SENA searches for sense of direction as it fashions new plan

Residents encouraged to share what they value in the neighborhood and how to help neighbors make better connections

By TESHA M. CHRISTENSEN
What do you want your neighborhood to look like?
Share your opinions in the Standish-Ericsson neighborhood online survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6SBHZB6.
“We’ve had a great response to the survey, with more than 300 responses, which is at least 100 more responses than the last SENA survey eight years ago,” noted Standish-Ericsson Neighborhood Association (SENA) Board President Molly McCartney.
The survey is the first step in fashioning a new strategic plan for SENA.
This new plan will guide SENA for the next three to five years.
Photo right: SENA staff members Bob Kambeitz and Shirley Yeoman serve as “a conduit to collect the energy and talent of neighborhood folks and help funnel that back into the neighborhood in a way that produces positive programs and benefits for everyone,” according to Yeoman. (Photo by Tesha M. Christensen)
“SENA has been dealing with a changing financial future and neighborhood demographics for the last few years,” remarked McCartney. “With the sunsetting of the Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP), the ‘retirement’ of a long-term volunteer base, and many new neighbors in Standish-Ericsson, it became a good time to reevaluate how SENA can best support our community and its needs.”

Helping the neighborhood
SENA was formed at the beginning of the NRP (Neighborhood Revitalization Program) to access the funds allocated for neighborhoods.
SENA Neighborhood Coordinator Shirley Yeoman has worked at SENA since 1996 and will retire at the end of this year. “The NRP plans developed by residents through an extensive community engagement process guided our work for many years,” explained Yeoman, who lives a few blocks out of SENA in the Hiawatha neighborhood. “We did such a good job of utilizing those funds for projects in the neighborhood that our allocations have been spent (mostly—except for some small remaining pots.)”
Minneapolis chose not to renew the NRP Program but created a new funding source for neighborhood groups called the Citizen Participation Program (CPP). These funds provide basic administration and some communication and community event dollars, but nothing for programming, Yeoman noted. “So, SENA needs to develop a new ‘plan’ to help guide our work in the neighborhood,” she said.
What does SENA do?
SENA’s most important role in the neighborhood, according to Yeoman, “is to serve as a conduit to collect the energy and talent of neighborhood folks and help funnel that back into the neighborhood in a way that produces positive programs and benefits for everyone.
Photo left: The new mural being painted on the Dokken Building at the 28th Ave S. and 42nd St. E. intersection is sponsored by the Standish-Ericsson Neighborhood Association (SENA). In August, community members gathered to help paint. It is being finished by Roosevelt High School students. (Photo submitted)
“The conduit can also work the opposite direction in that we can be the ‘collecting place’ for information about resources available and information that impacts people who live here and then get that information out to our residents.”
Recently SENA has been working on a water quality project funded by Hennepin County to raise awareness of how everyday actions can help keep Lake Hiawatha, Minnehaha Creek and the Mississippi River clean and healthy.
It is sponsoring the mural being painted on the Dokken Building at the 28th Ave S. and 42nd St. E. intersection.
The organization is also working to develop a SkillShare program where neighbors teach and learn skills from one another. In April, the focus was on bike maintenance, and in May it was on growing native plants.

Photo left: SENA has just completed distribution of a $30,000 Great Streets Facade Improvement Program grant that helps businesses make exterior improvements, and hopes to receive additional grants in the future. Among those that benefited from the program was Everetts Foods at Cedar and 38th. (Photo submitted) 

SENA has just completed the distribution of a $30,000 Great Streets Facade Improvement Program grant that helps businesses make exterior improvements, and SENA hopes to receive additional grants in the future.
It may renew its Welcome Committee program shortly.
“There are many accomplishments since the inception of SENA,” stated Yeoman. “We brought nearly $4 million in improvements and programs to the neighborhood with NRP funds. Those include home improvement loans and grants, a new playground and upgraded building at Lake Hiawatha Park, commercial improvement grants, bicycle racks, home safety programs and grants, a wonderful neighborhood newsletter, and more.”
SENA was instrumental in helping to form the West of the Rail Business Association, and still continues to provide essential support to this group to help support neighborhood businesses.
Last year, SENA partnered with Folwell Performing Arts School and artist Greta McLain to apply for and receive a Minnesota State Arts Board grant to do the large Connections mural on the south side of Folwell’s building. “It’s quite impressive and was a true ‘community’ project,” said Yeoman.
“SENA is a great resource for the neighborhood to learn more about what is happening around us and a way to become involved in making our neighborhoods a great place to live, work, and play,” said McCartney, who has lived in Standish for over 12 years. “The value of SENA can be seen every day—from the beautiful public art we have organized at locals schools, business, and utility boxes, to the connections that board members, staff, and volunteers make with policy makers, other community organizations, and our neighbors.”
She wouldn’t trade her neighborhood for anywhere else.

In search of direction
The online survey will be open through the fall. Consultants have also been conducting one-on-one interviews with neighborhood stakeholders.
The SENA board will convene retreat events this fall and winter, and the plan will be presented to the public at the annual meeting in February or March.
“My hopes for this process is to learn what our residents value about our community and how SENA can help neighbors make better connections with each other,” remarked McCartney. “I also hope for a practical work plan that can guide the organization in the next 3-5 years.”
“I am very hopeful that this process will help SENA find a strong sense of direction and help us set some very specific goals. Those two things will help guide decisions about staffing and purpose,” said Yeoman.
“I am also very hopeful that many more people will get involved in the work required to achieve the goals we set.”

This article appeared in the October 2016 edition of the Longfellow/Nokomis Messenger.