Northeast Futures

February 2008 Update

Northeast Futures is a Community Visioning Project.  Its purpose is to help Northeast Minneapolis become more proactive and consistent when dealing with land use and community development issues.  We want to unite the Northeast community behind a common vision for the future of Northeast.

Specific results being sought are:

1. Identifying the shared values and common vision of Northeast residents and business people in regards to land use and community development,
2. Building community will and capacity to achieve land use and development goals consistent with those values and vision, and
3. Amending the City of Minneapolis Comprehensive plan as indicated.

Northeast Futures partners are:

• Northeast Community Development Corporation (NE CDC),
• Northeast Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce, and
• Northeast Minneapolis Arts Association (N.E.M.A.A.)

The project’s goal areas to engage Northeasters are:

1. GIS mapping GIS mapping can be done on a neighborhood-by-design basis, for various community organizations-by-design, and for Northeast as a whole.  Using City of Minneapolis data, census data and other market data we can offer maps featuring land use, building condition, zoning, population, and other features as needed by the community.  It is anticipated that this will help each of Northeast’s 13 official neighborhoods become more planning oriented and proactive when dealing with development.  This will also help Northeast become better at identifying common issues and forming cross-neighborhood relationships to deal with shared development and land use interests.
2. Surveying Northeast Futures has implemented professional surveying on a variety of development and land use topics in order to inform decision makers and civic organizations with actual data.
3. Door-to-Door Canvass To learn about the values and visions of Northeast residents for Northeast Mpls, NE CDC embarked on a Northeast-wide door to door canvass with the goal of interviewing a resident on every residential block in Northeast.  According to the Minnesota Center for Survey Research we needed to complete 385 surveys to achieve a statistically sound representative sample of +/- 5%.  We completed more than 400 surveys before the winter stopped us.  We will complete the remaining Northeast blocks in late spring ‘08.  PLEASE help us canvass the rest of Northeast!
4. Community Dialogues Northeast Futures is implementing a civic engagement method called “Appreciative Inquiry,” which has been used in many countries and in other U.S. inner cities to bring the full range of community voices into discussions about future development and land use.  We’re planning a series of Community Dialogue events to engage different segments of the Northeast community in the sharing of stories, information and ideas to gain useful perspectives and insights.  We’re trying to ensure diverse participation in the development of Northeast’s COMMUNITY VISION.
5. Council of Wise Elders We are currently forming this group to (i) analyze the canvass surveys and Community Dialogue responses, (ii) present the vision and values findings at the Northeast Futures Convention where they will also (iii) recommend a common values and vision statement and (iv) propose principles and goals for land use and development in Northeast.
6. Community Convention The Northeast Futures Community Visioning project will culminate with a Northeast Futures Community Convention in October 2008.  At this memorable event we’ll present community education sessions, feature a major speaker or two and provide food and entertainment.  We’ll conclude with a plenary session where we will publicly reach consensus on Northeast’s shared values and common vision for land use and development.

Community development is largely about real estate and business development, but the residents are the most important part of any community.

Valuable community feedback at a NE Futures meeting in November ’07 has inspired us to shape the Northeast Futures Convention into a celebration of the old and new Northeast, with a focus on planning for the community’s future.

Northeast Futures seeks to evoke commonalities from a variety of groups and individuals, while encouraging them to work together on shared interests.  This is different from the typical community-based planning processes, which usually convene a relatively small group of individuals to supposedly represent the spectrum of community interests, generally resulting in reports that are under-utilized.