Nonprofit
Mission Award for
ADVOCACY
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Nonprofit
Mission Award for Advocacy Criteria:
This award recognizes advocacy as one of the most
effective and unique roles of nonprofit organizations.
Nominated organizations should:
- Implement an effective
advocacy strategy;
- Demonstrate success
in its advocacy efforts; and
- Have a significant
impact on the organization's constituency.
The
selection committee is particularly interested in
the work of coalitions, though coalition work is
not a requirement to receive this award.Types of
advocacy work honored in this category could include:
systems change, legislative action, civic engagement,
grassroots advocacy, etc.
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Finalists
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Read
more about the finalists:
HOME
LINE AND LEGAL SERVICES ADVOCACY PROJECT, Minneapolis
HOME
Line’s mission is helping tenants throughout the
state of Minnesota solve their own rental housing problems
by providing free legal, organizing, education and advocacy
services. Its Tenant Hotline provides free legal information
on renter’s rights that comes directly from lawyers,
law students and community volunteers. Furthermore, its
Tenant Organizing initiative bands these tenants together
so they can work toward solving common issues specifically
in effort to preserve affordable housing for themselves
and others.
Legal
Services Advocacy Project (LSAP) aids HOME Line by providing
services to low-income Minnesotans through engagement,
research and policy examination. As a part of Legal Aid,
an advocacy organization for populations that are considered
“under-justiced,” LSAP furthers efforts in
protecting civil rights of those who traditionally lack
access to the American justice system.
  
Together,
HOME Line and LSAP have recruited hundreds of low-income
tenants and local housing advocates in a grassroots campaign
to improve tenant’s lives and save them millions
of dollars. By proposing their Minnesota Tenant Bill of
Rights, HOME Line and LSAP continue to strive toward a
healthier balance in tenant-landlord law with twenty-seven
suggested law changes.
A
portion of changes that have already occurred include:
a rent late fee cap of 8 percent; the right to a receipt
of if rent is paid in cash; entitlement to tenant’s
attorney fees to be paid by the landlord if the landlord
request the same from the tenant; consistent screening
of apartment applicants; landlord liability if utility
bills are illegally divided; landlord penalties for not
returning the proper amount of a tenant’s security
deposit; and a tenant’s right to the term of their
lease or 90 days beyond the redemption period of rental
property is foreclosed.
Through
recruitment and constant communication Home Line and Legal
Services Advocacy Project have kept tenants and participants
focused on reasonable law concepts that adhere to their
goals and mission. Lawyers and advocates from both organizations
continue their involvement in the Legislature by directing
their tenant focused advocacy project towards legislators,
committees, and landlords directly.
Visit
HOME Line: www.homelinemn.org
Visit Minnesota Legal Aid: www.mylegalaid.org
MINNESOTA
SECOND CHANCE COALITION, Minneapolis
The
Minnesota Second Chance Coalition is a product of community-based
organizations and individuals advocating for fair and
responsible laws and policies that allow those who have
committed crimes to redeem themselves. By supporting and
acting on behalf of these citizens, the Minnesota Second
Chance Coalition hopes that they are able to fully support
themselves and their families and fully contribute to
their own communities.
  
Comprised
of community-based organizations and justice system supporters,
the Coalition was founded by 180 Degrees, Inc, an organization
that provides intervention, prevention and supportive
services to formerly incarcerated individuals re-entering
communities. The Minnesota Second Chance Coalition currently
has partnerships with over 40 local nonprofits and businesses
that believe ex-offenders have paid their debt to society
and deserve a chance to re-enter the workforce. These
partners include but are not limited to: 180 Degrees,
Inc., founder and fiscal agent for the Minnesota Second
Chance Coalition, A.H. Wilder Foundation-JobsFirst Program,
Amicus, Inc., Barbara Schneider Foundation, Central MN
Re-Entry Project, Children's Defense Fund Minnesota, Construction
Career Training Program, Correctional Transition Services,
Inc., Council on Crime and Justice, Elim Transitional
Housing, Inc, Emerge Community Development, Friends for
a Non-Violent World, Freedom Works, Goodwill/Easter Seals
Minnesota, Greater Minneapolis Council on Churches, Hired,
Jacob Wetterling Resource Center, La Familia Guidance
Center, L.I.F.E. in Recovery, MAD DADS Minneapolis, Minneapolis
Urban League, Minnesota Association of Criminal Defense
Lawyers, Minnesota Community Corrections Association,
Minnesota Fathers & Families Network, Minnesota Catholic
Conference, Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless, Minnesota
State Public Defender, MN Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee,
National Alliance on Mental Illness of Minnesota, Network
for Better Futures, NOLA Investigates-Criminal Defense
Investigation, Northside Policy Action, Coalition Peace
Foundation, People Escaping Poverty Project, Project for
Pride in Living, Prison Policy Initiative, RS Eden, Rebuild
Resources The Reentry Clinic at William Mitchell, TakeAction
Minnesota and YWCA St. Paul.
The
Coalition’s goal is to break barriers facing individuals
with criminal records and supporting reforms that:
- Ensure
that everyone, regardless of means or background, is
treated equally and fairly through every part of the
criminal justice system.
-
Maximize the ability of ex-offenders to access employment,
housing, and education, and to become fully contributing
members of their communities.
- Ensure
that juvenile offenders are not limited in their ability
to become successful adults.
- Fully
diagnose and treat mental illness and chemical addition.
- Limit
the potentially adverse impact of the criminal justice
system on children and families.
By
implementing advocacy strategies, the Second Chance Coalition
has organized “Second Chance Day” on the hill,
which has raised the visibility of re-entry issues and
affected policy reform. Minnesota is now the first state
to require employers to wait until someone has been selected
for a job interview before inquiring about criminal records
(“Ban the Box”). The Minnesota Second Chance
Coalition has also mobilized hundreds of individuals at
the Capitol, focusing efforts on effected individuals
by giving them a voice and positively engaging community
members throughout the state.
Visit
the Minnesota Second Chance Coalition: www.mnsecondchancecoalition.org
STOPS
FOR US COALITION, St. Paul
The
District Councils Collaborative of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
(DCC) was created by the Saint Paul District Councils
and Minneapolis Neighborhood Associations as an effort
to facilitate community involvement in the planning of
transit development along the Central Corridor. With hopes
of representing the needs and interests of residents and
businesses between Snelling Avenue and Rice Street, DCC
created its Stops for Us Coalition. Offering increased
opportunities for citizen involvement in the decision-making
process of this large-scale transportation improvement,
the Coalition has emphasized accountability to the residents,
businesses and communities along University Avenue.
  
The
Stops for Us Coalition has engaged representation from
city-recognized neighborhood planning organizations, faith-based
groups, businesses and other organizations that focus
on affordable housing, transportation and the environment.
Coalition members include: Alliance for Metropolitan Stability,
Asian Economic Development Association, Aurora/Saint Anthony
Neighborhood Development Corporation, Community Stabilization
Project, District Councils Collaborative of Saint Paul
and Minneapolis, Got Voice, Got Power!, Hmong Organizing
Program, TakeAction Minnesota, Housing Preservation Project,
ISAIAH, Jewish Community Action, JUST Equity, Minnesota
Center for Environmental Advocacy, Model Cities, Inc.,
MICAH, Preserve and Benefit Historic Rondo Committee,
Saint Paul NAACP, Saint Paul Urban League, Transit for
Livable Communities, UFCW Local 789, University UNITED
and University Avenue Business Association. With a multifaceted
strategy, the Coalition centers itself on influencing
public officials, researching station spacing, mapping
demographics, drafting state legislation, monitoring public
meetings and testifying at public hearings.
The
Stops for Us Coalition recognizes that the Central Corridor
is home to some of the region’s most diverse neighborhoods,
characterized by many factors that contribute to higher
transit ridership. There are a high percentage of renters,
lower vehicle ownership rates and incomes, and a large
number of both origins and destinations within the corridor.
Station construction will directly benefit the 8,331 people
who live within a quarter mile of the stations, ensuring
that these citizens will not have to walk up to a half
of a mile to access the same frequency of transit services
and amenity packages that is enjoyed along the rest of
the line.
As
a result, the Coalition has secured three additional stations
at Western, Victoria, and Hamline Ave for the environmental
justice communities on East University Avenue. At the
federal level, Peter Rogoff FTA Administrator furthered
the three stops campaign as a standard of why the current
transit evaluation measures do not work. This may put
decisions about our region’s transit planning back
in the hands of those who live and work in the Central
Corridor, with influences by our region’s environmental,
community and economic development priorities.
The
Stops for Us Coalition overall has created opportunities
for communities to voice their opinions on how to improve
the quality of life along University Avenue. Its work
has connected communities with their local officials,
thus becoming allies and advocates for said communities.
Visit
the Stops for Us Coalition at the District Council Collaborative:
www.dcc-stpaul-mpls.org
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