Our Approach

The Alliance is aligned to change the policies and systems that affect our lives and influence racial, economic, environmental, and health equity. The issues we work on and the places they affect are always changing—but we play four central roles.

 

Coalition organizing

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.

Community engagement

We ensure that communities are engaged in the public decision-making processes that shape policies and systems in our region. We often support community-based organizations who have deep relationships with residents with research, tools, and strategy that can advance their community engagement work.

Strategic system navigation

Many of the decision-making processes that affect our lives are complex in nature and occur over the course of many years. The Alliance provides technical expertise, analysis, and strategy development to support leaders in navigating these complex projects over time.

Field building

Throughout our work, the Alliance intentionally connects local organizations and organizing efforts to broader public decision-making processes. 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.  That power is then wielded to influence both policy and process.