#GiveAtHomeMN for Growth & Justice

Minnesota Equity Blueprint lays out what we need to work toward - Help move it forward!

 “Will we wake up, mobilize, empathize now – for our own survival from coronavirus?  Will we wake up, mobilize, empathize now and for the rest of our lives – for the survival of our planet on which our descendants will depend for their lives? Let’s build – both short-term and long-term – from the Minnesota Equity Blueprint.’’   

These stirring questions come from Patrick Henry, retired executive director of the Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research, author of The Ironic Christian’s Companion, and a regular columnist in the St. Cloud Times, from which this quote originates. 

Indeed, as we struggle through the Covid-19 crisis, made worse by pre-existing conditions of regional, racial, and environmental inequities and disparities, can we emerge a more just, equitable, and inclusive society going forward? We say YES! We must! 

And we believe, as Patrick does, too, that the Minnesota Equity Blueprint, co-created by the Thriving by Design Network – Rural & Urban Together, is the first draft of fully answering those questions with collaborative action. 

We need your financial help to share across Minnesota the Blueprint’s policy and practice challenges and solutions, to rebuild from Covid-19 with Equity as our North Star.

Growth & Justice, OneMN.org, and our partners launched the  Blueprint on February 27, via a six-site Zoom videoconference, up and down the Mississippi River, from Winona, North Minneapolis, St. Cloud, Brainerd, Grand Rapids, to Bemidji. It culminated two years of statewide community input and exhaustive research, and just two weeks before the Covid-19 Stay At Home orders went into place.

We had planned a statewide, face-to-face whistle stop tour this spring and summer to further disseminate the Blueprint, collect more ideas and inspire more equity actions. But the world pandemic had other ideas, and we continue as best we can online. We need your help to keep the momentum and outreach going, now that the Blueprint’s messages, and ideas, are more relevant than ever.

The Minnesota Equity Blueprint is a comprehensive, non-partisan, long-term plan for shared prosperity in a healthier environment. It’s designed to reflect the interconnectedness of our state’s people and regions, as well as interconnectedness between the disparities, challenges, and solutions that shape our future.

Over 300 Minnesotans collected ideas, challenges, solutions, and action examples at more than a dozen gatherings around the state, including two statewide events. The process also included input from many professionals working in the public, private-and non-profit sectors. The Growth & Justice research team analyzed more than 700 recommendations obtained through this multi-stage work and distilled them into 141 recommendations, ranging from general strategies to specific policies.

The Blueprint -- coming in at 170-pages chock-full of easy-to-read narrative, maps, tables and extensive citations --has been designed not just for the Legislature or governmental decision-makers, but as a resource for individual and local community action, too. Story boxes throughout the document chronicle regional best practices and inspiring efforts to build a more equitable and inclusive economy and society, especially needed now, coming out the Covid-19 crisis.

As Medicare for All advocate Ady Barkan asks in the April 6-13, Time magazine, “When all this is over... ‘Will we slide ever deeper into a nightmare of inequality, precarity, and social alienation? Or will we use this crisis to begin to make the big structural changes that we need to build a more just and equitable society….The answer depends in large part on what we do in the coming days.’”

Please help Growth & Justice keep the momentum going with the Blueprint, which is a big answer "Yes! We need to build a more just and equitable society -- and here's how we can do it, together!" Minnesotans like yourself helped put the Blueprint together, to show how the big structural changes can happen. They are happening in communities already, and we need to get to a tipping point of know-how and action to make statewide equity impact possible.

We know it’s a tough time in so many ways and more immediate Cobid-19 relief needs are paramount to community giving right now.  

We hope you can find it possible to invest in what we can become: people and places recovering towards a future where we all belong, where we all contribute, and where vibrant and equitable communities ARE the new norm!

This is the promise of the Minnesota Equity Blueprint. Read it here and let its message of equity and inclusion speak for itself. And then decide if you can invest in its continued sharing, across the miles and across the hearts and minds of your fellow Minnesotans.

Thanks so much for your consideration!