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Community Reinvestment

Youth Engagement: Door-Knocking Event

On Saturday, November 14, just under one hundred Jewish teenagers piled onto buses at Mount Zion Synagogue and got dropped off to try their hand door-knocking and talking with residents in the Rondo community. They had been trained by JCA organizer Dave Snyder, and they had chosen their own topics of discussion: voter registration, marriage equality, and the genocide in Darfur. For an hour, they knocked on doors and engaged residents in sometimes challenging, sometimes inspiring discussions about these issues. Afterwards, they all converged on Unity Baptist Church to debrief and to hear from Reverend Ron Smith. One of the adult chaperones, Rabbi Saks of Temple Israel, happened upon a group of youth engaged in a spirited discussion with a resident who turned out to be a pastor himself. The pastor and the Rabbi spoke at length, and exchanged cards, both interested in the possibility of an interfaith service in the future.

The event was a NFTY-NO (Northern Federation of Temple Youth-Northern region) retreat, or Kallah, and the youth came from Wisconsin, the Twin Cities and the Dakotas for the weekend. Special thanks to Mount Zion Teen and Young Adult Activities Director Amy Gavel, NFTY-NO Regional Director Beth Avner, and SPORTY Advisor Ana Apter for planning the weekend, and to SPORTY Social Action VP Sonia Robiner, SPORTY Co-President Sarah Lund, and the other SPORTY and NFTY-NO youth leaders for making it a great event!

Elaine C., Jenna P., and Becca F. door-knocking
in the Rondo neighborhood.

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Recently, in the span of several hours, JCA members and allies generated over 40 calls to City-County Federal Credit Union president John Seeman. We urged him to negotiate in good faith with Don, a south Minneapolis home owner who was about to lose his home. By the end of the day, Don and City-County informed us that they had reached a deal that allowed Don and his wife to stay in their home. Thanks and mazel tov to everyone who made this happen!

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"There are eight levels of tzedakah, one above the other.  The greatest level, above which nothing is higher, is to strengthen the hand of the poor by means of gift or loan or by going into partnership with him, so that he can become self-sufficient."
– Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Gifts to the Poor 10:7

Jewish Community Action (JCA) and our allies believe that giving residents of working class neighborhoods fair and equitable access to capital challenges some of the deep, systemic roots of poverty.  Through our Community Reinvestment project, we have directed over $14 million in individual and institutional deposits to Twin Cities banks that work actively with low-income communities to support sustainable homeownership, and small business and community development.  Without a network of community-oriented banks and other financial and community institutions, the Twin Cities face overlapping and mutually reinforcing obstacles:

• A significant impediment to capital accumulation for residents.

• A ‘credit vacuum’ in which there are few alternatives to predatory lenders.

•  Rising municipal costs and falling property values resulting from foreclosed homes.

• A diminished capacity to catalyze investment in potential emerging market neighborhoods

In consultation with JCA leaders, several years ago the City of St. Paul established a Socially Responsible Investment Fund.  The $10 million fund purchased CDs from banks that received an ‘Outstanding’ rating on their most recent Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) evaluation, and demonstrated an increased level of investment each year in targeted low-income census tracts in St. Paul. Our goal in 2007 is to advocate for the establishment of similar CRA Deposit Funds in Minneapolis, and Hennepin and Ramsey Counties. Having convened several discussions of community reinvestment within the philanthropic and higher education sectors, we also seek to involve leaders from those fields in our ongoing work.

For more information, please contact David Snyder at david@jewishcommunityaction.org

Community Reinvestment Brochure
(will open with Adobe Acrobat)

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Equal Access
Living Wage Ordinance Passes in Minneapolis

Equal Access
By a vote of four-to-three, the St. Paul City Council passed a resolution calling for a comprehensive review and audit of the Department of Planning and Economic Development and the Housing Redevelopment Authority. Such an audit would identify potential policy changes that would ultimately create a fair and open process for how development occurs within St. Paul.

This audit is the first of a series of recommendations by the Equal Access Working Group, of which Jewish Community Action is a member. Equal Access’ goals are:

• To address the inequities and ongoing problems confronting minority contractors who attempt to gain access to St. Paul contracts; and
• To identify and to recommend actions to eliminate the problems, barriers, and impediments in St. Paul’s administration of laws governing the awarding of contracts.

Work to pass this resolution began in November 2003, when the St. Paul City Council held a public hearing. The city learned that many contractors and developers from communities of color reported difficulty of securing contracts and bids, despite laws that had been passed to improve access. Testimony indicated that access to contracts for businesses owned by women and people with disabilities also lagged behind. A member of JCA testified in support of organizations of color at this November hearing, and JCA was then invited to serve on the Equal Access Working Group created by the City Council. Besides JCA, Equal Access includes the St. Paul NAACP, the Community Stabilization Project, the Minnesota Chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors, Kaposia, and Women Venture.

Equal Access RFP Resolution (will open with Adobe Acrobat Reader)

For more information, contact Vic Rosenthal at JCA.

Living Wage Ordinance passes in Minneapolis!
At a standing-room only City Council meeting, Council Members voted 11-2 to pass the Minneapolis Living Wage Ordinance proposed by a coalition of 21 faith groups, community organizations, and labor organizations, including Jewish Community Action. Voting no were Council Members Niziolek and Lane. This represents a significant victory for workers in Minneapolis and the cause of economic justice. Great work done by a great coalition! You can read a full account of the Council meeting and vote, along with analysis, at www.minneapolisunions.org. Thank you to everyone who helped on this campaign! 

For more information, contact David Snyder at JCA.

HEADLINES FROM JCA