Last June I embarked on an adventure headed by the collaboration of two broadminded Minnesota think tanks, OneMN.org and Growth & Justice. The idea was to engineer a set of policy proposals by gathering the voices of diverse people across Minnesota. This grassroots effort kicked off in the Upper Sioux Community near Granite Falls, where a couple of hundred folks gathered for a few days in June to voice their opinions on the issues that affected them. We then proposed solutions. Last Fall a series of community meetings were held around the state to obtain additional perspectives from folks who didn’t make it to Granite Falls. Another rendezvous was held in Hinkley in December to put everything together. Finally, on Jan 14, 2019, the One Minnesota Equity Blueprint Policy Priorities were presented at a news conference at the State Capital in St Paul.

Synapse participated by hosting a community meeting and by featuring the organizers on our WCCO Radio podcast, Synapse Think Tank of the Air.

The Jan 10, 2019 podcast featured Louis Porter II, a board member and a fellow at Growth and Justice; Dane Smith, a former director and a senior fellow at Growth and Justice; and Brett Buckner, the director of OneMn.org. You can listen at this link on the WCCO Radio website.

For reference, you can also list to our podcast on Thriving by Design that we recorded in June 2018 just prior to the kickoff. This episode of Think Tank of the Air featured Brett Buckner of OneMn.org, Jane Leonard, Executive Director of Growth and Justice, and Thriving by Design participant, Mirtha Montoya. You can listen at this link.