November 16, 2023 - MN Spokesman-Recorder

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THE VOICE OF BLACK MINNESOTA SINCE 1934

November 16 - 22, 2023

Vol. 90

No. 16

Phone: 612-827-4021

www.spokesman-recorder.com

St. Louis Park mayor-elect Anika Bowie’s win part of Nadia Mohamed historic all-women St. Paul celebrates milestones City Council election By Abdi Mohamed Contributing Writer

By Abdi Mohamed Contributing Writer

Bowie’s win came hours after for one another to bring about Cheniqua Johnson was declared the youngest, more diverse, and the winner of the Ward 7 race, first all-female city council in St. adia Mohamed is no stranger to making history. Elected in t. Paul has officially elected beating Pa Der Vang by 134 Paul’s history. Jost received 49 percent of 2019 to St. Louis Park’s city council, Mohamed became the an all-women City Council, votes after one round of reallosuburb’s first Somali and Muslim council member. after the Ramsey County cation. Bowie and Johnson filed the vote in Ward 3 on election Four years later, she made her mark again when she was elect- Election Office reallocated votes for the City Council race, along- night, but declared victory after ed mayor, becoming the city’s first Muslim, first Black, and first to Ward 1’s top vote-getter An- side Saura Jost and Hwa Jeong runner-up Isaac Russel concedSomali mayor. Mohamed is also the country’s first elected So- ika Bowie, confirming her elec- Kim, in August. The four new- ed on Tuesday night. Kim won mali mayor in a municipal race. tion on Friday afternoon. comers pledged their support ■ See BOWIE on page 5 Mohamed, 26, received 58 percent of the votes, clinching the victory over Dale Anderson, a retired banker and university instructor, who received 41 percent. Anderson ran on a platform that the city needed “the wisdom of a senior citizen.” However, the majority of voters disagreed and opted to elect the city’s youngest mayor in its 170year history. Mohamed sat down for a one-on-one interview in the council chambers following the election. She discussed her reaction to the support she has received, how her time on the council would inform her work as mayor, and what her priorities would be once she’s sworn into office. Election night (l-r): Elijah Henderson, Todd Stump, Anika Bowie, Charlie St. Dennis, Andre St. Louis Park’s mayor-elect Nadia Mohamed ■ See MOHAMED on page 5 Torkelson, Jamael Lundy Photo by Abdi Mohamed Photos by Chris Juhn

Walz expands job opportunities for non-college grads Executive order eliminates four-year degree requirement for most state hiring

By Abdi Mohamed Contributing Writer ast month, Governor Tim Walz made it known that Minnesota was expanding hiring opportunities when he signed “Improving Access to State Employment” into law (Executive Order 23-14), which aims to recruit and retain a “talented and diverse workforce” for Minnesota state agencies. The state government is one of Minnesota’s largest employers with nearly 38,000 employees across several agencies. Once the executive order goes into effect in early 2024, there will no longer be a requirement for a four-year degree for 75 percent of state jobs, creating access to middle-class opportunities for future applicants. This change in degree requirements for state jobs gained traction earlier this year after Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey and Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah sent a letter urging their fellow governors to reevaluate their state’s hiring practices. The hope is that this new approach will help with the nation’s workforce shortage.

Gov. Tim Walz In an exclusive interview with the MSR, Governor Walz shared his motivations behind the executive order and how he plans to make Minnesota a viable option to live and work in by addressing barriers put in place years ago. “I think more than anything it’s going to open up possibilities for people to say, ‘Look, I’d like to work in state government. It’s good work. I want to serve people. It’s got good benefits. It’s

Photo by Chris Juhn got good retirement. It’s a good stable middle-class job,’” Governor Walz said. He shared his interest in being able to elevate the life experiences and accrued skills that prospective employees may bring to a role despite not having a college degree. Walz also referred to immigrants who come to the United States with an education and are turned away because their experience doesn’t trans-

late directly to a degree. The administration dismissed critics who believe that this may be the state’s way of filling empty jobs with the executive order, despite state hiring being at a five-year high. Currently there are 1,500 openings, and roughly 27 percent of state workers are nearing retirement age, which could create an even greater shortage of workers. Governor Walz said that this new approach to hiring will make the state more dynamic in addressing not only its aging workforce, but also addressing the decreasing state population and its diverse communities. “The future of Minnesota is dependent on us thinking about the future workforce. We’re talking about we want this to be the best place in the country to raise a kid or have a family. We want folks to feel welcome here. We want folks to feel the opportunities here,” he said. “But what we know is demographically, 80 percent of our workforce in the next 20 years is going to come from communities of color.” Walz shared that his admin-

istration is looking to work with community partners to help further their recruitment efforts, an approach they developed through the pandemic when the relationships between communities of color and state officials were strained due to a history of abuse and mistrust. “I think all too often we have a society that told people what they couldn’t do, where they couldn’t be, and I think it’s disingenuous not to say that there were systemic racial issues in there that keep people out of this,” Walz said.

referenced a survey where 56 percent of respondents were satisfied with their career advancement opportunities. This push for more recruitment in state jobs is a part of the administration’s approach to making Minnesota an attractive place for people to live. Walz cited the free college for all initiative and his administration’s work on providing early childhood care and scholarships. “I’ll make the case that the child tax credit is going to move about a third of our kids that are in poverty out of that,” he said. “We’ve got good-paying middleclass jobs with great schools. “The future of We’re going to help you out with Minnesota is your child care and we’re going dependent on us to make sure that this child tax credit helps.” thinking about the The executive order directs Minnesota’s Management and future workforce.” Budget Office to make changes to the state’s career website by The executive order makes July 2024, to improve job search mention of the need to increase capabilities, and improve the employee retention. This in- overall application process. crease in hiring in the governor’s Abdi Mohamed welcomes eyes would allow for more employees of color to find oppor- reader comments at amohamed@ tunities for promotions. It also spokesman-recorder.com.

Left-leaning candidates prevail in open races for Minneapolis City Council By H. Jiahong Pan Contributing Writer he Minneapolis City Council will likely be more evenly split between moderates and left-leaning council members after progressive candidates won open seats in Wards 7 and 12. These wards represent downtown Minneapolis, Loring Park, Lowry Hill, Bryn Mawr, and Kenwood, as well as the Longfellow and Nokomis neighborhoods. Incumbents held onto their seats in Wards 1 through 5, which collectively represent

Photo by Chris Juhn Downtown, North, Northeast, and the Seward neighborhoods of Minneapolis, as well as in Wards 9, 11, and 13, which represent slices of south-central and southwest Minneapolis. In Wards 6, 7 and 8, races were decided by ranked-choice voting, since no candidate re-

ceived 50 percent of the firstchoice votes plus one in Tuesday’s election. On Wednesday morning, the city tallied the ballots of those who voted for the lowest votegetters as their first choice and reallocated those votes to their second-choice — and in some

cases, third-choice — candidates. Under ranked-choice, votes are reallocated until a candidate in the race receives 50 percent plus one, or a majority of ballots, whichever comes first. In Ward 6, Jamal Osman won re-election in a three-way race. In Ward 7, center-left candidate

and environmental advocate both of which had four candiKatie Cashman bested landlord dates running, underwent two Scott Graham by 177 first- and rounds of reallocation. Ward second-choice votes. 7, which had three candidates In Ward 8, incumbent and running, underwent one round. council president Andrea Jen- The Ward 7 race was decided kins beat challenger and activist shortly before 10 a.m. WednesSoren Stevenson by 38 first- and day morning. The Ward 6 race second-choice votes, or one-half was decided shortly after that, of one percent. at around 10:30 a.m. The Ward State law allowed Stevenson 8 race was finally decided just to request a publicly funded re- before 11:15 a.m. In Ward 12, community organizcount because of how close the results were. But Stevenson’s er Aurin Chowdhury handily defeatcampaign did challenge the re- ed Luther Ranheim and Nancy Ford sults and conceded the race on to succeed outgoing city council member Andrew Johnson. Johnson, Thursday. The Ward 6 and 8 races, ■ See ELECTION on page 5


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