| Metropolitan State University, in partnership with the University of Minnesota, and Macalester College, will receive a Community Outreach Partnership Centers Program of $399,157 to assist the East Side neighborhood of St. Paul. The East Side COPC partners have identified three goals to address: to develop and maintain an adequate supply of affordable housing; to provide an adequate number of jobs that pay livable wages and are available to area residents; and to provide residents with the resources necessary to secure these jobs.
Activities to be undertaken include:
1. Building an area wide system of energized block clubs.
2. Identification of culturally appropriate means to link the area's new communities of color to homeownership opportunities.
3. Creation of a micro-entrepreneurship training and technical assistance center to help current businesses expand and new ones open.
4. Implementation of an outreach plan for the area's resource hub and job bank to place residents in livable wage jobs.
In addition to more than $600,000 being provided by the three institutions of higher education, matching funds demonstrate the tremendous cultural diversity of the Minnesota COPC. Funds for the project will also be provided by local community development corporations, the American Indian Family Center, the Urban Coalition, the Hmong American Mutual Assistance Association, and Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment through Research.
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