About Us

• growth and development decisions, policies, practices, and investments are centered in the needs and expertise of low-wealth people and Black, Indigenous, Immigrant, and People of Color
• historical harms are addressed
• our healing, belonging, and prosperity are prioritized in decisions about our current and future communities

Racism is at the heart of the systemic inequities in our communities. We must dismantle racism through systems change, policy change, equitable investments, and narrative change to reach our vision for a thriving, equitable, and just region.

The issues we care about are interconnected, and we also recognize the intersectionality of our identities. A person’s race, gender, class, sexual orientation, physical ability, and immigration status all play a role in their unique experience of oppression and discrimination. We design our work to be inclusive of and responsive to the many facets of people’s identities.

People are experts in their own lives and have the best ideas to make positive changes in their communities. We respect and center voices that often aren’t validated because we understand that community experience is data. We are committed to uplifting community voice, elevating co-governance as a model for equitable decision-making, and disrupting inequitable power structures that uphold white supremacy.

We believe we are all interconnected and that there are sufficient resources for all of our needs to be met. We acknowledge the abundance of wisdom, knowledge, vision, ideas, culture and resources in our communities.

We have more power when we come together across race, culture, and geography in a unified voice for change. Collaboration not only builds collective power, it strengthens individual organizations as we learn from one another, connect the dots in understanding issues and systems, and bring best practices back to our own communities.

We are intentional about who we work with, how we work, and what narratives we lift up. We are accountable to our partners and we hold systems accountable. We build trust by leading from within coalition spaces where diverse, authentic partners share space and power.

Our success depends on our ability to create nurturing, inclusive, and strategic spaces centered around Low-Wealth, Black, Indigenous, Immigrant, and People of Color. We share leadership, resources, and power with diverse organizations because having strong partners is in all of our self-interests.

We organize coalitions that cross the boundaries of race, culture, geography, and issues to advance equity and justice in the way growth and development happens in the Twin Cities region. We unite policy and advocacy organizations with place-based and culturally specific organizations to amplify their efforts. 

In practice, this looks like:

• Influencing the large influx of public investments towards our communities for equitable community benefits and ensuring there is authentic community engagement and inclusion at decision-making tables
• Securing investment without displacement of BIPOC communities and passing anti-displacement policies to ensure BIPOC communities can stay in place
• Infusing equitable development principles in publicly subsidized development to secure meaningful community benefits
• Leveraging public investments to expand opportunities and create a more equitable ecosystem of support for BIPOC workers and entrepreneurs
• Strengthening and advancing a racial equity lens while widening the space for BIPOC leadership and voices within environmental, climate, livability, and mobility work

By supporting the leadership of community based organizations and connecting many groups across geographic and cultural communities doing similar work, the Alliance plays a role in developing a stronger set of relationships, collaborations, best practices, and understanding of collective power. 

In practice, this looks like:

• Developing cross-issue shared learning opportunities for members and partners both within and outside of our coalition tables
• Creating spaces for internal information sharing that surface opportunities across coalitions
• Investing in narrative-development and communications tools that support these goals

The Alliance shares resources, technical expertise, and strategy development to support leaders and organizations in navigating complex issues, sustaining their work and growing their power over time.

In practice, this looks like:

• Prioritizing capacity-building with community-based organizations with limited access to resources
• Seeking out spaces where the Alliance’s technical assistance can strengthen intersectional organizing work
• Supporting the development of a shared vision for self-care in the regional equity field