Support Our Local Arts
My commitment to the arts in our community runs deep and I am happy to share an opportunity to support Soo Visual Art Center with you. SooVAC has operated in Ward 10 for nearly 25 years and champions works from emerging artists, with a focus on under-represented art. Their annual fundraising event is coming up on April 25th from 6-10pm.
$20 tickets get you entry to the event where you can make art and play games with local artists; you can also buy tickets to enter drawings. More info is linked here.
Missing and Murdered
Black Women and Girls
Last week I went to the capitol with other Ward 10 neighbors and campaign volunteers to learn more about Minnesota’s Office of Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls, the first of its kind in the entire nation. What we learned galvanized us into action. While Black women make up 7% of the population of the state, they are victims in nearly 40% of the state’s domestic abuse cases. Black women are killed at 2.7 times the rate as their white peers. You can read more about what researchers discovered about this violence in their report released in 2022. They are looking to update this research and want to engage with 600 Black women and girls around the state. You can learn more about how you can help my attending one of their upcoming coalition convenings:
April 29, 12-1pm: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/FNu017SVT6yPrPFELIs4dw
April 30th, 6-7pm: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/PfqvCL4JQweBmEuF7cFKtA
The role of the state office is to reduce and end the systemic neglect and violence experienced by Black women and girls by supporting families and communities, ensuring timely investigations, fostering collaboration with law enforcement, and advocating for policies that promote justice and equity.
As a candidate and then as your city council member I pledge to do all I can to assist the office in their mission. I will do this in the following ways:
connect victims and their families to resources with timely follow-up,
develop professional working relationships with law enforcement at the city and county level in order to advocate for victims,
partner with all law enforcement agencies at the federal, state, county, and city level to end this violence.
It is important to note that this work is being done alongside the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office, which is also the first of its kind.
Their 2020 Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women report can be found at this link. My commitment to ending violence against Indigienous Women and Girls, which reflects the disparities that these communities experience, is the same. My role of the city council member is to ensure that we are addressing these disparities and working to keep our neighbors and residents safe.
Upcoming Ways To Connect
We have two sets of office hours this week at Walker Library in the Isles Room. Please come and share your vision for our community and feedback you have for our campaign.
- Wednesday, April 16: 5-7pm
- Saturday, April 19: 10-11am
