Bryant Neighborhood Organization Inc

Programs: Bryant neighborhood organization is focused on making the bryant neighborhood a better place to live, work, play and invest. We focus on social justice issues that impact our community members. As development brings the threat of gentrification into bryant, community members are concerned about their ability to stay in their homes as they age. Bryant was one of the first neighborhoods to have the tilsen homes which opened up home ownership to african americans. We are proud of our history and want to enable community members to stay in their homes and resist gentrification. Bryant neighborhood entered into an organizing partnership with the lyndale neighborhood that allowed both to reach more under represented communities in more meaningful ways. This year, the focus of our work was leading a coalition between lyndale, bryant, cando and kingfield on a voter engagement and turnout project, supported in part by the minneapolis foundation. Together, we directly engaged 2,000 residents in our neighborhood who we identified by secretary of state records as being unlikely to vote in the 2017 municipal election. We engaged them in a voter outreach campaign that focused on a series of listening sessions that culminated in the development and adoption of a shared community values statement of our neighborhoods. These shared values included points around safety, anti-gentrification, and community driven decision making. Our neighborhoods also hosted a mayoral forum in october at sabathani community center attended by more than 600 people. Our work in voter engagement with people identified as unlikely voters helped drive our precincts from near historic low turnout in 2009 and below average turnout in 2013 to near record high turnout in 2017. Another significant highlight is the expansion of the lyndale neighborhood news to our neighborhood's newspaper which is distributed to every household in lyndale and bryant. Previously bno was publishing a quarterly newsletter which was then hand delivered to community members by board and committee members. Having the papers merged and sent through the post means that community members receive the newspapers in a timely fashion and board and committee members have more time to engage in other activities.