I’m thrilled to announce more honorees for the 2021 People’s Celebration!
By all accounts, this year has tested and pushed us. Through moments of victory and loss our resolve to keep each other safe, healthy, and thriving has endured – and only gotten stronger.
Next week, we will celebrate that resolve and the power we are building together. Our joy and our community belong to us, and we get to relish in it and nurture it together. We know that the future is ours for the taking if we dare to keep rising together, hand-in-hand, with our eyes firmly on the prize.
Together, we will honor the Yes 4 Minneapolis coalition at the People’s Celebration for their work to build a Minneapolis where we are all safe. Sharing the story of this powerful movement campaign are:
Black Visions builds Black power to address the harms of past and present generations and realize a vision of a liberated, healing Black future. In June 2020, Black Visions led others in joining together to change the Minneapolis city charter and shift municipal resources from the police to a reimagined infrastructure for public safety, including forming the Path Forward campaign and the Yes 4 Minneapolis coalition.
ISAIAH Minnesota is a multi-racial, state-wide, nonpartisan coalition of faith communities, including Black-owned barber shops. This past year, several Minnesotan shops chose to use their collective voice and people power to create the community they know is possible. By organizing to transform public safety, they are ensuring that the issues that matter most to them are a priority and the communities they serve have the same opportunities to thrive as everyone else.
Minnesota Youth Collective (MNYC) is empowering the next generation of leaders to take our rightful seat at the decision-making table, elect people who reflect our values, and shape legislation to better the lives of Minnesotans. As part of the Yes 4 Minneapolis coalition, MNYC worked to collect signatures from registered voters, provide more information on the ballot initiative and its implications, and mobilize voters and young people to volunteer and get out the vote.
Reclaim the Block began in 2018 and organizes Minneapolis community and city council members to move money from the police department into other areas of the city’s budget that truly promote community health and safety. Reclaim the Block organizes around policies that strengthen community-led safety initiatives and reduce reliance on police departments.
SEIU Local 26 is a property services union representing 8,000 security officers, janitors, and other property service workers across Minnesota. SEIU has developed an apprenticeship program that would turn neighborhood-organized volunteer block patrol into a sustainable career path, grounded in the knowledge and skills of neighbors.
Yes 4 Minneapolis is a Black-led, coalition-model campaign that worked tirelessly this past year to advance a ballot initiative to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a new department of public safety.
Join me in celebrating this incredible coalition and giving these leaders the recognition and love they so decidedly deserve. Let’s come together as a community, reaffirm our commitment to our shared work, and keep building towards a future where everyone has the freedom, opportunity, and resources to thrive.
Yalla, let’s celebrate! See you there.
With joy,
Elianne Farhat (she/her)
Executive Director
