A place-based approach to operating – May Peace Prevail On Earth, St. Paul, Minnesota – USA

October 31, 2023

Posted, October-2023

By Melvin Giles, peacebubbles@q.com

“There is much work ahead, and I believe that radical self-care will light the pathway to a newly imagined world.” – Dr. Joi Lewis

“Compromise, if not the spice of life, is its solidity.” – Phyllis McGinley

“At the end of the day, we must go forward with hope and not backward by fear and division.” – Jesse Jackson

Hello Monitor readers,

I’ve been fortunate to meet some of the of the Monitors readers over the summer at community events. It has been great seeing and engaging with human beings in-person instead of zooming and other virtual ways of showing up as human doings. It was a fantastic summer, although, it was also an awesomely tragic summer. It’s been difficult focusing on the positive and staying optimistic with greedy and unethical lawmakers and toxic carpetbaggerspromoting their outdated fearful doom and gloom Us (superiority thinking) against Them (everyday folks thinking) worldview lifestyles. 

Again, fortunately, the Monitor’s readers are assuring me that our future is bright with outstanding young people who are stepping up, our elders’ messages being heard and acted on, and with people stretching their comfort zones and being okay with the discomfort of a new learning of the true meaning of We are All Connected and Related to Each Other.

I am happy to live in a state, city, and community that embraces and appreciates diversity and sees the creative assets and healthy benefits of struggling, working, and playing together as we keep joyfully and respectfully Bending the Arc of Justice forward. 

‘Rondo: From Redlining to Greenlining’ Tour

This month, I am offering the UMN Extension as an example of stretching and expanding out of their hierarchical operational mode to a Place-Based Approach (PBA) community-friendly manner way of operating. My friend and partnership-ally Janice R. accepted my invitation to share a few reflections of one of the September Extension State-wide Conference on-site Twin City Tours: 

You may have seen a big red bus in the neighborhood on Wednesday, Sept. 28. Onboard, U of M Extension educators from around the state learned about Rondo’s history, including how I-94 tore the community apart and how Rondo is rebuilding.  

Coming in from the south, Melvin Giles narrated Rondo’s early connections with Fort Snelling. Did you know the fur trader Joseph Rondo was thrown out of the Fort when he married a native woman? He moved to what is now Rondo.  Soon we picked up executive director Mikeya Griffin at the Rondo Community Land Trust building. Born and raised in Rondo, Mikeya told of favorite stores now gone. She showed so much new development happening, like Golden Thyme’s new site, and the business incubator with plans for more to come!

We swung by many special places where the Place-Based Approach (PBA) Extension team partnered in community events and classes, like YWCA, Hallie Q. Brown Center, and Western Sculpture Park (with its new big light-up Solar Peace Pole!), home of the Community Peace Celebration recently. Then our amazing driver navigated by Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, as Michael Stratten, SNAP-Ed educator, described the greens cook-off and food justice facilitation training held there. We couldn’t leave out the Ober Center that has impacted so many youth through the years and where Extension’s Well-Connected Communities youth programs blossomed. 

One participant was amazed at the creativity and artwork around Rondo. Mizz Mercedes displayed her artwork at Central Village Park and shared her beautiful “Going back to Rondo” comic book. We saw the hard-won art on the Dale Street Bridge of Hope, as well as the pillar at the Rondo Commemorative Plaza that shines above the freeway. At the plaza, Mr. Marvin Anderson himself told of the grief buried in the mound there. He talked of fathers who were treated as a number at work, but who came home to a vibrant community. The photos captured the joy of Rondo and special times like Rondo Days and Juneteenth. Have you seen the “Women of Rondo” special photo exhibit on there now?

At our last stop, Pilgrim Baptist Church, Nate Galloway told about the pilgrims who started the church – that is, enslaved people escaping through the Underground Railroad. This stop also highlighted the Greenlining of Rondo, with its gardens and soon-to-be mini-forest/green-screen with the DNR. We heard from members of the Urban Food and Garden Alliance (UFGA) and U of M Land Connectors. As Melvin says, “There’s no meeting without eating,” so we sampled vegan and turkey-tail collard greens and cornbread, made by greens cook-off champions. People watched “Rondo: Beyond the Pavement” on the way home. 

Being in the neighborhood gave extension staff a 3-D understanding of what Rondo has been through, which will impact others they teach around the state. One participant said, “It was so rich to hear from all these community members!” Another said, “I wish everyone who lives in the Twin Cities could go on this tour. I live in Minneapolis, and I learned so much.” 

Thanks for your reflections, Janice.

STAY OPTIMISTIC

In the spirit of wishing Former President James (Jimmy) Carter a blessed birthday, I gift him and us a small demonstration of what he upheld, cultivated, and inspires:

• The birth of Dr. Nikole’s Thrive Growing (People of Victory)

•The Rondo Library Block Party (Oct. 21)

• Victoria Theater Arts Center and Hallie Q. Brown Center Halloween family-friendly gatherings

• UFGA Community Garlic Planting Days

• Penumbra and Community Theaters’ plays and community engagement opportunities

• New and returning Midway area businesses and restaurants

• The good work of the District Planning Councils, Model Cities, Planting People Growing Jusice, Ujamaa, Irreducible Grace (IRG), Amor Recovery Housing, Urban Boat Builders, Sprockets, Oxford Center with the JKmovement, Open Cities Health Center, We Resolve, ComMUSICation, Mississippi Market, Rondo Community Land Trust, African Economic Dev. Solutions (AEDS), Maxfield Elementary School, St. Paul Almanac, Save our Sons (SOS), In Black Ink, Frogtown Farm, Public Arts St. Paul (PASP), Asian Economic Development Association (AEDA), Community Stabilization Project (CSP), Springboard for the Arts, Art’s-Us, YWCA, and other wonderful community groups and organizations

• Amazing and pro-active St. Paul Midway community members

Stay optimistic and dare to smile at someone new and believe that our future is bright and lovingly and divinely intertwined together.

May Peace Be In the Rondo, Frogtown, Hamline/Midway, Como, and Surrounding Communities… May Peace Be In Our Homes & Communities… May Peace Prevail On Earth (MPPOE)!