In This Issue:
- Metro Cities Breakfast at LMC Annual Conference
- 2023 Metro Cities Policy Committees
- Met Council Discusses Equity Framework for 2050 Regional Development Guide
- LCDA and TOD Development Grant Webinar
Metro Cities Breakfast at LMC Annual Conference
Metro Cities will host a breakfast at the League of Minnesota Cities 2023 Annual Conference in Duluth, from 8:00-9:00 a.m. Friday, June 23. Breakfast will be held at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC) in the Split Rock room. This is a great opportunity to connect with other metro city officials. We hope you will join us! Please visit https://www.lmc.org/learning-events/events/league-events/2023-lmc-annual-conference/ for more information.
2023 Metro Cities Policy Committees
Metro Cities 2023 policy committee process will begin with first policy committee meetings in July, and your participation is encouraged! Committees will recommend the association’s legislative policies for 2024. Participation is open to member city elected officials and staff, and committee descriptions and dates are on the website. Please be sure to sign up for the committee(s) you wish to attend. This will help us keep rosters accurate. We look forward to seeing you this summer!
Met Council Discusses Equity Framework for 2050 Regional Development Guide
On Wednesday, the Metropolitan Council of the Whole met and heard presentations related to establishing an equity framework for the 2050 Regional Development Guide. First, staff gave a presentation about centering equity in the process of creating the guide.
The Metropolitan Council is partnering with the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) at the University of Minnesota to provide resources for training, implementation, and ongoing assistance throughout the creation of the regional development guide. C Terrence Anderson from CURA gave a presentation titled “Building a Reparative Justice Informed Equity Framework”, as a lens to understand this work and how to implement it at the Metropolitan Council. He discussed mapping racially concentrated areas of wealth as opposed to racially concentrated areas of poverty to reframe the way we think about solving problems in our region and how we address the root cause of inequity.
The Council has indicated it will work to set specific equity goals in a variety of work groups, that will create the Equity Framework.
LCDA and TOD Development Grant Webinar
The Metropolitan Council will be hosting a webinar about the 2023 LCDA and TOD grant offerings, with specifics on application details, program changes, and discussion. The webinar will take place on Monday, June 26th from 11:00-11:45. You can register for the webinar here.
Also, the Metropolitan Council is taking applications for the second round of their policy development program which provides cities with up to $50,000 to develop local policies to help meet LCA goals. This includes updating your city zoning code to allow more density, introducing an inclusionary zoning policy, or implementing sustainable development requirements. This application is due by July 21st, and you can learn more at this link.