Aurora/St. Anthony Neighborhood Development Corporation
Report date
July 2020
What has been most instrumental to your progress?
Building relationships within the community as well with partnership organizations. We were able to have personal discussions with residents, have authentic dialogue with community residents, increase our outreach efforts. This was important because we were able to allow space for our residents to have a voice in bringing issues, concerns and their needs to the forefront while being able to discern and vet possible solutions and processes that could address the lack of equitable access to affordable housing. When ASANDC, began implementing FRAN in 2012 to address the systemic disadvantage of our residents in local policy and development decision-making, through event outreach, partnership development, and an initial survey, we refined our own baseline understanding of community priorities, which narrowed our focus to affordable housing, living-wage jobs, and youth development. In the process, we guided engaged residents to several wins (e.g. increasing access to local recreation centers). We also wove our resident leadership program into FRAN, using FRAN’s process to hone their skills while creating a peer-to-peer model that expanded and propelled civic engagement.
Partnerships provided opportunities to reach folks that had not known of FRAN and the work being done by resident driven advocacy on the ground, day by day meeting,s and meeting local officials. Through FRAN, we engage as many disadvantaged Frogtown-Rondo residents who face housing-related challenges as we could, with the goal of bringing at least 500 residents into the change-making process. This engagement includes the ongoing training of ten resident leaders.
We include our residents’ individual and collective voices in all aspects of FRAN, including:
1. Our community surveys on specific housing issues.
2. Our report-outs and feedback loop on the priorities we find.
3. Our dialogues with the local leaders and policy experts that we engage in the process.
4. Our development and eventual implementation of action items on local policies or developments.
To adhere to FRAN’s core principles, we do not move forward on any action without leadership, guidance, and participation from our community, ensuring that our residents are empowered and that our outcomes are sustainable.
We include our residents’ individual and collective voices in all aspects of FRAN, including:
1. Our community surveys on specific housing issues.
2. Our report-outs and feedback loop on the priorities we find.
3. Our dialogues with the local leaders and policy experts that we engage in the process.
4. Our development and eventual implementation of action items on local policies or developments.
To adhere to FRAN’s core principles, we do not move forward on any action without leadership, guidance, and participation from our community, ensuring that our residents are empowered and that our outcomes are sustainable.
Taking steps by residents along with ASANDC FRAN coordinator to put together a Action agenda where the community seen where the need of addressing those housing concerns.
In completing our outcomes, we have positioned ourselves to begin to develop a housing action plan to reduce housing disparities, which will include 2-4 specific goals and benchmarks for housing policy development and change in 2018 and beyond. The plan then outline action steps to be taken to move from ideas to solutions, including ongoing civic engagement, meetings with points of influence (e.g. policymakers, advocates, researchers), political actions, and media tactics. While goals and action items were ultimately be decided by community participants, the following are examples of what issues and solutions they cam to target, based on FRAN’s survey collection of surpassing our original goal of 500 surveys to that of 750 data analysis.
1. The reduction or streamlining of rental housing application fees.
2. The provision of property tax relief to cost-burdened families.
3. The mitigation of unlawful detainers and credit scores as vehicles for housing discrimination.
In completing our outcomes, we have positioned ourselves to begin to develop a housing action plan to reduce housing disparities, which will include 2-4 specific goals and benchmarks for housing policy development and change in 2018 and beyond. The plan then outline action steps to be taken to move from ideas to solutions, including ongoing civic engagement, meetings with points of influence (e.g. policymakers, advocates, researchers), political actions, and media tactics. While goals and action items were ultimately be decided by community participants, the following are examples of what issues and solutions they cam to target, based on FRAN’s survey collection of surpassing our original goal of 500 surveys to that of 750 data analysis.
1. The reduction or streamlining of rental housing application fees.
2. The provision of property tax relief to cost-burdened families.
3. The mitigation of unlawful detainers and credit scores as vehicles for housing discrimination.
Key lessons learned
We learnt building relationships within the community as well with partner organizations, we were able to have personal discussions with residents, have authentic dialogue with community residents, and increase our outreach efforts. This was important because we were able to allow space for our residents to have a voice in bringing issues, concerns and their needs to the forefront while being able to discern and vet possible solutions and processes that could address the lack of equitable access to affordable housing.
As a result of FRAN’s patient approach to community engagement, these same residents who typically are disenfranchised or disengaged residents or who are insufficiently informed of the political process now feel empowered to influence the direction of housing policy and development to serve their needs and protect them from severe cost burdens, discrimination, and displacement. While the policy actions will be determined through a bottom-up process over the next few years, our resident leaders will all be able to have a specific and common focus on stabilizing communities in greatest need and improving their outcomes.
As a result of FRAN’s patient approach to community engagement, these same residents who typically are disenfranchised or disengaged residents or who are insufficiently informed of the political process now feel empowered to influence the direction of housing policy and development to serve their needs and protect them from severe cost burdens, discrimination, and displacement. While the policy actions will be determined through a bottom-up process over the next few years, our resident leaders will all be able to have a specific and common focus on stabilizing communities in greatest need and improving their outcomes.
Again, ASANDC's FRAN patient approach to community engagement methods that were, used we saw the empowerment of resident leaders and community members at-large as not just a means to an end, but a positive and sustainable change in and of itself, in which residents feel more empowered to control their outcomes and more connected to their neighbors. However, not a failure but ultimately a challenge we realized that although our community engagement was successful on a smaller community level, it will take large scale organizing to build the kind of coalition power needed and resources to further gain the needed critical masses of people to influence a solid permanent policy change agenda.
ASANDC used former resident leaders as mentors have become long-term leaders in community organizations and in public office to assist in the training and development of our new resident leaders. Using this method we can continued the development of both resident and youth leaders as additional roots in a sustainable base of multigenerational leadership and civic engagement around future housing issues--one that outlives the inevitable changes in public and institutional leadership.
Finally, by using this method, on an individual level, we saw this process in making the difference in a low-income Frogtown-Rondo family being able to access a decent and affordable rental unit or in preserving homeownership in the face of rising costs. On the community level, we isee a more stable living environment in which its members live in healthier homes, are forced to move less often, and/or can direct more of their incomes to other critical needs, with positive externalities that ripple across their blocks and their neighborhood.
Finally, by using this method, on an individual level, we saw this process in making the difference in a low-income Frogtown-Rondo family being able to access a decent and affordable rental unit or in preserving homeownership in the face of rising costs. On the community level, we isee a more stable living environment in which its members live in healthier homes, are forced to move less often, and/or can direct more of their incomes to other critical needs, with positive externalities that ripple across their blocks and their neighborhood.
Reflections on the community innovation process
We would say for the most part Generating Ideas and Collaboration. Beyond our engagement of community members, we engage a series of cross-sector partners to refine our strategies, assess our progress, and recommend specific potential actions:
1. Our bimonthly planning meetings and quarterly report-outs included City of Saint Paul, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, Saint Paul Promise Neighborhoods, Community Stabilization Project, Wilder Foundation, Frogtown-Rondo Home Fund, and Saint Paul’s District 7 and District 8 Planning Councils which together we could collaboratively begin to build trust and gel around common issues and see how we could share leadership.
2. As we developed our community action plan, we built our capacity by engaging new partners to provide issue-specific expertise and support. For example, we have begun engaging our partners in the Housing Opportunity Made Equitable Collaborative (HOMECo) to help our community analyze and consider a preliminary set of potential introductions or reforms to city rental housing policy.
1. Our bimonthly planning meetings and quarterly report-outs included City of Saint Paul, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, Saint Paul Promise Neighborhoods, Community Stabilization Project, Wilder Foundation, Frogtown-Rondo Home Fund, and Saint Paul’s District 7 and District 8 Planning Councils which together we could collaboratively begin to build trust and gel around common issues and see how we could share leadership.
2. As we developed our community action plan, we built our capacity by engaging new partners to provide issue-specific expertise and support. For example, we have begun engaging our partners in the Housing Opportunity Made Equitable Collaborative (HOMECo) to help our community analyze and consider a preliminary set of potential introductions or reforms to city rental housing policy.
Progress toward an innovation
FRAN has had a unique approach addressing what those needs were for residents. Housing has been a burden for community in Rondo and Frogtown where gentrification and rise in rental cost, up front application fees and landlord discrimination were the main concerns the community is facing. Being able to listen to the community and understanding what that was like and how these barriers contribute to homelessness .
By building partnerships, having a place were folks could have tell their truth, and dialogue was extremely helpful in being able to vet possible solutions on what could be done to address these housing concerns in a effort that could build advocacy. Change happens when the voices of the community are deciding the solutions. Housing education training's, community report-outs, City Council meetings with Ward 1 Council members brought and made the issues more visible to broader audiences. Once, this visibility happened, ASANDC was asked to be more involved in assisting with others who were tackling these same un-equitable barriers to fair and accessible housing for many people.
By building partnerships, having a place were folks could have tell their truth, and dialogue was extremely helpful in being able to vet possible solutions on what could be done to address these housing concerns in a effort that could build advocacy. Change happens when the voices of the community are deciding the solutions. Housing education training's, community report-outs, City Council meetings with Ward 1 Council members brought and made the issues more visible to broader audiences. Once, this visibility happened, ASANDC was asked to be more involved in assisting with others who were tackling these same un-equitable barriers to fair and accessible housing for many people.
What's next?
ASANDC/FRAN will have to search for additional funding resources needed to continue the work around increasing both community and coalition organizing. We are looking at policy change around the identified housing issues and that will take a lot more time not able to accomplish in this grant period and as already mentioned additional resources. We will continue to engage community residents, work to continue training community residents in our FRAN and Power of One Plus programs, and building cross-sector partnerships. ASANDC will continue dialoguing with local leaders and policy experts on potential points of influence for housing issues (political engagement), further developing a community-driven development of a multi-tier housing policy action plan until it is ready, which will include targeted campaigns, and media tactics to pursue sustainable policy change.
If you could do it all over again...
Re-evaluating the needed time and resources to accomplish the policy work and two, many of our residents needed transportation and childcare, we did not anticipate such needs fully and this limited people who we wanted to target.
One last thought
ASANDC wishes to thank the BUSH Foundation for supporting us with resources to continue our FRAN work. As stated earlier in this report, it allowed us to use FRAN’s patient approach to community engagement and an opportunity to imagine a community in which typically disenfranchised or disengaged residents will instead be a) sufficiently informed of the political process and b) empowered to know that they can influence the direction of housing policy and development to serve their needs and protect them from severe cost burdens, discrimination, and displacement. Again, we saw the empowerment of resident leaders and community members at-large as not just a means to an end, but a positive and sustainable change in and of itself, in which residents feel more empowered to control their outcomes and more connected to their neighbors.