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SNG 2009 Year in Review

Dear Neighbor:

It’s been a busy year for the Seward Neighborhood Group! Thanks for all your support for SNG's work in 2009. As you can see, we had a full, and succesful, 2009.

Seward Neighborhood Group – 2009 in Review

• Organized King’s Fair , with several hundred in attendance for a full day of music, food, family games, and arts and crafts
• Won a Climate Change Innovations Grant from the City of Minneapolis to encourage walking to shop in Seward and making home energy efficiency improvements
• Seward History Walk won a Historic Preservation Award from the City of Minneapolis
• Modified NRP Phase I and II plans in order to re-start a home improvement loan program and to access NRP funds for neighborhood projects
• Hired a part-time Community Coordinator and Housing Coordinator
• Coordinated residents’ discussion groups and weekly Sewing Circles in the Seward Towers, and won a CURA grant to organize Somali finger weaving classes and exhibit the Seward and Somali Weavers’ Collective’s work at the Ancient Traders’ Gallery
• 2008 audit shows our finances improving, but still with work to do to reduce our debt
• Coordinated Garage Sale Days in May with over 70 sales and hundreds of shoppers
• Finalized plan to buy Hub of Heaven Garden site from city and transfer coordination to the gardeners
• Signed up 42 new households for the MN Energy challenge
• Worked with Seward Redesign in implementing goals from Franklin Avenue Planning to ensure that the Avenue remains a lively “ Main Street” for Seward for years to come
• Celebrated the 40 th Anniversary of the opening of the Matthews Center and showcased solar installation at Matthews Center in 2009 MN Solar Tour
• Environment, Community Development, Crime and Safety, and History Committees organized neighborhood action throughout the year on pedestrian safety, Greenway rezoning, the use of penta-treated utility poles, the routing of high-voltage transmission lines, and many other issues
• Lobbied city to bring curbside organics composting to Seward
• Hired a part-time Manager for the Seward Longfellow Restorative Justice Program , which started taking cases again in February and has accepted over 20 referrals in 2009
• Supported the 10 th Annual Seward Arts Festival, with over 200 artists participating

Help add to the list in 2010! Become a SNG member, and make Seward a better place to live, work, and play.

Thank you all,  Sheldon Mains, SNG Board Chair