Economic Vitality
Trade apprenticeships, employers who commit to interviewing locally, and support for the businesses already operating here. Wages first, wealth second.
Two sides of one ledger. Residents need work that pays and a way into a trade; the businesses on these corridors need customers, capital, and a landlord who answers the phone. We work both ends, because a neighborhood economy that only imports jobs is still somebody else's.
Technical assistance, grant capital, and storefront support for entrepreneurs starting or scaling on Northside commercial corridors, with a focus on women- and minority-owned enterprises.
A registered apprenticeship and craft-training program building electricians and mechanical tradespeople from the neighborhood up — paid on-the-job training rather than tuition debt, funded through workforce dollars instead of out of the student’s pocket.
What is in place today: a Registered Apprenticeship Program, listing on the state’s Eligible Training Provider List, and online related instruction. [Enrollment status, cohort size, and employer partners to be added as they are confirmed.]
The premise is simple. The contractors doing the housing work on these blocks need hands, and the residents on these blocks need careers. The academy is the rail between them.
Short-cycle credential programs in the trades, healthcare, and logistics, paired with employers who commit to interviewing and hiring neighborhood residents.
We advocate for the transit service, streetscape, and infrastructure investment that connects Northside residents to the region's jobs — because a job you cannot reach is not a job.
Bringing vacant landmark buildings back into use as the anchors of a walkable commercial district that serves the people who already live here.
New and rehabbed housing across the income range, with affordability locked in by deed restriction rather than by promise — so the families here now are still here in twenty years.
Learn MoreOne unbroken line from an infant classroom to a paycheck — early learning, a partner school, early college credit, and a credential that employers actually hire on.
Learn MoreFood access, clinics, green space, and lighting — chosen block by block by the people who live there, because what Collegeville needs is not what Evergreen needs.
Learn MoreConcentrated poverty on the Northside was engineered — by redlining, by the interstate, by plant closures. It can be un-engineered the same way: deliberately.
Donate NowCome work a Saturday. Homeowner repair crews, vacant lot clean-ups, and tutoring all run on volunteer hours.
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