We Want You!

THE FIRST WORD

By Pahoua Hoffman

We Want You!

By giving to the Citizens League, members enable us to help build a better Minnesota

PHOTO: NANCY MUSINGUZI

Fall is an important time for both sides of my family because both Hmong and Jews observe their New Year in this season. For Hmong people, it’s an important communal and social event that occurs after the harvest. It’s a time to serve favorite foods, wear traditional clothing, take a break from work, and gather with family and friends to usher in a new year. Rosh Hashanah, which is also festive, leads to Yom Kippur—a time for reflection.

At the Citizens League, we are also taking this time to look back on a year marked by accomplishments and change.

In March, for example, we recruited and convened a 21-member committee consisting of individuals who live or work in St. Paul. Their charge was to think through and make recommendations on minimum-wage policies in a way that truly reflected the wants and needs of the entire community. Over the next 14 weeks, these impassioned community members learned together, debated with one another, and questioned guest experts and themselves.

For the first time in the history of the organization, another language was used in one of our study committees. A worker was invited to be part of a panel so she could share with the committee her firsthand experience as a minimum-wage worker. Her testimony was translated in real time from Spanish to English so that she could express herself fully.

By a unanimous vote, the committee ultimately decided to forward three scenarios to the city of St. Paul so that Mayor Carter and the city council could see

where there was support and where there was disagreement (see Wages of Debate, page 5). Since no one scenario enjoyed 100 percent support, no one got exactly what he or she wanted. But what turned out to be more important to the participants was that the Citizens League’s tried-and-true process allowed them to learn something they did not know, to raise questions they

We need you, our members, to help us continue our mission and broaden its reach.

had not thought of, and to come together in a way they had not done before.

By the time we completed the final report in August, we had received many messages of thanks from both the community and members of the study group. Committee member Andrew Kopplin, co-owner of Kopplin’s, a family-run coffee shop on Marshall Avenue, sent an email to the entire cohort that said, “Being a part of this committee has been a very enlightening experience and one for which I am thankful.”

Longtime Citizens League member Mary Hicks, who was a member of the minimum-wage study committee, said, “In a time of great national distrust and bitter debates, it was energizing and reassuring to be part of civil and thoughtful discussion about a critical problem facing

the St. Paul community.”

As we reflect on our work thus far and think about the New Year, there is so much to do. Minnesotans across the state tell us that they want to engage with our programming, which encourages civil discourse and engagement. Our Capitol Pathways internship program, which trains college students of color on the legislative process and places them with seasoned government-affairs organizations, already accepts 30 students a year. We’d love to serve even more of the 100-plus applicants. And an increasing number of community leaders in both outstate and urban areas of the state are asking us to convene study committees on issues such as tax policy, education reform, and affordable housing.

We need funds to support all of these initiatives.

So, as we enter the last quarter of our fiscal year-end, I’d like to encourage you to take this time to reflect on what you have made possible through your support of the Citizens League. Your membership has created the space for thougthful discourse, stimulated bipartisan policymaking, and forged new career paths in policy for the next generation. There's a donation envelope on page 12. I hope you will renew your commitment by sending a gift today. Whether you are a current member or are reading the Voice for the first time, let's work together to make Minnesota a great place to live and work. Thank you.

PAHOUA HOFFMAN is the Citizens League’s executive director. phoffman@citizensleague.org