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HIRE Minnesota

Thursday, April 23, 2009

HIRE Minnesota is working to ensure that public investments in infrastructure and renewable energy help lift people out
of poverty, reduce racial disparities and contribute to healthier communities for all of us. HIRE brings people together with a vision of a new economy that works for all members of our community. Minnesota’s unemployment rate is alarmingly high, and the unemployment rates in low-income communities and communities of color are much higher. And while our public institutions are making unprecedented investments, they display a troubling pattern of failure to meet their goals for including people of color.

However, we are in an important historic moment – a moment in which we have the opportunity to change business as usual by organizing across boundaries to ensure all communities experience economic recovery equitably. With this vision, HIRE Minnesota has united more than 70 community organizations in a broad and powerful coalition to seek public investments that:

• jump-start our economy
• provide access for all people to jobs, training and living wages for low-income people and people of color, and
• promote healthy communities, including rebuilding our infrastructure and easing the climate crisis.
  

HIRE Minnesota brings people together across racial, cultural, geographic and issue boundaries to work for our environment, our economy and our communities. Since late 2008, we have engaged thousands of people through town hall meetings, rallies, community gatherings and hearings at the State Capitol to demand green jobs and fair hiring. We continue to call on our leaders to make decisions that benefit all members of our community by:

• Ensuring publicly funded green jobs and training opportunities reach low-income people and people of color.
• Ensuring agencies in charge of public infrastructure investments meet their women and minority hiring, contracting and training goals.
• Ensuring that our government is accountable and transparent in its processes and reporting.

We believe our country is at a turning point. We have an opportunity to leverage real change and rebuild a sustainable economy that works for everyone. Will public investments reinforce the status quo and benefit only a few? Or will we turn away from the failed policies of the past and design our public policies to benefit all Minnesotans? HIRE Minnesota believes that by working together, we can create a sustainable future for every member of our community.

For more information about HIRE Minnesota, visit www.hiremn.org or contact Alessandra Williams, HIRE Minnesota Coordinator at 612-332-4471 or awilliams@hiremn.org.