Kingfield Neighborhood Association (KFNA)

Dear Kingfield Neighbor--

We are your neighbors and we volunteer our time to lead the Kingfield Neighborhood Association (KFNA), your most local non-profit. 

Why do we do it? We volunteer our time because:

we learn about projects of importance and interest to our neighborhood,

it connects us to our community and helps us build relationships with neighbors, and

it is fun and satisfying to come up with an idea, and then have a team of people who are willing to help you carry it out!

2022 brought opportunities and challenges to KFNA. The availability of the COVID vaccine made gathering in community possible again. From nervously re-entering society for Empty Bowls in February despite well below zero temps, celebrating our talent at PorchFest, kicking off the Pollinator Pathway Project, to flexing our civic muscles at Polling Parties on Primary and Election Day, Kingfield neighbors really have shown up and enjoyed being together!

But events like these brought challenges also, and not just related to health and safety practices. Events are, simply put, time consuming to plan and to run and KFNA does not have the money to continue to pay staff to lead all these projects. We are facing a 66% funding reduction this year and each foreseeable year into the future, from our largest supporter, the City of Minneapolis. 

Why should you care? What does KFNA do besides bring neighbors together and create community? 

KFNA and other neighborhood organizations were created to help reduce crime, organize neighbors around community safety, and plan and execute infrastructure projects benefiting their neighborhood. Neighborhood associations, including KFNA, also have become the communication tool and conduit for many city departments to share information with residents. Despite how needed this work still is, and how reliant community partners are on neighborhood organizations help them connect with neighbors and get beneficial projects done, we are severely underfunded. 

To continue to serve the neighborhood and out mission of creating connections, building community, and fostering engagement we, the KFNA Board of Directors, are taking action. 

• We are raising awareness about what is going on.
• We are personally investing more time volunteering to reduce staff costs.
• We are even exploring structural organizational changes including merging with other neighborhood groups and how that might improve our chance of survival. 

As we invest our time and energy as your Board of Directors, please know that if we do restructure Kingfield, the neighborhood will not go away. Our goal is to keep the spirit of KFNA alive, and to find ways to sustainably continue our much-loved events, so we can continue to serve Kingfield and address issues as they arise.

If you value the events we put on in the neighborhood, the advocacy for safety and for affordable housing, and having an elected group of neighbors holding regular public meetings to work on issues important to where you live, then please Donate to the Kingfield Neighborhood Association Today. 

Thank you!

Your 2022-23 KFNA Board of Directors