Sparc: Igniting Community Development

855 Rice Street Ground Breaking

2011-10-08T11:14:00.000-07:00

North End Urban Farm Tomato Cutting

2011-09-27T11:09:00.000-07:00

Central Corridor East end of line

2010-08-31T09:22:00.001-07:00

What is a passive house?

2010-08-12T06:55:00.001-07:00

The Residual Effects of Foreclosures

2010-05-24T08:18:00.001-07:00

Little has been reported about the entire scope of how the foreclosure crisis is impacting people in all different ways. Yes, we know that the banks are hurting and don't want to be property owners. What we don't always really realize or think about are those families that are being displaced and uprooted by the impacts of foreclosures. This has been true for owner occupied units, but more now we are starting to see the large impact it is having on those that rent as well.

The Pioneer Press had this story:

Gary Benson is the perfect renter. He's never been late on a payment. He keeps his St. Paul house and yard clean. He spends his own money making repairs. But perfect isn't good enough. His family soon will be forced to move out — not for anything he did wrong, but because his landlord didn't pay the mortgage. The house must be sold, and real estate agents say it's easier to sell rental property if all tenants are gone.

"There is no sense in kicking us out. This would be another abandoned house," said Benson, 31, standing amid cardboard boxes in his living room. "If we left, you would have meth heads breaking in and stealing copper pipes," he said. "That is the last thing St. Paul needs."

Benson and his wife, Cynthia, are part of a new wrinkle in Minnesota's housing crisis. Most federal and state bailouts are aimed at homeowner foreclosures — yet the number of landlord foreclosures has been soaring as well. And when landlords go broke, innocent renters get evicted.

It seems this crisis is far from over.

Advancing Neighborhood Goals

2010-05-19T08:15:00.000-07:00

Noel Nix has this excellent piece in the CURA Reporter. He discusses the role of geographically based Community Development corporations and how they function in the larger process of neighborhood planning. Nix also demonstrates the Winnipeg project as a case study of how small and larger for profit organizations can work together to create positive change in neighborhoods.

From the article:

In contrast to CDCs, area-wide nonprofit developers typically are not committed to a specific neighborhood or area of a city. These organizations often work in a variety of different communities, and often specialize in a particular area of community-development work, such as housing or business development. An integrated collection of projects such as the Seward Co-op and the Franklin Avenue Vision would lie. Volunteers help to implement test projects developed during the Franklin Avenue Vision process.

These characteristics position areawide developers as outside actors when it comes to planning and designing community-development projects. However, the Winnipeg is an example of how the community relationships, political capital, and entrepreneurial capabilities of CDCs can be paired with the organizational and financial resources of an area-wide developer to move a locally conceived project forward.

Home Energy Squad - North End Workshop

2010-04-26T10:49:00.000-07:00

HOME ENERGY SQUADSThe Neighborhood Energy Connection (NEC) brings energy efficiency to Saint Paul homeowners with its Home Energy Squads, skilled crews who will make your home more comfortable and reduce your utility bills in one easy and affordable visit.

The Home Energy Squad will visit your home and recommend several energy-saving measures. You choose which improvements to make, and the Squad will install them--on the spot! Choose among exterior door weather stripping, "smart" power strips, programmable thermostats, compact fluorescent lighting, water-saving shower heads and faucet aerators, insulating water heater blankets, and more.

You pay for the materials, but installation is free. You'll start saving energy immediately and get a quick payback, too. If you attend a FREE Energy Efficiency Workshop in your neighborhood, the cost for a basic visit is only $30.

Improve your home and reduce your utility bills today. Phone 651-328-6220 or email marshaa@thenec.org to make an appointment. Check out the official Home Energy Squad website at www.homeenergysquad.net

Wednesday, May 5 at 6:30 p.m.
North End: 1414 N St. Albans St., St. Paul

Willow Reserve Community Meeting

2010-04-06T09:57:00.000-07:00

You are invited to a community meeting being hosted by Sparc. Sparc wants the community to provide input, guidance, and a vision for a future development called the Willow Reserve. We want to know your priorities. The three acre site is located on Maryland Avenue, from roughly Western Avenue to Arundel. Sparc wants to know what the community would like at the site, what should be preserved, and what current assets can be improved upon. To voice your thoughts, concerns, and ideas, please come to a community meeting.(informatiobelow).

NSP and St. Paul

2010-02-16T12:30:00.001-08:00

This article in the Strib does a good job explaining why the Twin Cities are in the housing market picking foreclosed and vacant properties. Some feel the "market" will take care of itself, but as history has proven that is not the case.

From the article:

The early results have been impressive, but some critics continue to question whether government should invest so many public dollars in private real estate. They contend that cities are doing too much land speculation that will leave government -- and taxpayers -- on the hook for properties they might not be able to sell.

Those concerns are overblown, and they overlook the important role city governments should play in maintaining healthy residential neighborhoods. Even with the new investment, Minneapolis and St. Paul have a relatively small stake in the overall real estate market, and the lion's share of foreclosed and other properties remain in private hands. In St. Paul, about 2,000 properties are vacant -- up from 370 in 2004. Yet of that total, the city currently controls only about 200.

Weak housing market and lack of Confidence

2010-02-05T12:27:00.000-08:00

These two (article 1 and article 2) articles demonstrate what needs to happen for some of neighborhoods to start the process of recovery. It isn't that we need to focus on the "market" itself, but rather look at the the level of confidence among the residents in that market.

From the article:

Weak markets are weak because people do not choose to live there; there is too little demand. If the goal is stabilization and revitalization, the structural problem to solve for in weak markets is confidence, not affordability. This point needs to be made again and again. To paraphrase Kevin Huffman of Teach for America, too few in our field are committed to more than the language of reform. Much of the community development has learned the words: "weak markets", "landbanking", "stabilization". What is needed now is to put them together so they aim at triggering structural change.

I believe these authors have a valid approach that can be taken, given that it needs to be long term, so that we can start to stabilize our communities and the housing in it.

Guessing Density

2010-01-25T12:41:00.001-08:00

Great video that challenges your concept of density and residential housing.

Willow Reserve charrette

2010-01-14T10:49:00.000-08:00

As many of you know Sparc owns 3 acres of land that fronts the Willow Reserve in Saint Paul. In the past we planned to create market-rate and affordable townhomes on the site. With the recent housing climate we took a step back in 2008 and had community meetings about development ideas about the site in May of 2009. The feedback we received was that the community wanted to recapture and see green space at the site.

This past summer Elizabeth Turner, a graduate student in Architecture at the University of Minnesota, did a report looking at an urban eco-village model on the site that would include ample green space for residents and the larger community. This has evolved into the charrette we will be co-hosting with Greenlight this January and February. We really would like the feedback from all interested parties so please attend if you can. You can read the full report here and contact Matt with any questions.

St. Paul Councilmember Russ Stark talks about Complete Streets

2009-12-22T12:01:00.000-08:00

Monthly Real Estate Skinny

2009-12-09T05:00:00.000-08:00

Community Development at a Cross-Roads

2009-12-07T10:51:00.000-08:00

It seems with the current economic crisis, states and city's budgets, and the foreclosure crisis that community development work would be a top priority. With a long history and past community development corporations (CDC) have been able to make positive and long term changes in all different communities. Yet, today when they are needed most it seems that public and private support no longer agrees.

Noel Nix, an urban planning student at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute, has spent the last several months examining these issues and has compiled a report entitled "Community Development at a Crossroads: CDCs, CCIs, and the Future of an Industry". It is required reading for anyone who has a stake or interest in exploring how to move the work of building healthy neighborhoods forward.

U-plan foreclosure report

2009-11-19T11:44:00.000-08:00

U-Plan came out with this report a few months back about foreclosures in Frogtown and Rondo neighborhood. Here is the executive summary:

Foreclosures can have negative impacts on the value, safety, condition and overall health of urban neighborhoods. This is especially true in the Frogtown and Rondo neighborhoods of Saint Paul, Minnesota, where the number of foreclosures have has skyrocketed in the last five years. In this report, we show that foreclosures have a direct negative impact on sales values within Frogtown and Rondo and that this impact is disproportionate when compared to wealthier neighborhoods in the City of Saint Paul.

Using a series of build-up maps and hedonic price regression, we find that foreclosures in 2007 have reduced the value of residential housing in Frogtown and Rondo by $84,847,232, representing a 15.7% drop in estimated market values in 2008. This is a phenomenon that acutely affects lower-income neighborhoods. By contrast, foreclosures in Highland Park, a wealthy neighborhood in Saint Paul have reduced overall estimated market value there by only 1.2%.

You can read the full report here.

A Blast from the Past: Street Cars

2009-11-13T11:43:00.000-08:00

The future of Community Development Corporations

2009-10-21T11:24:00.000-07:00

Sparc, in partnership with other geographically based CDCs, have been working on a report covering the past, present, and future of CDCs. The report has finally been finished by a CURA graduate student at the Humphrey Institute at the U of M. Below is an excerpt of the executive summary:

Since the late 1960s, community development corporations (CDCs) have been among the vanguard of community development work. However, recent changes and challenges within the support system for CDCs have arisen that make their future uncertain. Specifically, the following issues have come together to create a “perfect storm”:

The collapse of the housing market and the attendant economic recession that have exacerbated many of the issues that CDCs were established to address
Significant constraints on the financial resources available from foundations and governments as a combined result of federal retrenchment and diminished foundation endowments
A shift on the part of funders and intermediaries away from the traditional model of asset based community development toward efforts that combine human service and development under the umbrella of comprehensive community initiatives or community building

This array of factors presents CDCs with a set of challenges that calls into question the assuredness of continued support for their work. Especially at risk are smaller, geographic based CDCs that have small staffs and limited operating budgets. Therefore, it is timely to revisit the fundamentals and structure of the community development with an eye toward defining the roles and contributions of the varying ground level organizations.

Foreclosure maps

2009-09-25T13:28:00.000-07:00

Sparc's service area (Hamline Midway, North End, and South Como) have seen our share of foreclosed and vacant properties. The two maps show how many foreclosures from 2007-2009. Let's hope the next few years we can work to see fewer foreclosure dots and replace them with investments to benefit the community.

Cohen Brothers movie on Rice Street

2009-09-10T09:40:00.000-07:00

It was a while ago but the movie, A Serious Man, is going to be released in October. The picture above is from the movie shot right on Rice Street.

Winnipeg Grocery Opens

2009-08-31T08:46:00.000-07:00

With Sparc's assistance, entrepreneur Jawad Al-Maliki has successfully grown his business from a convenience store with 500 square feet of space to a 3000 square foot grocery. His move across the street to the Winnipeg Apartments at 850 Rice Street has allowed Mr. Al-Maliki to expand into a wider selection of goods, including healthier foods, some fresh produce, and household and personal items. His sales had already doubled in his first weeks of business, before permanent signage had even been installed, while operating costs are not much higher than at the previous location. Sparc facilitated the expansion by providing financing for the build-out, inventory, and signage, as well as by providing technical assistance to Mr. Al-Maliki on creating a business plan for the expanded store.

Bike Walk Twin Cities

2009-08-27T09:51:00.000-07:00

Bike Walk Twin Cities from Bike Walk Twin Cities on Vimeo.

Sparc Video

2009-08-19T12:56:00.000-07:00

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This was a part of a series of videos about Community Development Corporations in St. Paul. Thanks to SPNN and Travelers.

Urban Gardens

2009-08-11T10:12:00.000-07:00

Urban gardening is taking root across the country. Residents of the Milwaukee suburb of Shorewood are disputing whether people should be allowed to plant vegetable gardens in their front yard and in the parkway, the land between the sidewalk and the street.

Revisiting the place-based CDC model

2009-08-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

Affordable housing, traffic calming, community gardens, small business retention, lending, and community planning. These are just a few of the things that community development corporations (CDC) do. In today's economic and funding environment a real threat has been posed to reduce those that remain in the Twin Cities. The Community Dividend has this great article explaining what is happening.

In 1966, New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy toured Bedford-Stuyvesant, a Brooklyn, N.Y., neighborhood that had suffered two decades of disinvestment and blight. Following the tour, Kennedy and neighborhood activists began a dialogue that led to the establishment of what many people consider to be the nation's first community development corporation (CDC).1/ Over the next four decades, the CDC industry gradually expanded, adapting all the while to historic shifts in the nation's economic and political environment. Today, the number of CDCs in the U.S. is estimated at 4,600.2/ Their main role is to anchor capital locally by providing hands-on community revitalization services, such as developing commercial corridors and affordable housing.

CDCs are characterized by having a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service; paid staff members; a volunteer board; and a mission grounded in improving the quality of life in the communities they serve. From the beginning, CDCs have sought to redevelop their communities using a "bottom-up" approach. For example, the board of directors is typically made up of community residents, especially low-income individuals.3/

Funding sources for CDCs include foundations, governments, and private businesses. Additional funding and support is provided by community development intermediaries, such as Local Initiatives Support Corporation and NeighborWorks® America. These organizations provide grants, loans, training, and consulting services to help CDCs pursue their missions.

While most CDCs are primarily concerned with creating affordable housing through construction and rehabilitation, others have a broader focus and engage in activities such as property management, commercial and industrial development, transportation, employment assistance, health care, day care, small business development, and housing counseling. Place-based CDCs are those whose missions are closely tied to delivering services within a specific geography. Approximately 600 of the 4,600 CDCs in the nation serve a single neighborhood.4/

More than 40 years after Senator Kennedy's tour of Bedford-Stuyvesant, the viability of CDCs—and place-based CDCs in particular—is being tested. Some of the major challenges CDCs face today are described below.

Demographic changes. The growing number of new immigrants in cities is changing the mix of services CDCs traditionally provide. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, the share of the total U.S. population that is foreign-born increased from 7.9 percent in 1990 to 12.6 percent in 2007. Forty-seven percent of the foreign-born population live in central cities, compared to 30 percent of the native-born population. CDCs, the majority of which are located in metropolitan areas, are often taking the lead in assisting newcomers with housing, employment, health care, and other necessities.

The foreclosure crisis. CDCs have worked hard to revitalize their communities, rehabilitate homes, invest in improvement projects, and increase rates of homeownership. In communities throughout the country, the foreclosure crisis is undoing much of this work. As the incidence of vacant properties increases, CDCs are on the front lines in the struggle against a new wave of neighborhood blight. In addition, the drain that foreclosed properties have on local governments puts a strain on public funding sources, which directly affects CDCs.5/

Changes to a major source of federal funding. One of the biggest sources of funding for CDCs, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, has become less project-specific and changed its distribution model. As a result, much of the grant funding that once went directly to CDCs now goes to state and local governments. Also, since 1981, funding for CDBG formula-based grants has dropped by 59 percent when adjusted for inflation. More recently, funding fell from $4.3 billion in fiscal year 2003 to $3.6 billion in fiscal year 2008. When adjusted for inflation, this represents a 28 percent cut.6/

Changes in funders' expectations. Funders of community development work are increasingly looking for comprehensive impact evaluation reports from their grantees. Small CDCs are often not able to afford data tracking tools and other instruments needed to produce these reports.

To learn more about how place-based CDCs are coping in these uncertain times, Community Dividend spoke with Brian Miller, who has served as executive director of Seward Redesign since 2002. Seward Redesign is a CDC serving the Seward, Longfellow, Howe, Hiawatha, and Cooper neighborhoods of the Greater Longfellow Community in southeast Minneapolis. Miller is a licensed real estate broker and attorney and has experience in real estate development, community development, construction management, finance, and law. In addition, he has been a consultant to private and nonprofit clients on development projects. No matter what hat he wears, Miller seeks to work closely with community members to address housing and economic development issues.

Community Dividend: In light of the challenges CDCs face today, do you think place-based CDCs and the bottom-up approach to decision making are still relevant?

Brian Miller: I think the idea of having place-based CDCs is still important. I believe it's better to make decisions closer to where information is. The more you remove decision making from the source of information, the less likely you are to get good decisions. There's been a trend within community development and elsewhere in society to try to create efficiencies of scale, which basically means consolidating and creating larger organizations. It may work effectively to begin with, but over time as the organizations grow and become more bureaucratic, the decision makers become more removed from the information base.

The bottom-up approach in the community development field ensures that you and the people who are most familiar with issues in the community make decisions together. Therefore, when a problem arises, instead of pointing fingers at somebody from outside the community, people roll up their sleeves and take responsibility for that problem. They help solve the problem and they also take some ownership over the solution.

CDCs are fundamentally entrepreneurial. We alter the built environment as part of a longer-term approach to creating opportunity. Place-based CDCs create more than just affordable housing. We advocate around streets, bike paths, pedestrian circulation, and access to mass transit. We also develop commercial corridors that provide necessary goods and services to people—for example, maintaining access to a grocery store in the community and maintaining access to a bank. Those things are important for the economic viability of the community and for attracting people to live there and reinvest in the housing stock. And for that reason, some CDCs ought to remain geography-based.

CD: About ten years ago, your organization expanded its service area to include the four other neighborhoods in the Greater Longfellow Community. If the bottom-up approach was working well for Seward Redesign and Seward residents, why did you feel the need to expand your service area?

Miller: I wasn't here when the expansion happened, but as I understand it, the Greater Longfellow Community was looking at whether or not it should create its own CDC or work with an existing CDC. So there was some dialogue between Seward Redesign and Longfellow Community Council to explore partnership opportunities. Based on those discussions, and with some encouragement from the funding community, the decision was made to expand Seward Redesign's service area rather than create another CDC. With an expansion, the question becomes, "How big can you get while still remaining immersed enough in the community to sustain relationships and communication with residents and businesses?" In our case, we had already been doing some work in greater Longfellow and we thought there were enough common networks, values, and issues to make it a functional relationship.

CD: CDC researcher Randy Stoecker asserts that there is an inherent problem in trying to maintain community control of development projects. According to Stoecker, poor communities don't have enough community-controlled capital, and therefore must look for outside capital whose tendency is to transform use values (i.e., preserving neighborhood space) into exchange values (i.e., converting neighborhood space for a profit). Do you agree with that position?

Miller: I think Stoecker's analysis is too black and white. Yes, there is an inherent conflict between community values and access to capital, but there are also opportunities to achieve a balance between the two.

As a CDC, we need to meet the criteria for financing our projects, but the decisions regarding which projects to choose and when to pursue them are made by community members and reflect the community's values. For example, one of our recent projects was the Riverside Market site, a one-acre site at Franklin and Riverside Avenues that was highly sought-after by market-rate developers. We saw some of their concept drawings and they already had in mind a chain drugstore with housing on top of it. However, the neighborhood grocery co-op needed and wanted to expand. When Seward Redesign got control of the site and solicited input from the community, we found that people were widely supportive of the co-op expanding on that site. The economics of developing the site dictated a mixed-use development, but we committed to what the neighborhood wanted and began advocating within the CDC community for New Markets Tax Credits to close the financing gap. The project came together and got built as the neighborhood's co-op grocery store. That's an example of how a CDC, even though it has to go outside the community for capital, can do what the community wants.

CD: Has the economic downturn changed the funding environment for Seward Redesign?

Miller: Yes, certainly, our short-term outlook is affected by the economy. But there has also been an evolving, long-term reality for CDCs. And by "CDCs" here, I'm referring to CDCs like us that focus on building healthy neighborhoods. For several reasons related to the nature of our work, organizations like ours have had increasing difficulty attracting funding. We don't do enough of the larger, more profitable projects, for example. We don't produce large enough numbers, usually of housing units, to meet current evaluation standards. And much of what we do is time-intensive work that our clients cannot pay for, like working with emerging businesses or planning with the community. That kind of work is not currently in vogue with many funders.

The other issue is that the priorities of the community do not necessarily align at any given time with the work that is most financially rewarding. Lately, the priorities in our community have been on commercial corridor and small business development. The financing available for projects has been much more focused on affordable housing. Right now, both are in trouble.

I think the trick is to put together the right combination of services and income streams so the organization can sustain its capacity and remain a community asset without prostituting itself to someone else's agenda.

CD: You mentioned the term "capacity," which usually refers to the extent to which CDCs can perform their tasks successfully. What's your understanding of the term?

Miller: That's a good general definition of capacity, but under a neighborhood-based model of community development, the definition becomes much more complex than completing tasks or projects. Our capacity is a combination of the technical skills and experience of our staff and the financial resources that we have available for investment. Our "success" in mobilizing that capacity is measured by a wide range of constituents in the community who have shaped our vision and plans.

On numerous occasions, we've undergone a lot of examination by intermediaries to measure our capacity. Any one of their measurement approaches usually lasts for a couple of years. Our own measure continues to be the physical and economic health of our community.

CD: So, you've worked with intermediaries on capacity measurement. How else have you worked with them?

Miller: We've used LISC [Local Initiatives Support Corporation] as a source for small amounts of seed money. For example, they have feasibility grants of $5,000 that enable us to do some quick evaluation of a project at a very early stage. Occasionally, they also have what they call "recoverable grants" that they can approve for up to $50,000 locally. Those can be helpful. For larger projects, their interest rate is usually higher than what I could borrow from my bank. GMHC [Greater Metropolitan Housing Corporation, a Twin Cities-based housing intermediary] has traditionally provided seed capital at more competitive rates, but that resource has dried up in the current environment, too.

CD: What do you think the future holds for place-based CDCs?

Miller: I think CDCs are at an absolutely critical point in terms of reexamining why they exist and how they go about doing business. If CDCs are going to survive as something other than nonprofit housing producers, the remaining neighborhood-based organizations will need to come together as a group and evolve. We'll need to recognize the central issues we face, such as how do we continue to attract and sustain staff expertise? How do we hold funders and partners accountable for providing adequate capital to pursue and invest in neighborhood-scale projects? And how do we limit our organizational growth to levels that can be sustained over the long term? We'll need to start viewing ourselves as an industry, which to me means acting collectively to articulate and provide things like peer-to-peer technical assistance across organizations, instead of relying on intermediaries, and identifiable career paths for young talent to stay in the industry and grow. We'll also need to recognize that while our direct constituencies are neighborhoods, cities are a part of our industry and are also our customers. We need to work out a more intentional, long-term partnership with city governments that recognizes the role and value-added services we provide and the tools we need to do our work effectively.

Finance & Commerce Award

2009-07-27T14:59:00.000-07:00

Sparc is proud to announce that The Winnipeg was recognized by Finance and Commerce Magazine as one of the top 25 Minnesota construction projects of 2009. Finance and Commerce Magazine describes the awards as, “...reserved for projects completed in 2008 that showed a high degree of innovative construction technique, creativity in design and overall complexity.”

Co-Developers, Sparc and Legacy Management and Development Corporation, are honored to have this award bestowed upon their project. We congratulate all our project partners on a job well done – especially The Winnipeg’s general contractor, Shaw-Lundquist Associates Inc, as two of their projects received recognition.

Fixing foreclosures in Brooklyn Park

2009-07-22T12:17:00.000-07:00

A New Vision for Urban and Metropolitan Policy

2009-07-16T11:27:00.000-07:00

NSP and St. Paul

2009-07-14T11:19:00.000-07:00

Good article in the Star Tribune about the National Stabilization program and how it will be implemented in the City of Saint Paul.

City of St. Paul eyes $46 million to fix, raze houses
Federal stimulus aid would buoy city's program to revitalize neighborhoods, mayor says.

By CHRIS HAVENS, Star Tribune

Last update: July 8, 2009 -

As long as the city gets these foreclosed properties for less than what is owed. The banks that lent to unqualified/under qualified people need to … read more lose some money and share the pain.

St. Paul planners want to buy 400 vacant and foreclosed homes to fix up or knock down with the goal of renewing struggling city neighborhoods.

The estimated cost is about $46 million. That's money the city certainly doesn't have.

But the federal government has nearly $2 billion that it wants to hand out through the second round of its Neighborhood Stabilization Program, part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.

On Wednesday, the City Council told the city's Department of Planning and Economic Development to apply for funding. The total project cost is nearly $58 million, but city officials anticipate selling 120 of the acquired houses for about $12 million, which is why they're asking for $46 million.

"Invested wisely, this funding will allow us to turn vacant houses into homes, attract new families to our neighborhoods, and create jobs in our community," Mayor Chris Coleman said in a statement.

If granted, the money would join an initial $10.5 million that St. Paul was allocated through the first-round of the Neighborhood Stabilization Project, part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. That initial money would buy about 125 properties for repair, demolition and buyer programs. It hasn't been received yet.

City officials are confident their second-round request will be approved.

"The framework is already there because of Invest St. Paul," said Natalie Fedie, Planning Department spokeswoman.

"The most valuable thing we have going for us is that we already have a plan in place."

She was referring to the $25 million initiative started three years ago by the mayor's office to improve four struggling neighborhoods. Frogtown, North End, Lower East Side and Dayton's Bluff were selected because of property values, home vacancies, mortgage foreclosures, crime rates and water utility shutoffs.

The purpose of Invest St. Paul is to work with various partners to revitalize those neighborhoods and attract new development and services.

More than 1,900 vacant buildings, most of them single-family structures, were registered with the city at the end of June. That compares with 550 such buildings in 2007. Dealing with upkeep and security of abandoned properties cost $3.8 million last year.

Many of the vacant buildings are in foreclosure, and the city estimates that an additional 2,000 occupied properties also are in foreclosure.

The application approved Wednesday is due at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development by July 17. Possible approval isn't expected until September. St. Paul will be competing with other local and state governments across the country.

For more information, go to www.stpaul.gov/nsp.

Suing the Banks over foreclosures

2009-07-08T10:51:00.000-07:00

Is there a solution to the foreclosure mess that's destroying communities?

Across the country, cities are in crisis because of the fallout from the mortgage mess —property taxes are way down, and abandoned homes are bringing down property values, inviting crime, and draining government coffers. Neighborhoods are being destroyed. Yet the federal bailout money is not going directly to desperate communities and homeowners, but to local and national banks.

This week, NOW investigates the innovative way some cities are fighting back. The city of Memphis, Tennessee is suing major national lenders and banks for deceptive and discriminatory lending practices in an effort to recoup the cost of the foreclosure mess. Other cities suing lenders for their role in the mortgage mess include Baltimore, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Birmingham.

With desperation climbing alongside debt, can the strategy help these blighted parts of America?

Urban Argiculture on Rice Street

2009-06-11T07:36:00.000-07:00

Does urban argiculture make sense? We think so. After having community meetings around a 3 acre site Sparc owns and can turn into a community green space it seems like an obivous choice to get urban agriculture in our own back yard.

Here is the artilce from the Star Tribune:

A St. Paul businessman hopes to create the farm -- with some help from the federal stimulus program. Local lettuce in January, anyone? By CHRIS HAVENS, Star Tribune

He has to be if he wants to sell you juicy strawberries in January picked fresh from his St. Paul farm.For one thing, he's not a farmer. For another, winter isn't exactly peak growing season in Minnesota.

Hannigan runs a produce distribution business on Rice Street and plans to build a hydroponic greenhouse on his property to grow fruits and veggies for local folks. An urban farm, he calls it, that would use alternative energy, employ St. Paul residents and provide tasty, homegrown produce.

"I can sell it -- I can't grow it," Hannigan said. "But I'll find somebody who can." He has been talking to a lot of people lately trying to make his urban farm idea a reality. The St. Paul City Council recently gave its support to the project, which is awaiting final approval from the federal government of $500,000 in stimulus plan money. Lettuce as economic stimulus?

The 2-acre greenhouse meets the stimulus plan guidelines because it would focus on energy efficiency and preserve and create jobs, said Dave Gontarek, a city planner who has been helping Hannigan.

Plans call for renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind, and reusing water. Composting would take care of waste and aid in creating energy.Among the most important things in Hannigan's mind is that the greenhouse would cut fuel costs from having to transport produce from thousands of miles away.

"Everyone has a different definition of local or homegrown but whatever it is, it's close," he said. He would be able to grow, process, pack and ship produce all from one location. Hannigan's firm, J&J Distributing, currently employs 100 full-time employees and 140 part-timers; nearly 70 percent of his workers live in the neighborhood.

Building the greenhouse would create about 40 cons truction jobs, and operating it would add 50 jobs to the J&J payroll.

New Programs

2009-05-19T10:05:00.000-07:00

This spring Sparc is launching some new programs for small businesses and home owners and buyers. With the housing market taking a noise dive and the economy in poor shape, we are trying to provide greater flexibility with our loans and grants to match the current needs of the neighborhoods we serve.

Window Merchandising Program

Attractive merchandise displays in store windows are a great way to draw people in to the store, as they provide a peek at what is available inside. Window displays are also a great way to highlight new or seasonal merchandise. Sparc can bring in a merchandising expert to your store to provide ideas. Contact Allison for more information.

Home Repair Emergency Loans and Foreclosure Homebuyers program

Sparc will be providing Emergency repair loans to homeowners who currently do not have the necessary means to pay for these repairs. The maximum loan is $5,000 and will be fully forgiven after three years. To find out more contact Bonmey.

Sparc will also be working with home buyers to help them navigate the murky waters of purchasing and rehabbing foreclosed homes. Our goal is to match the buyer with the right home and make sure they are getting a safe, healthy, and comfortable place to live. For more information contact Seth.

Organizing around LRT

2009-05-05T06:17:00.000-07:00

By Mary Turck , TC Daily Planet
May 04, 2009
Nieeta Presley says she is “not going to stand still and let the Central Corridor train run me over.” Along with hundreds of neighbors along the Central Corridor route in St. Paul and Minneapolis, she is organizing to protect and promote the interests of the people who live and do business along that route. The executive director of the Aurora St. Anthony Neighborhood Development Corporation, Presley was one of the organizers who showed up at an April 28 meeting at the Central Corridor Resource Center in St. Paul.

At the meeting, leaders of more than a dozen community groups that organized a two-day community summit in March, issued a Draft Community Statement on the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit Project April 28. Organizers are asking for more community feedback.

Michelle Dibblee, an organizer with Transit for Livable Communities, said she saw two hot-button issues at the summit: the desire of members of the community to have a place at the table as active participants when decisions are being made, and the feeling that what residents and community members have to offer is not always part of Central Corridor discussions. She characterized the summit as “an optimistic event,” and ery solutions-focused.

Community planning group

When people talk about the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit (LRT) project, the Metropolitan Council is often a target for criticism. Dibblee said that’s not helpful now. “The real thrust,” she insisted, “is the desire for development of housing and business mitigation that respects the community and cultures as they are, and don’t displace businesses, families, and community members.” To achieve those aims, said Dibblee, organizers need to focus on elected officials, including the city council, mayor and legislators.

Veronica Burt of the Aurora St. Anthony Neighborhood Development Corporation is not willing to let the Met Council off the hot seat yet. One thing the community needs, she said, is additional stops that are more accessible to community residents, but a deeper, more critical issue is jobs for local residents. While the Met Council has insisted that there is no money for additional stops, Burt said she doesn’t believe it, pointing to agreements reached with MPR and the University of Minnesota. “When they say there’s no money,” she said, “it’s all about will.”

“In fairness to the Met Council,” Burt said, “they have made adjustments, but it’s about how deep those adjustments are.” She said the project has to change to become “win-win for everybody, as opposed to making it ‘others win and we lose’‘ and we’re the sacrificial lambs.”

Several participants in the April 28 meeting expressed concern that the Central Corridor’s impact on the community will parallel the destruction of the Rondo community by the construction of I-94.

Stan Gartner addressed business issues, both during and after construction. “If I lose 25% of my business [during construction],” he said, “I’m going to shut the door.” He also expressed concern about property values and property taxes: “How are some of the people on University Avenue going to afford those property values to continue to rise? They are small business people, and their property taxes are going to go up.”

John Slade of MICAH agreed with Gartner, and spoke about the negative impacts of gentrification on both renters and property owners. “The largest impact of light rail is increased property values,” said Slade. “They rocket up right around the station like a volcano. Do all the people who live there get rolled off the side and a new group of people come in to benefit?”

The coalition will gather input on the Draft Community Statement on the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit Project throughout May.

Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride

2009-04-20T09:49:00.000-07:00

Twice in the past two years Sparc has been a finalist for two prestigious awards.

First, in 2007, Sparc was delighted to be a finalist for the Minnesota Environmental Initiative's Green Business and Environmental Management Award. We were a minnow amongst sharks in that category, and it was hard to be disappointed when we came up just short against two great Minnesota companies - Medtronic and Andersen Corporation.

This year, The Winnipeg, co-developed by Sparc and Legacy Management and Development Corporation, was named a finalist for the "Best in Real Estate" Multifamily Development/Redevelopment award from the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal. As in 2007, our efforts were not enough as the Van Cleve Apartments West won the award. We congratulate our colleagues at Project for Pride in Living (PPL) for a job well done!

Improving the Environment One Building at a Time

2009-04-20T09:30:00.000-07:00

Having recently received LEED Accreditation, my thinking is geared towards creating more sustainable neighborhoods. In these ruminations, one thing that came to mind are improvements Sparc has made to Rice Street's built environment that are not always visible to neighborhood residents. Sparc has helped reduce the urban heat island effect and improved stormwater management at three properties on lower Rice Street.

Urban Heat Island Effect - The built environment in the Twin Cities means that the Cities will have higher temperatures than that of the surrounding rural ares as buildings, roads, and parking lots absorb the heat from the sun more readily than plant life. The higher temperature have many drawbacks, including increased energy use to air condition buildings in the summer. Sparc has worked on two projects to help mitigate this effect. First, Sparc rehabilitated 855/7 Rice Street and removed the old black tar roof and installed a white roof. A white roof is exactly what its name implies. White roofs reflect the visible, infrared, and ultraviolet wavelengths of the sun, reducing heat transfer to the building. Another way Sparc has reduced the urban heat island effect was by installing a green roof on The Winnipeg. The plants and soil on the roof ensure that the building does not absorb as much heat from the sun.

Stormwater Management - The Winnipeg does a tremendous job of improving the quality of stormwater run off. In fact, all the water that falls on the green roof and parking lots is treated naturally so that the water entering the City's stormwater sewers and local aquifers is significantly cleaner that what occurred during the property's prior uses. In addition, Sparc's office at 843 Rice Street manages some stormwater on site. All the rain that falls on the building's roof is directed to a rain water garden. The rain garden is a planted depression in the corner of Sparc's property that collects the water and allows the ground to slowly absorb the water instead of it running directly into the stormwater sewer system. Rain gardens help to cool the water, remove pollutants, and reduce the load on the stormwater sewer system.

Sparc is very proud of the improvements it has made to lower Rice Street to help improve the health of our neighborhood and looks forward to future developments with a keen eye towards sustainability.

Small Businesses going green

2009-04-10T06:29:00.000-07:00

Here is a great article in the Twin Cities Daily Planet that shows how in hard economic times, small businesses are pushing the envelope.

By Bruce Cochran
April 08, 2009

When a volcano erupts it can destroy the landscape for miles in all directions. When the ash, mud and rock settles all that is left is usually more like the surface of the moon than that of our own colorful planet. Most plants are hard pressed to survive let alone even grow in this environment. But consistently one plant always comes back first. Despised by most farmers and gardeners but certainly rugged and robust, the thistle holds the title as the first plant to come back after volcanic devastation.

As our economy continues to flatten and level the business landscape, businesses are searching for ways to break through the mire and come back strong. Through this struggle many have embraced an ecocentric strategy. Like thistles they are striving to be strong through the tough economy as they embraces new strategies.

Fueling the culture

Some of these businesses have come up with creative ways to be green. One business exhibits green behavior by choosing to support the green lifestyle. Urban Bean at 33rd and Bryant is a vital node of the Bryant Avenue Bicycle Lane that runs north and south through Uptown. Greg Martin, the owner since 1995 is a recreational cyclist himself and commutes to his shop most days from the Whittier neighborhood. He says his business is certainly feeling the pain of the economy but will survive. He knows people are working less and staying home more often. And he sees a lot more people commuting by bicycle these days. This is the backdrop to his idea for a Free Coffee Monday for Cyclists.

Martin said, “I wanted to do something to help kick-start the economy. Mondays are the toughest days of the week.” He explains that biking in the winter is especially hard and cold. He thought a free cup o’ joe would help people get out of the house and keep them going on the way to work. He even worked with the city to install as many bike lock posts to his sidewalks as legally allowed. And as always, he sells only organic fair-trade coffee.

CP-You

PC Doodle, new on Hennepin and 26th Street, is also trying something new. Owners Derek Traxler and Jeff Abercrombie opened their PC computer repair shop across the street from First Tech, an Apple reseller and Repair shop. The shop’s primary business is computer repair but they also merchandise gently used PCs at reduced rates. Their plan is to eventually make house calls and computer deliveries by battery assisted bicycles.

Traxler explains that unlike an automobile fleet that requires insurance and an expensive maintenance budget, a bicycle fleet is much simpler and inexpensive. The primary setup for the fleet will be a lithium battery-supported electric motor to run or assist the bicycle. Lithium batteries are much lighter and longer lasting for this type of use,” says Traxler. He plans on retrofitting existing bikes with frame extensions and then adding the battery motors.

He’ll use pre-existing kits to build up the bikes with Milwaukee Cordless Lithium-Ion batteries. He likes that brand because lithium batteries that aren’t well tested can be unreliable. Because they’ve been field tested for years he doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel to get that part of the project going.

Then as the second stage of this idea, PC Doodle will offer services to retrofit customer’s bikes this way for a fee. The idea is bold but the payoff is a niche market on the edge of a growing sector of the economy.

Geothermal joe

On Lake and Bryant, Dunn Bros, owner Sanjeev Azad has plans for a water exchanger. Building heating and cooling requirements are one of the industrial world’s largest generators of greenhouse gases and energy consumers. “Why should we keep depending on foreign oil,” says Azad. He believes it makes good business sense financially but more importantly that it’s the right thing to do.

His plan is to dig eight wells in his parking lot. Water will run deep underground far enough to where the ground temperature stays the same year around. Through heat exchanging, water will either get relatively warmer or colder depending on whether it is summer or winter. That temperature difference will then help cool or heat the building. In the end he’ll use a lot less conventional fuel to heat and cool his building. He believes his project is one of the first in the city.

The Winnipeg nominated for Best in Real Estate Award

2009-04-03T07:06:00.000-07:00

Sparc is happy that the Winnipeg is nominated for the Business Journal Best in Real Estate Awards. We are keeping our fingers crossed and hoping for a win, but it is an honor to be nominated.

Before

After

Banks Starting to Walk Away on Foreclosures

2009-04-01T05:27:00.000-07:00

The newest trend in the foreclosure crisis is that banks are now walking away. This NY Times article discusses why banks are now taking this approach. Give the article a read, but below are some relevent excerpts:

City officials and housing advocates here and in cities as varied as Buffalo, Kansas City, Mo., and Jacksonville, Fla., say they are seeing an unsettling development: Banks are quietly declining to take possession of properties at the end of the foreclosure process, most often because the cost of the ordeal — from legal fees to maintenance — exceeds the diminishing value of the real estate.

The problem seems most acute at the bottom of the market — houses that were inexpensive to begin with — and with investment properties, where investors and banks want speedy closure by writing off bad loans as losses. Banks and investors typically lose 40 percent to 50 percent of their investment on every foreclosure.

“The whole purpose of foreclosure is to take title of the property, sell it and recoup what money you can,” Mr. Cecala said. “It’s just a sign of the times that things are so bad no one wants to take possession of the property.”

Twin Cities Real Estate update

2009-03-19T08:45:00.000-07:00

Here is a good video about the current climate and market for real estate in the Twin Cities.

Home and Garden show a Success!

2009-03-16T10:19:00.000-07:00

This year's home and garden show was a great success. We had over 500 attendees and most of the workshops were at capacity. Plus, the Star Tribune had a good write up about it. Here are some photos of the days events:

Save the Hamline Midway Library

2009-03-09T14:03:00.000-07:00

Hamline Midway Coalition needs your help in saving the library. Here is what you can do:

The fight to save the Hamline Midway library is taking a new turn. It is time to galvanize all library supporters across the city – if one small library closes, then others may soon follow. If you care about this library and others, it is imperative to:

1. Attend the Community Meeting with the Mayor & Library Director
This Tuesday, March 10, 5:30/6-8pm
Hamline Midway Library
1558 Minnehaha Ave.
5:30 Community Celebration outside – family-friendly local music, wear red, bring neighbors and friends, signs, balloons, etc.
6-8pm – Meeting in Auditorium. Come with ideas for new partnerships and ways to use the library to make it stronger. Some parents will be watching their children upstairs. Get your friends from all over the city to come!

2. Ask AT LEAST 10 library-loving friends from outside of the Hamline Midway neighborhood to contact the Mayor and their City Councilperson. Also ask your friends in St. Anthony Park and Merriam Park (in this Ward) to support this effort. Especially target: Ward 1/Melvin Carter- east half of Union Park, ThomasDale/Frogtown, and Summit University; Ward 3/Pat Harris - Macalester Groveland, Highland; and Ward 5/Lee Helgen – North End, some of Como. The library has a facilities plan that calls for the eventual closure of 5-6 libraries in the system. If we can save Hamline Midway Library now and then work to find innovative partnerships, it could be a model used to strengthen all the libraries in the system so none ever need to be closed.

E-mailing is preferred, but calling & mailing are better than nothing.

1. MAYOR & Staff:
mayor@ci.stpaul.mn.us; Deputy Mayor: ann.mulholland@ci.stpaul.mn.us,
Library Director: melanie.huggins@ci.stpaul.mn.us
Please copy: russ.stark@ci.stpaul.mn.us
Phone:
651-266-8510

2. Councilmembers:
Use this link to find your
Councilmember contact information: http://www.stpaul.gov/index.asp?NID=553

3. Stay updated:
Hamline Midway Coalition: www.hamlinemidway.org/news/announcements
Blog: http://savehamlinemidwaylibrary.blogspot.com/
Facebook group (you must have a Facebook account to join this group): http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=48993742661

Winnipeg Grand Opening

2009-02-26T11:28:00.000-08:00

Sparc and Legacy, co-developer on the Winnipeg, held the grand opening today. The opening was a success and Mayor Coleman, Council Member Lee Helgen, and Ramsey County Commissioner Janice Rettman all attended and said a few words. It was a great event and this has been a great development project for Sparc. Check out the pictures below:

Here are some interior pics of an apartment:

Now, contact Legacy to rent one.

Greater Midway Home and Garden Show

2009-02-16T11:18:00.000-08:00

Save the Date!
2009 Greater Midway Home & Garden Show
Saturday, March 14, 2009

This show is a free event sponsored by Sparc, a non-profit community development group and is open to everyone. The 18th Annual Greater Midway Home & Garden Show is held at Crossroads Elementary School , 543 Front Ave. , (Front & Dale), St. Paul .

The show encourages home owners to improve their urban homes, green spaces, and neighborhoods through workshops, connecting with local contractors, opportunities for project financing, and networking with community programs. It is the oldest community based home improvement show in St. Paul - 18 years strong. Workshops run from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and the Exhibit Hall is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. - free admission and parking . Our show attracts 400+ people each year.

We are offering our first ever bathroom remodeling workshop and will also feature a free Foreclosure Clinic from 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. hosted by non-profit, Community Neighborhood Housing Services. Home owners can speak with a certified foreclosure counselor (in English and Hmong) and learn about the foreclosure process and what their options are.

In response to visitor requests, we have added more “green” home improvement offerings in our vendors and Saving Energy and Rain Barrel workshops . Exhibitors will be offering energy saving windows, insulation strategies, composting ideas, and more.

Back by popular demand, we are featuring a free children's building project from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon provided by youth working for Elpis Enterprises. Children and their parents will build a wooden basket. Elpis Enterprises also have a sales booth featuring birdfeeders, butterfly houses, and planters made out of recycled or reclaimed wood.

Visit expanded workshops on bathroom remodeling, making a rainbarrel, neighborhood safety, shade gardening, saving energy, pruning, and lead glass windows! See schedule for workshop descriptions and times.

The Exhibit Hall features nearly 50 local home improvement contractors/products, garden/landscaping experts, financing options, senior resources, and “green” remodeling options, and neighborhood groups. Bring your garden questions to the Ramsey County Master Gardeners from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Register for great door prizes and check out the food for sale by Crossroads PTA and lunch with Abetto's Pizza/Deli.

Want to exhibit at the show ? Please contact Beth Hyser at 651-771-2004 or Bonmey Vang 651-488-1039 for more information. The registration deadline is February 28, 2009.

2009 Greater Midway Home & Garden Show Sponsors - Sparc, Xcel Energy, TCF Bank, Authentic Construction, Como Northtown Community Credit Union, McDonough Landscaping, Iver Carlson & Son, Inc., and Wells Fargo.

New Horizon Academy

2009-02-11T07:42:00.000-08:00

Sparc is pleased to announce that a New Horizon Academy early child education center has opened its doors back in September at 1295 Rice Street. In addition to providing quality programming for neighborhood children through age 5, the project brings investment and a renewed vibrancy to Rice Street.

New Horizon Academy made a significant investment in the purchase and complete renovation of the property, formerly occupied by Empire Clock. Incentive financing is provided by Sparc, the City of Saint Paul, and the State of Minnesota’s Urban Initiative Program.

Improvements included the enlargement of windows, a stone surface on the exterior walls, and landscaping. Approximately 20 jobs have been created at the site for teachers, teachers’ aides, a cook, an assistant director, and a director.

The center will have a capacity of 86 children. Scholarships are available to North End and Frogtown families through a pilot program of the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation. The scholarship is available to families who enroll in a highly rated program like New Horizon Academy.

To enroll or enquire about career opportunities, please contact 763-557-1111 or www.newhorizonacademy.net.

Sparc's 2008 accomplishments

2009-02-05T14:17:00.000-08:00

Even though the foreclosure crisis reared its ugly head in our neighborhoods a couple of years ago, and even though the world economy melted down in 2008 – Sparc had a productive year helping residents and business owners improve the North End, Hamline Midway and South Como neighborhoods.

2008 was the best year for the Lead Window Replacement program. Sparc provided funding to replace windows at 47 homes that contained lead paint - stimulating $273,000 of improvements in our neighborhoods. These window replacements will help ensure the health of the residents for generations to come.

In addition to that grant program, Sparc lent $289,000 to area residents to help them complete $342,000 worth of improvements. Sparc is most proud of the financing and assistance provided to three home owners to help return registered vacant homes to safe and energy efficient homes for those families.

On the commercial side of our activities, we also had a productive year. Sparc provided different types of loan and grant financing to 23 businesses. The financing totaled $214,000 – but most importantly leveraged $1,578,000 of private investment.

In addition to that great achievement, nine new businesses opened in formerly vacant or underutilized properties. Sparc worked, or is working with, all of those businesses to help them find the location, provide financing, and/or assist them with technical assistance.

Last but not least is the Winnipeg, a $13,000,000 housing development on Rice Street. Sparc co-developed the project with Legacy Management & Development Corporation and it was designed to fit into the North End neighborhood’s historic, mixed-used character. This complex includes 6,000 square feet of commercial space and 56 apartments – providing high quality space for small businesses and housing opportunities for families with a variety of incomes. The Winnipeg’s innovative ‘green’ features will lower residents’ costs and significantly reduce the project’s environmental impact on the neighborhood.

With the challenges faced by the neighborhood, Sparc is doing its best to make the neighborhood a better place to live, work and play. The economic climate for 2009 will be just as challenging, but Sparc hopes to build upon it successes in 2008 for an even better 2009.

Otto Bremer Foundation

2009-01-29T13:45:00.000-08:00

The Otto Bremer Foundation has a new grant program that is helping out in these hard economic times. The Minn Post had this article.

The St. Paul-based Otto Bremer Foundation is spreading $4.2 million to various nonprofits in Minnesota, North Dakota and western Wisconsin to provide direct grants to families and individuals in crisis.

Teresa Morrow, spokesperson for Bremer Financial Corp., said the money is meant to help people who can't keep the heat on, who have a sudden medical bill or face other financial emergencies. Bremer identified grass-roots organizations it believed were in touch with individual needs, and charged them with getting the money to the people who need it.

Nonprofits in the Twin Cities metro area received $1.7 million from the Bremer Emergency Fund. They included: St. Louis Park Emergency Program ($100,000); St. Stephens Human Services ($80,000); and Community Action of Suburban Hennepin County ($71,300). For the complete three-state list of grantees, go here.

Annette Bauer, public-relations director for the Salvation Army's Northern Division, said the Bremer grant would provide $613,000 to Salvation Armies throughout Minnesota and North Dakota. In the 10-county metro area, a $100,000 grant would cover the Salvation Army's existing emergency assistance program for one month — gas vouchers, bus tokens, eyeglasses, mortgage assistance and more. The grant would be a particular help in rural areas. The Salvation Army in St. Cloud had no emergency services budget but now has $25,000. In Stevens County, the budget of $300 a month got a $35,000 boost.

Bremer announced the grants last week. Organizations have not yet received the money, which should arrive in a couple of weeks.

Richard Zierdt, executive director of Community Action of Suburban Hennepin County, said this kind of grant is very unusual. Unfortunately, the money won't last long, he said. "Times are tough."

The back story
The Bremer Foundation ranked ninth among all Minnesota grantmakers in 2007, according to the Minnesota Council on Foundations. It gave away $31.1 million, with $21.7 million in Minnesota.

While banks typically have foundations, Bremer is unique. It doesn't own the foundation; the foundation owns the bank. It's the only one like it the country, Morrow said. And there won't be another one. After Congress approved the Bremer model, "a law was passed that there won't be any more models like this," she said.

I've meant to write about Bremer for a while. Maybe it's old news to nonprofit and foundation insiders, but Bremer's charitable structure was news to me. I first learned about it when I met a few Bremer employees this summer at a nonprofit confab.

The foundation makes charitable gifts based on the value of its assets — primarily the banks, now worth approximately $650 million. According to the bio provided by Bremer, Otto Bremer was a German immigrant who began his career as a bookkeeper at the National German American Bank and eventually rose to chairman. Over the years, he invested in independent rural banks, helping them through the Depression. He believed in giving back. He created a bank holding company in 1943 and the foundation in 1944.

Steve Meads, president and CEO of Bremer Bank Twin Cities, explained how the funding works. The bank is a for-profit business. Approximately 40 percent of its after-tax profits go to the foundation to fund charitable giving. The other 60 percent is reinvested for growth, such as opening a new branch.

There's one more wrinkle, a good one if you work for Bremer. The foundation actually only owns 92 percent of Bremer Bank; employees own the other 8 percent. The employees' share goes into a stock ownership plan. (The stock's not publicly traded. When employees leave the bank, the corporation buys back the stock at a predetermined rate.)

A good year, considering
As goes the bank's value, so goes the charity. According to a news release issued Tuesday, Bremer Financial's fourth-quarter earnings were down, but income remained up for the year. Bremer had $72 million net income in 2008, a 5.7 percent increase from 2007. Not bad, considering the recent financial news.

Meads and other bank officials attributed the bank's good returns to a conservative approach — knowing its customers, doing its own underwriting and local decision-making on loans. Bremer, which has more than 100 locations in the three-state area, also was diversified and did well with agricultural loans. (A good growing season and the run-up in corn, wheat and beet prices during much of 2008 helped.)

While the media has focused on the failures in the big investment banks, Meads said, there are a number of community banks, much like Bremer, that are strong. "They have money to lend and they want to lend it out to good customers," he said.
times. Sparc has been a recipient of there grants for years. The Minn Post has this article.

Sparc receives Cultural Star Grant

2009-01-20T13:38:00.000-08:00

This project will engage North End and South Como community members in experiencing the diversity of their community through a multi-pronged photography project. The project will continue the recent momentum of arts-related programming in a neighborhood that has historically been underserved by arts activities or public art.

Photographs of community members, with a special focus on Rice Street merchants, will be shown through the following: 1. the creation of a traveling exhibit to rotate between local community institutions, 2. an opening night event, 3. poster-sized color images of Rice Street merchants and community members mounted in storefront windows, and 4. marketing materials to promote the neighborhood and the project, including a 4-week billboard presence at the gateway between Downtown and the North End.

This project will not only instill pride among community members who will see themselves and their local merchants in professionally printed and displayed photographs, it will initiate conversation between residents and between merchants of different backgrounds. Finally, it will create new images of the neighborhood at a time when our community is working to attract new residents and businesses to the area.

Sparc and District 6 Planning Council each applied for and were awarded contracts with OverExposure, a foundation-supported non-profit media arts organization, to participate in the “What’s New” project. “What’s New” has matched photographer Sarah Stacke with Sparc and District 6 Planning Council to document the changing diversity of the North End and South Como neighborhoods.