If the City of Minneapolis wants to continue to prosper, the dollars spend by the City of Minneapolis most benefit everyone, including communities of color. Will that happen? I don't know. But, What I do know is that the Mayor of Minneapolis and it's City Council can make it happen.
Remember, one-third of the population of Minneapolis is made up of people of color and growing. http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/citywork/planning/census2000/1990-to-2000-Population-Change-by-Race-and-Ethnicity-for-Minneapolis.asp ***************************************************************************************** EDITORIAL Khalifa will need the community�s support By: Pauline Thomas Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder Originally posted 9/15/2004 We read a recent story in the Spokesman in which new Minneapolis Civil Rights Department Director Jayne Khalifa talked about her efforts in her first few months to turn the Civil Rights Department around. Our initial impression is that Jayne appears to be a hard worker who is interested in saving the Civil Rights Department. She seems to understand that people who have suffered discrimination need and want an effective and efficient mechanism to redress their complaints. It appears she is taking the bull by the horns to renew the community�s hope in the long mismanaged department. As the new civil rights director begins to take on this arduous task, we offer a few suggestions that we think may help her reconstruction efforts be a bit more successful. First � and we are sure she knows this � the job of civil rights director is one that can be as isolating as being the president of the United States. If she wants to make any progress or get the powers that be to move in her favor, not only does she have to satisfy the expectations of her many bosses, she also has to have strong community support from all sectors in the city of Minneapolis. We appreciate her willingness to update us through the Spokesman. This is a lot more than her predecessor did; however, we need to see Jayne in the community so the citizens can dialogue with her about the critical issues facing our community. We want to get behind and support her so that when the powers that be think that she is pushing a little too hard to win gains for the communities of color and other marginalized citizens, we can be there to provide strong back-up and a countervailing force. We understand that Jayne will need time to restructure and secure adequate funding to move in a direction that serves her constituents; however, she must not wait too long. For instance, the city council budget hearings are rapidly approaching. If the community is silent on what it needs in terms of civil rights in this city, then the city�s leaders will be similarly silent in allocating necessary resources to the Civil Rights Department. Jayne should let us know what is going on and what her specific directions are so we can lobby our representatives for a full and inclusive budget for the department. The Civil Rights Department is a focal point when it comes to things like spending of City dollars with local companies of color. Whether or not the Civil Rights Department should shoulder those tasks is a luxury not for us to indulge in at this time. Right now, we need infusions of capital into our communities. At some future date, we will begin to examine those government departments in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area that should be awarding more contracts to businesses of color and hiring more employees of color, and not laying this task solely on the Civil Rights Departments. As you have read in our past columns in the Spokesman, the Community Collaborative was a strong voice in urging the City to extend and revitalize its minority business purchasing program. In June of this year, the City stepped forward and extended the program for 18 months with a directive to the new civil rights director to make it happen for businesses of color and women-owned businesses. http://www.spokesman-recorder.com/news/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=48269&sID=16 Posted by Shawn Lewis, Field Neighborhood -- ___________________________________________________________ Sign-up for Ads Free at Mail.com http://promo.mail.com/adsfreejump.htm REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
