April: environmentally-focused newsletters As promised, Growth & Justice’s April newsletters will have an emphasis on climate change and environmental resilience. We’re starting off with this opinion article by Marita Bujold in MinnPost titled “Toward a sustainable future defined by racial, economic and environmental justice.” Bujold discusses The Headwaters Community Food & Water Bill (HF 1332/SF 1580) in ... Read More
Natural Solutions for Climate The Nature Conservancy has released the 2021 Nature and Climate Solutions for Minnesota, which you can read here. As laid out in the executive summary, Minnesota is positioned to lead the Midwest (and the U.S.) in combating climate change, but we still aren’t reaching the right targets. The report asserts that natural climate solutions can step in to change this, offering “an estimated mitigat... Read More
2021 Draft Priorities - Using an overarching diversity, equity and inclusion lens for policy consideration HUMAN CAPITAL Top Priorities: o Improve access to affordable health care, including a MinnesotaCare buy-in and pursuing other pathways to universal coverage. o Improve the economic security of households through successful safety net programs and ensure that pay and benefits for workers provide a route out of poverty. o Increase inves... Read More
The Minnesota Solution to close the $287 billion racial economic gap One of our partners in the Minnesota Equity Blueprint work, Dr. Bruce Corrie, co-founder of OneMN.org, testified recently at the Minnesota House Select Committee on Racial Justice, presenting The Minnesota Solution, a set of policy recommendations to address the racial economic gaps of the ALANA (African Latino Asian and Native American) comm... Read More
Reflections on Veterans Day & Public Policy Activism In lieu of regular e-news this week, I share some reflections on two related events: Veterans Day and our upcoming MN Equity Blueprint Blast-Off sessions to prioritize a legislative policy agenda for the 2021-22 session (Nov. 18 and Dec. 16, both noon to 1 p.m. via Zoom). These events are related in my heart and mind because of my Dad, Rod Leonard, a Korean War veteran ... Read More