ACTIVE DMNA COMMITTEES
Land Use Committee
The Land Committee reviews key land use issues and development projects to provide strategic and technical guidance to the DMNA. Contact [email protected] or visit the Land Use Committee page for more information.
NRP IMPLEMENTATION
The proper and appropriate management and disbursement of Neighborhood Revitalization Project (NRP) funds is one of the most important functions that DMNA is engaged in. These efforts span many years and the planning involved is extensive.
2014-2015 Highlights
YouthLink Supportive Housing
YouthLink is a resource hub for youth who experience homelessness, annually connecting over 2,000 young people to education, housing and support services through in-house programs and partnerships. With housing partner PPL, YouthLink seeks to build 40 + units of supportive housing and an expanded welcome center on the site of its current service center of the edge of downtown. To kick off the project and help YouthLink leverage additional funds, DMNA has funded staff positions for the first year of operation and committed match-funding for year three.
Emanuel Housing Community Connections
Emanuel Housing, an affordable supportive housing community for people who have experienced long-term homelessness, makes community involvement a priority. DMNA funding will equip Emanuel staff to build connections and facilitate resident-engagement with community groups to create sustained neighborhood involvement.
Mile in My Shoes
Mile in My Shoes (MiMS) aims to foster wellness, empathy and empowerment within individuals and communities by bringing together diverse populations through the power of running. Currently a volunteer run organization, the DMNA provided the seed money for MiMS to start a running team at Emanuel Housing, a supportive housing community in the Mill District.
Yoga in Gold Medal Park
DMNA piloted an outdoor beginners’ yoga series in Gold Medal Park that served over 200 community members. The DMNA is committed to ensuring that these remain free so that residents of diverse incomes, including those staying in shelter, may participate. Thanks to the generosity of YogaFit, yoga will be back next summer. Special thanks to the Gold Medal Park Foundation!
Downtown Choir & MacPhail Giving Voice Chorus
With key partners, MacPhail Center for Music and Emaneul Housing, the DMNA is piloting a neighborhood choir that is open to all at no cost. (JD Steele is slated to conduct.) The DMNA also funded a portion of the expansion of the Giving Voice Chorus, a therapeutic choir for people with Alzheimer’s disease and their care partners. This choir will target residents of a planned memory care facility in the Mill District. First Covenant Church, the Guthrie, and an anonymous donor have contributed rehearsal space.
zAmya Theater Project
For over 10 years, St. Stephen’s Human Services’ zAmya Theater Project has brought together homeless and housed individuals to create and perform theater productions that increase understanding of homelessness and motivate people to help end it. The Downtown Minneapolis Neighborhood Association (DMNA) funded zAmya’s first appearance at the Guthrie Theater as well as three shows at the Illusion Theater.
Webster School
Thanks to the work of Downtown Families, we now have a neighborhood elementary school (just across the river). The DMNA funded “maker stations” that will provide students with the opportunity for hands-on practice of various skills.
Open Streets + DMNA Kids Zone
For the past five years, the Minneapolis bike coalition has (legally) taken over major streets and turned them over to pedestrians and cyclists to promote healthy living, local businesses, sustainable transportation and civic pride in Minneapolis. The DMNA was a financial supporter of the very first Downtown Open Streets event and worked with 10 partners to create a youth activity zone along the route.
People Serving People National Night Out
People Serving People organizes a full day of festive National Night Out events for the hundred or so families staying in its temporary shelter. The DMNA paid for tents to ensure that fun could happen rain or shine.
Just a few of the MANY projects that DMNA supported in previous years with NRP funds are listed below:
Improvements to Washington Boulevard:
Installation of plantings on medians of this well-travelled but relatively bland thoroughfare.
St. Anthony Mills Apartments:
Funds towards a successful mixed-income housing project. Skyway Senior Center:
Funds toward ongoing operation. The senior center is used by many of the DMNA’s membership.
Greening of the Mill District:
Installation of trees to spruce up this high-profile part of downtown.
Dog Grounds:
Support for a new urban dog park on an underutilized site. NRP management is ongoing and is one of the most critical and exciting aspects of the DMNA.
TRANSPORTATION
Members of the DMNA Board of Directors serve in volunteer roles in various groups overseeing and recommending improvements to the streets, sidewalks, bike trails, and mass transit in downtown. DMNA regularly receives updates at board meetings from key players in these groups.
CRIME & SAFETY
One of DMNA’s top priorities is always improving safety, as well as the appearance of order, in downtown.
Here are some of the many partnerships and projects we are involved with to reach these goals:
Restorative Justice
Restorative Justice is one of DMNA’s important crime & safety partners, see their website Giving victims of crime an opportunity to interact with criminals in the spirit of true rehabilitation.
Community Expectations – Survey and Declaration
In 2007, DMNA successfully surveyed persons who live, work and play in downtown Minneapolis to assist it in developing “Community Expectations” for our Downtown community. The survey resulted in over 1,300 responses, which DMNA used to compile the Expectations and communicate to residents and law enforcement officers, prosecutors, judges and other local elected officials. DMNA will use the survey to identify new strategies as it moves toward preparing its NRP Phase II plan.
Real Change | Not Spare Change
In partnership with the police department & city attorney’s office, DMNA seeks to discourage downtown panhandling by educates members and visitors through outreach and dissemination of informational flyers
Keep Minneapolis Beautiful
On ongoing project in partnership with major downtown businesses to clean up and improve the often overlooked aesthetics of the city – from painting telephone utility boxes to picking up cigarette butts, this effort is important in maintaining a sense of order and beauty to reduce crime overall.