while providing a valuable service to the community.
Today, the Sisterhood is a thriving youth development program that helps East African young women ages 14-23 develop life and work readiness skills with hands-on experience in the operation of a fully functioning retail business.

OUR MISSION: We encourage East African young women to connect and evolve as leaders and entrepreneurs by creating space to explore, express, and educate each other and their community. Because, we believe the future is for all women.

We are so thankful for the longevity of the organization so far and we are so grateful for the people and donors that have worked along with us throughout the past 10 years!
Sisterhood – Wrapping Women in Confidence

Becca Tripp

Pillsbury United launches Minneapolis Documenters to Boost Government Transparency

MINNEAPOLIS (JAN. 2022)  — Local government meetings shape our lives, but these discussions often lack participation from the public. A new participatory journalism initiative from Pillsbury United Communities is making public meetings more transparent and accessible, giving Minneapolis residents the information they need to actualize the change they wish to see in their communities. 

Minneapolis Documenters trains and pays community members to take notes at city and county government meetings. We’re building a community-owned public record by centralizing city and county-level public meeting dates, government documents and Documenters’ notes in one location at minneapolis.documenters.org. Notes and summaries are also shared on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @documenterspuc. 

Minneapolis Documenters is led by Pillsbury United Communities’ Civic Producer Jackie Renzetti and Director of Policy and Advocacy Kenzie O’Keefe. Both are former Twin Cities-based journalists and media educators. 

“Government doesn’t typically meet community where it’s at; it can be technocratic, time-consuming, and difficult to track. Here at Pillsbury United, we are investing in a Documenters program to remove some of those structural barriers, supporting the community members we serve in building their government awareness and organizing power,” O’Keefe said.

Pillsbury United is inviting local newsrooms and civic organizations to use this resource and share ideas for collaboration. 

“We believe sharing resources between news organizations and opening up the reporting process to the public is key to a sustainable, equitable media ecosystem that supports civic participation, ” Renzetti said. “We envision this as a resource that can open new opportunities for collaborative journalism and civic action in Minneapolis and beyond.” 

Minneapolis Documenters is an affiliate of the Documenters Network created by City Bureau, a Chicago-based civic journalism lab, in 2016. Since 2018, Cleveland and Detroit have also established affiliate programs. Documenters in these programs have used their experiences to further their careers and interests in fields including reporting, civic action and research. Newsrooms have also collaborated in these cities to pursue accountability reporting based on the Documenters’ notes. 

“Public meetings are workshops for local democracy. Across the country, gaps in coverage of these meetings leaves community members less informed and less able to make informed decisions about schools, development or who to vote for in local elections. Access to information from these meetings allows people to hold local officials accountable,” said Darryl Holliday, Executive Director of National Impact at City Bureau. “The Documenters Network informs, engages and equips community members to get civically involved and connect their neighbors to critical information.“

Since the program’s soft launch in mid-December, 22 Minneapolis Documenters have joined more than 1,600 Documenters across the country. Based on engagement with the public, Pillsbury United Communities will focus its Minneapolis Documenters coverage on city and county-level agencies that deal with housing, land use and public safety. The notes will also cover other justice-related issues such as food access, transportation and health.

Documenters are paid $20 hourly for time spent at the training and covering meetings. The only qualification to become a Documenter is attendance at a Minneapolis Documenters orientation. Prospective Documenters – and reporters, if they’re interested in observing – can register here to attend an upcoming orientation, held Jan. 26 at 10 a.m. and Jan. 27 at 6 p.m. 

At a time when residents are calling for accountability from both local government and the media, Minneapolis Documenters offers a pathway to building community power by bringing the public into both spaces. 

Financial support for the Minneapolis Documenters comes from the McKnight, GHR, and Target Foundations.

 

 

About Pillsbury United Communities
Pillsbury United Communities is one of Minnesota’s most well-established organizations, with 140 years of service to diverse communities across the Twin Cities and beyond. We serve the Black, Brown, Indigenous, immigrant, and working-class residents of Minneapolis. We have brick-and-mortar locations in the North, East Phillips, Powderhorn and Cedar-Riverside neighborhoods. Our mission is to co-create enduring change toward a just society where every person has personal, social, and economic power.  In addition to Documenters, PUC owns and operates two other community media enterprises: North News and KRSM Radio.

About City Bureau
City Bureau is a journalism lab reimagining local media. We do this by equipping people with skills and resources, engaging in critical public conversations and producing information that directly addresses people’s needs—in the process, we have created locally-driven initiatives like the Public Newsroom and national civic infrastructure like the Documenters Network. Drawing from our work in Chicago, we aim to equip every community with the tools it needs to eliminate information inequity to further liberation, justice and self-determination. 

About the Documenters Network
The Documenters Network creates new pathways for civic action and public oversight of local government through participatory media by training and paying local residents to attend and annotate government meetings, turning the knowledge, relationships, and capacity of local residents into a powerful community information resource. Today, the Documenters Network is made up of hundreds of people in Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and Minneapolis who have collectively made thousands of public meetings more transparent, relevant and accessible. For more information, including how you can launch a Documenters Network site in your city, please contact our team at network@citybureau.org. 

Becca Tripp

Shop small today and everyday at social enterprises

It’s that time of the year where many of us are out hustling and bustling in search of that perfect gift for someone special. While you are planning out your shopping stops, don’t forget to keep our social enterprises in mind. This holiday season, support your community by shopping small and with a purpose.

Gifts from Full Cycle

For the biker in your life, consider hitting up Full Cycle Bike Shop in South Minneapolis. From bikes to beanies, hoodies to buffs, t-shirts to studded tires—you’ll be sure to find great gear that supports a great cause. So much more than your run-of-the-mill bike shop, Full Cycle supports young people experiencing homelessness through employment and training in the shop, free bikes, emergency food access, and more.

Location: 3515 Chicago Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55407
Hours: Tuesday – Friday, 12pm – 5pm

Photos from Sisterhood Boutique

For your fashion-forward (and perhaps environmentalist?) friend, check out Sisterhood Boutique in Minneapolis’ Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. As a gently used clothing store that was designed by young East African women from the neighborhood about 5 years ago, today it continues to double as a youth employment program. So, not only can you snag some affordable, stylish clothes, but also know that your purchases support a space for young East African women to explore, express, and educate each other and their community. And hey—shopping resale is always kinder to our environment too.

Location: 2200 Riverside Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55454
Hours: Monday – Friday, 1pm – 6pm

And, we can’t forget food for the festivities. Consider getting all your grocery needs at North Market, a new kind of grocery store uniting three elements of community health in one place: nutritious food, health care services, and community wellness. North Market hires from the surrounding Northside community, pays living wages, and has products from over 20 local vendors on their shelves. Stock your cart with some fine red meats, delicious pies, fresh produce, and more and support local this holiday season. (And with any purchases of $100 or more, you get a $25 gift card in return!)

So—whether it’s bike gear, clothing, or healthy foods, shopping our social enterprises this holiday season is a win-win. You get affordable, quality gifts for the folks you love AND the dollars you spend go directly to supporting valuable opportunities for people in our communities. Truly, gifts that give back. Thanks for keeping us in mind.

Location: 4414 N Humboldt Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55412
Hours: Open everyday, 9am – 9pm

samd@pillsburyunited.org

Where we go from here

Mural at George Floyd Square. Photo by Lorie Shaull

On Tuesday, 12 jurors cracked open the window of justice. And we see a little light.

To be clear, the verdict in George Floyd’s murder should never have been in doubt. But we had reason for pessimism. Only rarely do police-involved killings of Black, Brown and Indigenous people even make it to the doorstep of our courts. When they do, officers are almost never held accountable—even for the most abhorrent abuses of power.

Floyd’s murder is part of a chilling pattern where policing in communities of color leads to senseless death again and again. Our hearts are already heavy this week as 20-year-old Daunte Wright, another unarmed Black man killed by local police in Minnesota, is laid to rest. Again a family and community mourns. Again we hear pleas for justice and vows for change. Again we have reason to doubt justice will ever be served.
What will it take before we say as a state, enough is enough?

Right after George Floyd’s death, our state’s leaders stood up to declare that Black Lives Matter. A year later, we’re fighting for more than a hashtag. You can help us move lawmakers into action. We can’t wait for another tragedy before we act.

The Minnesota House has taken the courageous step with a public safety omnibus bill that builds on last year’s Minnesota Police Accountability Act. This slate of common-sense measures holds officers accountable for harmful actions and unties the hands of police chiefs in protecting life.

Stand with us in calling on Minnesota state legislators and Governor Walz to take immediate and decisive action on the following items:

  • HF1104: End qualified immunity. Help survivors of brutality or harassment by law enforcement get relief in the courts by ending qualified immunity for police officers.
  • HF1103: Rules on body cameras. Prohibit law enforcement from tampering with body camera footage of a deadly force incident and require footage to be released to family and representative within 48 hours.
  • HF640: Establish civilian oversight. Remove the current state law prohibiting citizen-led councils from imposing discipline on law enforcement officers.
  • HF593: Exclude white supremacists from police ranks. Change the Peace Officer Code of Conduct to prohibit anyone on the force from affiliating with, supporting, or advocating for white supremacist or other extremist groups.
  • HF1374: Track misconduct. Require police chiefs to report officer misconduct and help to identify officers with harmful patterns of behavior.
  • HF-107B: Limit Traffic Stops. Limit authority for police officers to stop or detain drivers for certain vehicle equipment violations.

We encourage you to reach out to lawmakers to express your support for these important acts of legislation: 

We see the light of change peeking through. With your vocal support, Minnesota can throw the window wide open.

(Photo credit: Lorie Shaull)

samd@pillsburyunited.org

Join us at Greater>Together 2020!

It’s been a year like no other in our city. We’ve seen devastating loss and felt the reverberations of historic inequities throughout our communities. And yet, we’ve also seen the courage and collective will of our communities at work. A better future is possible. Now is the moment to stand together.

This year, we’re excited to announce Greater>Together 2020, an online event featuring artistic performances and courageous conversations led by our team of community-builders and change-makers. Join us on Facebook Live on December 3 at 7:00 p.m. CT to get a first-hand look at the impact we’re making in community and our ambitious vision of change.

The live broadcast will be free to all, but we are offering a variety of premium benefit packages to our close friends and supporters. We’re pleased to announce partnerships with Afro Deli, Mama Sheila’s, and Sammy’s Avenue Eatery, three Black-owned restaurants in our communities, to offer a delicious dinner for two, delivered to your door on December 3.

Donate today for premium benefits, or follow us on Facebook for the latest Greater>Together reminders as December 3 approaches.

samd@pillsburyunited.org

What we need from you now

Community member carrying kid on shoulders at Open Streets on Broadway Ave

The compounding effects of intersectional oppression are prominently on display right now. We have an uncontrolled pandemic, on top of the longtime public health crisis that is institutionalized racism. Our democracy is under threat. People are unhoused in record numbers. Gaps in wealth, health, and educational outcomes between the haves and have-nots in our communities are widening even further.

Reimagined systems are desperately needed, and Pillsbury United Communities is heeding that call. Through the lens of people, place, and prosperity, our leaders are aggressively advocating for upstream change that will build long term power in our communities. Additionally, our agency has launched a public policy team and a community development corporation to reimagine the structures that govern our day to day lives.

While we use our institutional power to lay a foundation for long-term change, we remain committed to immediate and short-term relief for those who’ve long borne the brunt of our country’s violent and inequitable systems. We must be responsive to the needs of today without settling for them as permanent fixtures of life in our city.

We hope you’ll join us in seeking justice. For advice on where to start, we’ve asked a few of our leaders to share their wisdom.

Tsega Tamene, Senior Director of Population Health

Tsega Tamene

COVID-19 has been a truth teller. It has exposed what was already in plain sight to many of us. Black, Indigenous, and communities of color have experienced the disparate economic, health, and psychosocial impacts of racism well before, starkly during, and very well likely after this pandemic—unless we choose a different world.

We must reimagine, redesign, and transform systems toward health justice. In doing so, we must fundamentally shift how we think, speak, and act about health and health inequities. Namely, we must shift from treating health as a commodity to health as a human right. Shift now by:

  • Supporting frontline workers like ours who everyday disrupt health inequities that are driven by social and structural harms rooted in racism (not naturally occurring biological difference or individual behavior).
  • Lifting up local wellness and healing justice practitioners who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC).
  • Joining policy advocacy efforts calling for the transformation of our healthcare payment system to prioritize the health of all people. Amplifying the voices of community health workers, doulas, and other critical roles who are lesser valued by existing payment models.
  • Learning more about the history of medicine and racism’s impact on health.
  • Studying yourself to heal yourself. Exploring your racialized trauma and your role(s) in social change.

Faye Price & Noel Raymond, Co-Artistic Directors, Pillsbury House + Theatre

Faye Price - headshot

Faye Price

At Pillsbury House + Theatre, we employ roughly 300, mostly-BIPOC artists every year. Those folks, and the entire creative workforce, are extremely economically unstable right now because of the pandemic. This is a workforce that has been decimated like the restaurant industry.

Our artists are often activists who highlight systemic inequities and cast visions for liberation. They are called to do that imagining regardless of compensation. We need them right now more than ever, and many are being asked to do cultural labor unpaid. There is an expectation that they will always be here, but they won’t if we don’t act. Act now by:

Noel Raymond - headshot

Noel Raymond

  • Hiring an artist. Pay them generously for their time.
  • Donating to a nonprofit’s commissioning fund, so that they are able to hire artists (we have one here at PHT). If you run a nonprofit or work for one, create a commissioning fund and embed artists into your work, minimizing arduous reporting requirements and maximizing compensation.
  • Contacting your member of Congress and tell them to support the Mixed Earner Unemployment Assistance Act of 2020.

Julie Graves, Senior Director of Youth & Future

Julie Graves headshot

Julie Graves

We have built our systems and models of youth programming to complement school models. For better or worse, we live in the tangled webs of integrated systems. When Minneapolis Public Schools change their offerings, we have to pivot too. With school not returning to the status quo this fall, these structures that we’ve played off of always, don’t exist anymore. We have to figure out new ways of engaging our young people and supporting their families in the process. We have to do so in the midst of so much uncertainty about the future of school day education—this year and beyond.

Funding for youth programming in Minneapolis, particularly K-5, has been decimated in the last decade. Our stressed, barebones system of out-of-school youth programming is now being asked to completely reinvent the way it operates to support entirely new needs. We need to return to a system where every child and family has access to a community center that offers a holistic, integrated model of support—tutoring, entertainment, meals, space to just be together.

Support this work by donating to the chronically underfunded community centers, like Waite House, who provide whole-family support. Advocate for more out of school time youth funding in the 2021 Minneapolis city budget—and the state budget. This is violence prevention work. This is an investment in the future of our city.

Antonio Cardona, Director of Office of Public Charter Schools

Antonio Cardona on stage at Greater>Together 2019

Antonio Cardona

Resources are not scarce. They are inequitably concentrated. If we are serious about reimagined systems, we have to question and tactically change what we value and where we direct resources. In public education, we have a simple, yet fundamental challenge: funding for public education is rooted in property taxes that are a result of decades of purposeful housing and employment discrimination. We need to change this system.

Secondly, just as we have been talking about social determinants of health for the last two decades, there are also social determinants of education. COVID-19 and George Floyd’s murder has laid bare the ways in which the most marginalized are the first effected by societal change. Think of a tsunami. First, the water recedes, exposing the gunk just beyond the shoreline. Then, the water slams that same shoreline, throwing everything into disarray. Those on higher ground are able to escape the worst effects. This exposes what kids and families need in order to grow and learn. Stability, food, housing, health care, family businesses—all of the things that have been decimated during this time.

Take action by supporting and participating in the civic institutions that push population-level work forward; voting; completing your Census; and paying attention to city council meetings, school board meetings, and commission decisions. Support and hold your officials accountable while trying to avoid a descent into unhelpful or uneducated dialogue.

samd@pillsburyunited.org

Justice can’t wait

Pillsbury United Communities policy team: Azhae’la Hanson, DA Bullock, Kenzie O'Keefe

By Adair Mosley, President and CEO

We are resilient. We are resourceful. We are responsive. And we are ready to respond in new ways.

George Floyd was murdered three weeks ago. In response to this tragedy, we have a duty to transcend the boundaries of what we previously thought possible. We must design a more just world for all.

Here at Pillsbury United Communities, we are doubling down on our commitment to co-create that new world. Today, we announce two new initiatives emerging from our strategic framework. Both are aimed at dismantling white supremacy and centering BIPOC prosperity in this place we all call home.

  • Policy as a tool for social change. Together, with the black, brown, indigenous, poor, and queer communities we serve, we will reimagine the systems that govern and oppress us. Policy has shaped community. It’s time for community to shape policy. Kenzie O’Keefe, former editor and publisher of North News, will lead our new policy team. Visionary filmmaker DA Bullock will document community truths, challenging the false narratives that have stood in the way of meaningful change. In the coming months Kenzie and DA, along with youth intern Azhae’la Hanson, will finalize a long-term policy agenda for the agency while actively supporting and amplifying efforts already underway. They are already collaborating on a short docuseries about the possible futures of public safety, prototyping a more just solution to cash bail, and partnering with Hennepin County on the reduction of racial disparities through county policy.
  • Powering equitable economic development. Black, brown, and indigenous neighborhoods have been chronically disinvested in, and residents have been intentionally blocked from opportunities to create generational wealth. That ends now. We are partnering with our communities to plan, fund, and actualize community-centered neighborhood development. Our new community development corporation, Justice Built Communities, will prevent gentrification and displacement while driving enterprise development and wealth creation in BIPOC communities of greater Minneapolis.

Our policies and communities can be reimagined so that every person has the opportunity to flourish, regardless of zip code. This is justice.

meghanm@pillsburyunited.org

Congrats 2020 FANS Grads!

Amid a global pandemic and an unprecedented wave of protests in Minneapolis, the class of 2020 has had a very unusual senior year. And yet despite these unique hurdles, this year’s FANS seniors have pushed through to high school graduation. We couldn’t be more proud of their accomplishments.

FANS is a college and career mentorship program for high schoolers, specifically working with students of color, recent immigrants, and other groups that have been historically underrepresented in higher education. Upon completing the program and graduating from high school, students are eligible for a scholarship to help pay for their continuing education. FANS scholarships are funded entirely thanks to donations from our network of supporters, and 100% of contributions go directly to students to help cover books, tuition, and other expenses.

Keep reading below to meet some of our 2020 FANS graduates below and hear what they have to say about their experiences in the program.

Meet: Zubeda, Roosevelt High School Grad

Why is it important for you to go to college?
It is important for me to go to college because I want to help my family and not depend on anyone else—so I want to give it back to my community, and I feel like going to college and getting an education is the only way I can do that. I also want to go to college because all my life I’ve been going to school and I want to continue to get the education that I need that my friends didn’t get in Ethiopia.

Tell us about your experience with FANS.
FANS has help me prepare for college in many ways. I remember when I first started, I wasn’t really sure about college or what college was, but this program has help me figure out why I need to go to college. I’ve seen people who have been in [FANS] go on to college and become successful, and I want to be like them. It has helped me by going on tours, looking at how I can pay for college, talking with college admission counselors, and just basically preparing me for life after high school.

samd@pillsburyunited.org

Justice for George Floyd

Mural for George Floyd at 38th/Chicago, photo credit: Lorie Shaull

By Adair Mosley, President and CEO, Pillsbury United Communities

This has been a traumatic week. Once again, a black man was brutally murdered by police. We grieve George Floyd in the midst of our fresh grief over Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery. We mourn the many other victims of white supremacy for whom our systems have never produced justice.

We are heartbroken. We are enraged. We are resolved to make this a turning point. The black, brown, and indigenous communities we serve (and come from) deserve so much more than has been delivered.

As we reflect on the week that’s been and the days, weeks, and months to come, we are clear in our commitments:

  • We are centering justice for George Floyd in everything we do. We must not lose sight of how we got here, and we must ensure it never happens again. We are hopeful to hear that Attorney General Keith Ellison is taking over the Floyd case. We stand with the local civil rights leaders and national figures who spoke at our downtown press conference and rally last week in demanding that all four Minneapolis police officers involved in Floyd’s death be arrested, tried and convicted of murder. We expect justice to be served, and we will be content with nothing less.
  • We are continuing to meet basic needs amidst the challenges of this moment. Our communities are suddenly without vital resources in the midst of a global pandemic. Our food shelves and community meal programs remain open and responsive to new needs. We are tending to those in our network.
  • We are telling our communities’ true stories. Our media sources, KRSM Radio (98.9 FM) and North News, have been diligently working to amplify on-the-ground voices in a moment where simplifications, stereotypes, and outright falsehoods persist. We are bringing context, nuance, and lived experience to our coverage.
  • We are tracking toward systems change by investing in long-term policy work designed to dismantle racial disparities. We believe our communities have the answers to our greatest challenges. Please be on the lookout for more information on this in the coming week.

As we move forward, we will continue to celebrate the resiliency and connection of our communities. In this devastating moment, we are witnessing and experiencing love that transcends and persists despite the circumstances. We have been blown away by our North Minneapolis neighbors, for example, who have spent long nights protecting North Market. Because of them, the only remaining full-service grocery store on the Northside has remained open.

We hope you will join us in the vital work this moment calls for. Examine what you are feeling. Learn what your discomfort, your rage, your heartbreak, or your apathy has to teach you. Examine the power you hold and imagine how you could wield it in direct service of dismantling white supremacy. Risk more. Invest in transformative ideas. A just future requires it.

Please consider making a gift to Pillsbury United Communities to support our work today. You can also sign up as a monthly donor to truly sustain this work in the crucial months ahead.

(Photo credit: Lorie Shaull)

samd@pillsburyunited.org

Responding with Resilience

Graphic of a single illuminated lightbulb

The Upstream Imperative, Volume 4

This article is part of “The Upstream Imperative,” a series exploring the challenges and opportunities facing the social services sector.

By Adair Mosley, President and CEO, Pillsbury United Communities

We are in a difficult moment.

For some in our community, COVID-19 is an uncomfortable disruption. For others, including many we serve, the pandemic threatens their livelihoods and lives. At Pillsbury United, we see the impact firsthand in the surge of people facing job loss as well as food and housing insecurity across our community.

Emergency support is desperately needed, and we are heeding the call. But this moment raises another urgent question. What can we do to reduce the inequities and disparities that compound the harm to our community — and emerge from this crisis more resilient than we were before?

If we are serious about preparing for the next emergency, we need to talk about systems.

Seeing the systemic

As extraordinary as events feel in this moment, we know that disasters are inevitable. And when they occur, they reveal our vulnerabilities. Whether it’s a tornado, a fire, a foreclosure crisis, or an epidemic, disasters do not affect us all equally. Some are inconvenienced while others are devastated.

Why is that? One narrative has it that some people choose not to prepare, that they should have more foresight or more financial cushion. But we know differently. Because of choices we make as a society, many in our community are more vulnerable to disaster, a judgment borne out by the numbers.

Here in Minnesota, we know more black, Latino, and indigenous low-wage workers are exposed to and contract the virus because they do a greater share of essential jobs. What’s more, COVID-19 most threatens people living with chronic diseases like asthma, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease — conditions that disproportionately impact black and brown communities due to a history of food insecurity, lack of access to healthcare, and adverse environmental impacts.

Systemic health care issues also contribute. Beyond barriers of cost and access, cultural disconnects and mistrust lead many in our community to delay care and let chronic conditions go untreated. When a crisis like COVID-19 arrives, they are often hit first and last to get proper treatment..

That’s why I say that emergency remedies are not enough. We need to address the systemic factors that make a bad situation worse.

A strategic policy push

As COVID-19 persists around the globe, we are deeply focused on the local impact and how our agency can help. While we can be consumed with the acute needs, we also need to claim this moment as an opportunity to rebuild a more just and inclusive society — for all.

Systemic challenges are complex and intersecting. Addressing them takes concerted action on many fronts: housing affordability; healthy mothers and births; school stability and early education; criminal justice reform; healthy food access; and many other priorities. When we engage the full picture, we start to remove the multi-dimensional barriers that leave people vulnerable.

In times of crisis, I choose to pursue an unconventional goal: strategic planning for the future. Last year, we released a bold and disruptive strategic plan. As we revisit our thinking and approach in this moment of challenge, we see our plan stands strong. Everything so far in this pandemic validates our focus on upstream systems that exacerbate downstream inequities.

Our plan lays out several strategic priorities that include forming cross-sector partnerships focused on social determinants of health to improve community outcomes and investing in students of color as an engine of equitable and sustainable economic prosperity. Critical to the success of these initiatives is advancing policies that promote, protect, and galvanize the community we serve.

Addressing root causes begins and ends with addressing policies and their consequences, intentional and unintentional, on our community. We know the disparities of our communities are strongly linked to the oppressive policies of our past. Through a catalytic investment from the Kresge Foundation and Target Foundation, we are investing in policy change in a way never before possible in our 140 year history. We are moving from a supporting role to a leadership role in shaping critical policies at the city, county, and state level. We fully understand that policies are the accelerating force to move more individuals and families to social and economic wellbeing.

We will use the proven tools of active listening, co-creation, and ongoing feedback to inform matters of planning and prioritization because policymaking for a just society must be driven by community. People, place, and race are too often treated as abstractions in policymaking but we need stakeholders to understand the humanity of those affected by policy choices. To that end, we will increasingly use multimedia to illuminate people’s lived experiences — to bring the faces and voices of our community into the discussion and to positively influence policies that affect them.

More resilient moving forward

We applaud the outpouring of effort and resources we see easing people’s hardship during this disaster. Now we challenge everyone to think beyond the crisis. Good conversations are happening at the media and policy levels, but we need to shift into action.

As an agency that’s built trust with our communities over generations, we have a central role in advancing their voices, hopes, and solutions in policymaking. We are fighting for a community that drives its own agenda, has real input on decisions that affect them, and enjoys equal representation in institutions that touch their lives.

This is what I mean by responding with resilience. Let’s use this opportunity to meaningfully engage our community in building a more equitable future post-COVID.

Another crisis is inevitable. If we make resilience our priority now, disparity is not.

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