Our work

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.

Coalitions we support:

• HIRE Minnesota
• Transportation Forward MN
• Equity in Place

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.

Efforts we support:

• Community Engagement Team
• Community Engagement Steering Committee
• North Minneapolis Greenway

Technical assistance

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.

Technical assistance we provide:

• Draft Environmental Impact Statement training
• Community benefits agreements training
• Equitable Development Scorecard training
• Systems decision-making on infrastructure investments

Field building

We build the capacity of organizations to organize for equitable growth and development, and to see the connections between local and regional issues. This means both creating tools and convening people in critical discussions, as well as connecting people to successful ideas from other regions.

Field building resources:

• Race and Regionalism papers
• Organizer Roundtables
• The Link