The porchlite
News from the Summit University Neighborhood
The porchlite
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Summit-University Neighbors! We encourage you to attend this community event on Tuesday, February 26 in Frogtown. We are working together to consider how we can create a housing plan that prevents displacement in our communities. If you've never been to a Frogtown Forum, it's the night to go! Local poets will be sharing work, food will be shared, and they hold space for community voice so your concerns and ideas are heard. Tuesday, February 26 6-8 PM Saint Paul City School- 642 Virginia Stay tuned for news and more events :) 
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 Do you feel like you are left out of big decisions in your neighborhood because you are not a homeowner? Do you feel like people who make those decisions are out of touch on issues that affect renters? Do you feel like renters, which make up 65% of people in the Summit-University neighborhood, deserve to be heard? The Summit-University Planning Council is a place where neighbors like you can have a voice to influence big neighborhood decisions and help make sure every neighbor matters. We want you to join the neighborhood board! The next meeting is February 26. Call 651-228-1855 or email jens@summit-university.org for more information.   On January 25, the Saint Paul District Councils hosted the annual Neighborhood Honor Roll event at the University of Saint Thomas. Each District Council recognized three people from their communities who are working hard for their neighborhoods.
The Summit-University Planning Council received six nominations for the honor roll this year and selected three incredible neighbors: Marvin Scroggins Marvin Scroggins grew up in the Rondo Neighborhood and graduated from Central High School. He moved away and lived in California for a number of years before he came back home. Marvin has been a dedicated member of the Rondo Community and Summit-University Neighborhood for many years. He is a board member of Reconnect Rondo, Rondo Inc., active in the Rondo Days Celebration, and CPA for ASANDC and Rondo Inc. He is on numerous other boards and organizations in the community. He is a kind person, and his attitude is uplifting. He is generous with his time and can often be found volunteering at community events. He is a great role model to people of all ages in our community. Marvin is the perfect example of commitment to improving the quality of life in our neighborhood and so deserving of this recognition. (Noel Nix accepted this award on behalf of Marvin at the event) Nancy Heege Summit University resident Nancy Heege serves on the leadership team of Unity Church-Unitarian’s Obama Elementary Outreach Team. Nancy’s dedication to helping recruit and organize volunteers is at the core of the work required to serve the needs of the scholars and staff at Obama Elementary. Through this team effort, volunteers have provided countless hours of tutoring at the school, served in the library processing and reshelving books, created a Cub Foods gift card program for families needing additional support with groceries, provided snacks for teacher and staff meetings, helped clean and maintain the park behind the school, provided planters at the main entrance, held winter clothing collections, helped with the Scholastic book fair, and are now organizing Box Top collections. Each Sunday the ministers at Unity Church speak these words: “When we live lives of integrity, service, and joy, generosity is sure to follow.” Nancy’s work with the Obama Elementary Outreach Team embodies these words, and her generosity helps enrich our entire community. mk nguyen mk nguyen is a Viet mother and community auntie based in the Frogtown-Rondo neighborhoods of St. Paul. She holds great value for raising her child in the same place that raised her. Growing up, she was taught that her life and stories were insignificant and not worth sharing. As an adult, she practices self- study. This has helped her recover her deeply beautiful roots, and now she thinks her life and stories are hilarious. She also shares the same birthday with Harvey Kietel and Stevie Wonder. She cut her teeth into organizing with the League of Pissed Off Voters and learned from witnesses young people inject themselves in the electoral process. She then moved to the Bay Area and learned from too many people to list here about the power of young people organizing to shift culture, systems, practices, policies, and budgets. In 2014, she returned home to St. Paul, with her sweetheart, Thaiphy, and two canine kiddos, Tator Tot and Rowley, to be closer to family. Now, she spends most of her time mothering, healing, recovering Viet knowledge production, paying attention to what young people in Twin Cities/Minnesota are teaching us about this world, consolidating networks of social and political support for young people connected to Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood, and supporting local and broad movement towards regenerative economy. Her heart moves faster than her brain. To protect her heart, she surrounds herself with loving, thoughtful people who eat her cooking and help her articulate her heart into words.  Raeisha Williams, owner of Heritage Tea House at 360 W. University Ave, was recently featured on MPR talking about Heritage, and the music that inspires her.
Photo by Photo by Ta Fang, via Heritage Tea House & Cafe on Facebook. Click HERE to read the full article and listen to the playlist on MPR!  Across the Twin Cities Metro area, there is a shortage of affordable rental housing. The costs of rents keep skyrocketing, and families are evicted unjustly and displaced from their homes and communities daily.
On February 15th, Community Stabilization Project - Non Profit and organizations across the Twin Cities will take a stand with renters as they share their stories at the State Capitol Rotunda and call for policy solutions to assure that the rising costs of rent are controlled, that renters are protected against landlord abuses, and that homes for all are safe and healthy. ***We need homes for people not for profit!*** Please JOIN US on February 15! For more information call: 651-225-8778 The Aurora Saint Anthony Neighborhood Development Corp is now taking applications for the Pathways 2 Prosperity #P2P Financial Empowerment Classes. They are hosting three sessions at the Western U Plaza Community Room: -January 19, 11 am- 2 pm -February 2, 11 am- 2 pm -February 16, 11 am- 2 pm   Attendance and School Stability- Community of Practice
Thursday, February 21, 2019 3:30-5:30 PM Wilder Center Auditorium B (451 Lexington Pkwy) Please join us for SPPN's first convening around improving school stability and student's attendance! We are looking for partners, parents, and residents to join our community of practice to help us look at attendance data and build strategies around collective impact. Snacks and refreshments will be provided at the event. Please sign up through the link or by contacting Susan Phillps at susan.phillips@wilder.org or 651-280-2401. From the Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood (SPPN): School attendance is tied to school stability. But we also know there are many obstacles for our students and families getting to school every day. We want thought partners and parents to join us at our upcoming Attendance and School Stability Community of Practice! Sign-up here: https://goo.gl/forms/LfbIUvQPHq2k1f022  In need of legal assistance? The Wheels of Justice can help!
The Mitchell Hamline Mobile Law Office will be at Rondo Library Saturday, February 2, 1:30-4pm, to provide FREE legal assistance with Family Law and Criminal Expungement documents. An attorney who specializes in criminal law will be on hand to offer legal advice. No appointment needed, Just drop-in! 2019 Clinics held the 1st Saturday of the month. You can find all of the upcoming events on our community calendar! Habitat for Humanity - Twin Cities has a new program open right now: the Handy Repairs. For a limited time, you may qualify for support for minor home repairs. Apply online at https://home.tchabitat.org/home-repair If you know a community member who could benefit from this program, but won't see this post give them a call or a visit!  |
about usThe Porchlite is a monthly newsletter and blog that is developed by the SUPC Communications Committee. Archives
March 2020
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