The Alliance

For more than 25 years, the Alliance has been meeting moments of threat and opportunity with the power of coalition organizing. As we look to 2023, we have a unique opening to unleash transformative investments for our communities — but we need your support. 

Thanks to tireless organizing through the COVID pandemic and George Floyd uprisings, support for racial equity has moved from the margins to the mainstream across the Twin Cities. This most recent election proved that organizing and narrative change can create historic openings at the state and local level to advance justice and prosperity for those most impacted by generations of racism and exclusion. But our work doesn’t end at the ballot box.  

At the Alliance, we convene spaces that facilitate deep and sustained collaboration among local organizations led by and rooted in communities of color to change public policy and shift prevailing narratives in ways that advance regional equity. Because of these longstanding relationships, our coalitions are uniquely poised to work with new leadership at the Minnesota state legislature to secure historic investments and policy changes that will benefit Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) communities across the Twin Cities.  

Thanks to your support, we’re stepping into 2023 with strong momentum. In 2022, our coalitions made bold strides, including:

• Housing Justice: In St. Paul, we played a central role in defending the nation’s strongest rent stabilization policy and maintaining key aspects of the policy, despite attacks from the landlord lobby. Through Equity in Place we co-created a new effort with tenant leaders around the metro to hold accountable landlords who are unjustly raising rent in properties that are government subsidized to be “affordable.”
• Resourcing BIPOC Small Businesses: Through the Business Resource Collective, we articulated and advocated for a comprehensive infrastructural investment package to bring state resources and opportunities to BIPOC small businesses throughout the state. 
• Equitable Development: We worked with partners to envision and release an updated and expanded Equitable Development Principles and Scorecard — and convened a symposium attended by organizers and leaders from across the country.
• Transit and Anti-Displacement: Through the Blue Line Coalition, we help shape, pushed for and secured multiple seats on the Anti-Displacement Working Group to recommend  policies and investments to protect and benefit our communities along the proposed the corridor of the Blue Line light rail extension.  
• Clean Transportation: In 2022, we took on a new body of work, in collaboration with member organizations, that will work to electrify our transportation system to mitigate the impacts of climate pollution and expand mobility in BIPOC and low-wealth communities. 
• Hiring Equity: Focusing on diversifying the construction workforces on the Southwest Light Rail and Minnesota Department of Transportation projects, we secured a public reporting tool that shares workforce demographics on every project throughout Minnesota in real time.

Even with new support from policymakers and the public, we know the path ahead will be challenging. In 2022, we also took significant steps to grow our internal capacity, including nearly doubling the size of our staff. 

Together, we can meet this moment of opportunity and advance community-defined equity, vitality and prosperity across the Twin Cities region. If you can, please make a donation today that is meaningful to you.