Title
Approving the 2018 Innovation Fund Allocation.
Body
WHEREAS, the Community Engagement Innovation Fund was created in 2014 by the City of Saint Paul and the District Councils to support more effective community engagement around issues of city-wide importance. Historically, the Innovation Fund has supported initiatives that: 1) address citywide issues in an innovative, long-term, systemic way, 2) foster the capacity for collaboration among District Councils, and 3) develop community-based leadership from diverse constituencies; and,
WHEREAS, the City of St. Paul’s Racial Equity Initiative commits to achieving racial equity in city services and engagement, and to eliminating race-based disparities in our community; and,
WHEREAS, District Councils in the 2016 cohort have committed to equity work in their own organizations, specifically by better reflecting and representing their communities and more effectively documenting their efforts to do so; and,
WHEREAS, six District Councils in the 2017 Innovation Fund project engaged in a racial equity planning process, framing a systematic and systemic approach for addressing these inequities through the creation of Council-specific Investment Rationales and Equity Strategic Action Plans; and,
WHEREAS, taking this opportunity in 2018 to enhance District Council equitable engagement catered to each Council’s unique contexts will have city-wide long-term impact, will foster collaboration amongst the District Councils, and will develop leadership within racially diverse constituencies while increasing the number of people who can work with an equity lens in local decision-making. In short, this strategy will help District Councils meet their obligation to all of the City’s residents by increasing their capacity to augment unheard voices in our communities; and,
WHEREAS, achieving measurable and sustained racial equity results requires a consistent source of funding and support, which District Councils have n...
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