CSC Projects: Completed and Current: 2024

Helping Minnesota youth identify & promote their 2024 state legislative priorities

CSC collaborated with the Minnesota Youth Council, BridgemakersMn, Good Trouble the Minnesota Association of Alternative Programs and a number of schools to help about 65 youth from all over the state identify, refine, research and share their legislative priorities for the 2024 Minnesota legislative session.  Students representing a rich diversity of young people, rural, suburban and urban met for in the Minnesota House of Representatives chamber to identify and refine their priorities including education equity, environmental justice, mental health and awareness, and juvenile justice.   Rep Samantha Sencer-Mura, Rep, Samakab Hussein and Rep Matt Norris,  joined the students during the day and promised to work with them during the 2024 legislative seesion.

After spending the day identifying priorities, the young people have written 1-2 page memos to legislators.  As this is being written, bills are being drafted that reflect students’ suggestions.

On February 19, 2024, three members of the group testified in the Minnesota Senate K-12 Education Policy Committee.

Jaiden Leary (St. Louis Park), Mintesinot Sturm (Open World Learning – St Paul)  and Joel Wang (Hutchinson, Mn High School) testified.  Jaiden spoke at 12:50; Mintesinot at 1 hour, 22 minutes, and Joel at 1 hour 35 minutes.  They discussed issues they helped identify as priorities including

  • Requiring school boards to have students as voting members
  • Requiring free meals to be available to PSEO students (as it is to other public school students)
  • Expanding and promoting service-learning
  • Commending the legislature for expanding programs in which youth learn construction skills as they build homes for low income families

Their testimony is found here.

Jaiden Leary

 

Joel Wang

Mintesinot Sturm

 

REDUCING YOUTH AND FAMILY HOMELESSNESS

Dramatically reducing youth family homelessness:   Since 2018, CSC, in cooperation with a number of other groups has worked to reduce the number of youth and families experiencing homelessness.  This includes research, conversations with legislators, and other material. CSC efforts, among other things

  • Helped convince the 2021 Minnesota Legislature to approve an allocation of $20 million/per year, beginning in 2023, to help reduce the number of youth and family experiencing homelessness.
  • Worked with Minnesota legislators in 2023 to increase and expand efforts to help young people learn construction skills as they build homes and rehab apartments, especially to house people experiencing homelessness. Here’s Khalique Rogers, testifying along with Rep. Matt Norris (DFL-Blaine).
    • .
    • Ultimately the 2023 legislature adopted two bills proposed by CSC and its partners.  The first doubled funding for YouthBuild.  This program, run by Minnesota’s Department of Employment and Economic Development, helps young people learn construction skills as they build homes for low income families.  The second law adopted modified existing legislation.  For the first time, Minnesota public schools will be allowed to apply for funds from Minnesota’s Economic Development and Housing Challenge Program  to create programs in which students learn construction skills as they build homes for low income families. This program is run by the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency.
    • Here’s testimony from two students that was presented at the 2023 legislature:
    •  Testimony from Hser Pwe

      Hello Chair Champion, Co- Chair Mohamed and committee members.

      My name is Hser Pwe, I was born in Burma. I was grew up in a Thailand refugee camp. I lived there with my family for 12 years. We had to move there because of the civil war and Burmese soldier were trying to kill us and take our land. This the reason we had to flee our village and move to the Thailand refugee camp. When we lived in refugee I felt like we lived in prison because cannot go outside of camp, there were very few opportunities in camp.   

      In 2012 I moved to the United States. I did not know anything about America and I did not speak and English. I went to LEAP High School for a year but it was very difficult for me. I did not speak English and it was hard for me to understand what teacher said. After a year I was unable to attend school there because I’m over 21 years old.

      Luckily for me I found the YouthBuild program in GAP school. I then realized I could have a high school diploma and learn construction skills, I finally felt like I had an opportunity and a future. In YouthBuild I learned a lot of English and started to communicate with others, but I really learned to love construction work. My wife, brother and cousin also graduated from the Youthbuild program at GAP School.

      I graduated in 2014, the staff helped me find as job in floor covering and I joined the union. I still work there now, it has been a great 8 years for me. I found a career I love and I make over $44/hr. and I have worked my way up to being a foreman. I’m so thankful for this program and all the staff who have helped me. Thank you so much to the YouthBuild program for giving me this big opportunity! Because of this program I can speak English, support my wife and children and I have even became a U.S. citizen. Without YouthBuild I do not know where I would be today.

      Hser Pwe

      Youthbuild graduate 2014

    • Testimony from Aung Myo Way

      Dear Chair, Rep. Jay Xiong, Vice Chair, Rep. Jeff Brand and members of the MN House Workforce and Development Finance and Policy Committee

      Thank you for the opportunity to explain how YouthBuild changed my life, and why I support on HF 1310.

      My name is Aung Myo Way and I am 30 years old. I was born in Myanmar, my country has been ravaged by war since 1948. When I was 5 years old I have to flee my village because the Burmese army came and burned it down. I was forced to move to Thailand and live in a refugee camp.

      My life was so hard in the refugee Camp. I was living in a wooden box that was hardly bigger than a dog house. We barely had enough food, we always ate every last grain of rice and any insect or animal we could find. l lived in the refugee camp for about 15 years. Those were the hardest years of my life. We had some school in refugee camp, but our education was very poor. When was 19 years old I had a big opportunity to move to America. It was a bitter sweet moment because I was told I had to leave with only my young twin sisters and leave my whole family, friends and country behind.

      When I firsts came to America I could barely speak English. I had a lot of problems, even going shopping was very difficult. The worst part was transportation and finding a job. America was very difficult to survive without good English skills and having no job experience. After about two years I heard about the Youth build program, they helped me improve my English skills and I gained experience in construction. In the Youthbuild program I learned about building houses and leadership. Youthbuild has produced a lot of good workers for the Union trades and other occupations. As an Immigrant Youthbuild program has been a very import part of my life.

      In Youthbuild I got my high school diploma and job skills that improved my life so much. I hope that more young people can join Youthbuild because it changed my life. I was working in a low paying job and I did not have a stable place to live. I myself have recommended many youth to join the program to improve their lives. My life has changed so much since I joined Youthbuild. Today I make more than $40/hr. as a Journeyman in the union, and I own my own home. I owe all my success to the Youthbuild program and I hope you will support them with increased funding for other young people like me.  .

      Aung Myo Way

      GAP YouthBuild Grad 2015

    • The St Paul Pioneer Press published a front page story noting adoption of these legislative efforts.
    • MN Legislature doubles funding for student homebuilding program

    • PUBLISHED:  | UPDATED: 

      A two-story West Side home that students built will soon hit the market.

    • As a student at an alternative high school on St. Paul’s West Side, Ivan Sanchez hasn’t just hit the books. He’s also learned the ins and outs of mudding, painting, sanding, insulation and all the other particulars that went into building a four-bedroom, 2,000-square-foot, environmentally sustainable house that some have billed as the home of the future.
    • A student wearing a "YouthBuild" navy blue t-shirt, along with khaki pants and work boots, carries several pieces of lumber on a construction site for a nearly completed house.
    • Eh Ta Lee Htoo, a student at GAP School, an alternative school on St Paul’s West Side, is seen on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, helping fellow students clean up around a house they built as a part of a construction-skills program. The environmentally sustainable West Side residence will go on the market for qualified low-income buyers. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
    • The two-story structure soon will hit the market in the same neighborhood where Sanchez goes to school, with an income eligibility ceiling geared to middle-class families.“A lot of people liked the opportunity,” Sanchez, a 17-year-old student at Change Inc.’s GAP School, said while standing in front of the school project he’s spent the last year constructing from the ground up on Page Street. “I definitely did. It’s probably a career path I’ll take.”
    • During tours last week with a host of elected officials, arguably the only person prouder of his accomplishment — which required construction safety training and certification from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration — was his mother.“He’s going to graduate on time, and at the same time have this experience,” said Elizabeth Sanchez. “It’s a good opportunity.”
    • The word “opportunity” came up more than once as a bevy of officials from St. Paul Public Schools, Ramsey County, the city and the state celebrated the waning days of the legislative session and its sudden windfall for YouthBuild, an AmeriCorps homebuilding program. As a result of the state’s latest economic development legislation, the state portion of YouthBuild’s funding will double from $1 million to $2 million per year for the next two years.
    • In addition, school districts and charter schools can for the first time apply to the Minnesota Housing Agency for up to $100,000 to fund similar homebuilding construction projects for students. Authored by state Rep. Matt Norris, DFL-Blaine, and state Sen. Zaynab Mohamed, DFL-Minneapolis, the bills that created both opportunities drew strong bipartisan support.“
    • There’s a number of school districts around the state that are doing this. This had complete agreement between Republicans and Democrats,” said Joe Nathan, co-director of the Center for School Change in St. Paul, who lobbied lawmakers to support the bills. “Literally not one objection raised in five hearings; I’ve never seen that in 30 years of working with the Legislature.”Added Nathan, “this is a real, concrete example of how education can transform people’s lives. Many of these are young people who did not have a successful experience in traditional schools. They’re hands-on learners. They want to do things.”
    • Partly thanks to the legislation, YouthBuild students — who are compensated for their work through AmeriCorps — will build three more homes directly next to the first, with the second likely breaking ground early this summer. The land is mostly clear and ready for construction, beyond a shed slated for removal.
    • “Home ownership is the way of building generational wealth,” Rena Moran, a Ramsey County commissioner and former state lawmaker, said during a home tour on Tuesday. “We want high-growth jobs and the ability to add affordable housing. This is what we need for our families — a four-bedroom home.”
    • The Page Street house is Gold LEED-certified, close to the U.S. Green Building Council’s gold standard for environmental sustainability. Even without an air conditioner or basement, it kept cool Tuesday as the doors were open to visitors for hours. Foot-thick walls, ceiling fans, a tall solar chimney, a mini-split wall unit and heavy insulation are designed to trap cool air in the summer and warm air in the winter.
    • ony Zahradka, a training manager with YouthBuild, said with supply chain issues, the Page Street home took two years and 120 students to build. About a third of the academic year is spent on construction.Nathan said YouthBuild’s partnership with the GAP School realizes the dream of Sister Mary Giovanni, the nun who once was in charge of the Catholic school at Our Lady of Guadalupe church on St. Paul’s West Side, a beacon for generations of Latin immigrants.
    • Founded in 1967, Guadalupe Alternative Programs evolved into an educational alternative for youth at risk of dropping out of high school. It enrolls up to 210 students ages 16-24 while offering school-based mental health services and career training.Many of the 30 or so young people involved in YouthBuild through the GAP School are Karen, an ethnic group that fled government persecution in Burma, or Myanmar, and have settled in large numbers in Roseville, Maplewood and St. Paul’s North End.
    • Boe Boe, a Realtor with Partners Realty, was a student at the GAP School in 2010 when its first four Karen students enrolled. It’s his hope to sell at least one of the homes on Page Street to the family of a young person who helped build it. Under income eligibility criteria, the homes will be sold to households earning no more than 80 percent of area median income.“I was older, so I couldn’t go to the regular high school anymore,” recalled Boe, who had just emigrated from a refugee camp in Thailand, where he lived for 12 years, before moving to Minnesota. “GAP School was the best school for me. I loved to come to the school everyday. On Sundays, I still wanted to come to school, because I was having so much fun.”
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    • The Star Tribune (based in Minneapolis) also published a major story about this legislation
    • CSC director Joe Nathan wrote newspaper columns describing the value of students doing this. One was published in May, 2020.
    • Nathan and Khalique Rogers also co-authored an “op ed” column published on Christmas day, 2019 by Minnesota’s largest daily newspaper, the Star Tribune. This column, co-authored with two young people who, along with Rogers, experienced homelessness, urged greater involvement of youth in decisions about how to reduce homelessness, and cited the value of young people learning construction trades
  • Here’s a link to 1 hour discussion on Minnesota Public Radio about this issue.  Participants include CSC director Joe Nathan, CSC ally Khalique Rogers, and a state official.
  • CSC director Joe Nathan wrote newspaper columns describing the value of students doing this. One was published in May, 2020.
  • Nathan and Khalique Rogers also co-authored an “op ed” column published on Christmas day, 2019 by Minnesota’s largest daily newspaper, the Star Tribune. This column, co-authored with two young people who, along with Rogers, experienced homelessness, urged greater involvement of youth in decisions about how to reduce homelessness, and cited the value of young people learning construction trades
  • Convened a meeting in December, 2022 to discuss the idea of young people learning construction skills as they build homes, and fixing up apartments.

   

  • Meeting with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (in center, wearing white shirt and tie) to plan next steps to help reduce youth and family homelessness

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Beginning in late 2018, with incredible collaboration from a number of St Paul district, charter, city, county, social service leaders, along with current and formerly homeless youth and parents named below, the Center for School Change began helping create a coalition to dramatically reduce youth/family homelessness in Minnesota.

 

PROMOTING/ENCOURAGING MUCH GREATER USE OF SERVICE-LEARNING

Center for School Change has worked for decades to promote service-learning – combining classroom work and community service.

  • Here’s a link to a column explaining and promoting service learning, written in 1990, published by Education Week.
  • In December, 2022, CSC’s work took a significant step forward. The state of Minnesota’s Professional Educator and Licensing Standards Board decided to add a new requirement for all participants in teacher preparation programs.  Specifically, “the teacher understands the value of and knows how to implement instructional approaches that integrate real-world learning opportunities, including service learning, community-based learning and project-based learning, into instruction.”

This effort began in  2019-20, with recommendations to  the Minnesota state group that regulates teacher preparation, PELSB (Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board).   CSC helped convene a group that encouraged PELSB to require all prospective Minnesota teachers to learn the rationale and application of service-learning, and the application of service- learning for the students and subjects that they will work with.  Here’s a link to a statement submitted by more than 50 Minnesotans to the Administrative Law judge and members of PELSB.

  • In 2023, the Minnesota Legislature passed a law allocating $1 million to help support creation of service-learning projects throughout the state.  CSC was part of a coalition that had urged the legislature for many years, which had urged the legislature to adopt such a bill.  The 2023 effort was led by Minnesota high school Sage Hartman and long time service-learning advocate Paula Beugen.  A request for proposals will be issued in fall, 2023.

Here’s a link to research on service learning, and discussion of CSC’s work to promote service learning re the Minnesota legislature.  

PROMOTING ECONOMIC JUSTICE FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
In spring, 2020, CSC started working with a statewide group high school students who are pursuing economic justice.  By mid-2021, this campaign succeeded!

This campaign ultimately succeeded in bringing millions of deserved dollars to Minnesota high school students.  These are students who had been working while in high school.  Because of the COVID 19 pandemic, they were laid off (in most cases because the business that employed them closed, at least temporarily). The campaign also succeeded in changing Minnesota state law so that high school students who are laid off will be eligible for unemployment insurance as of July, 2022.

Each of these students had been paying into Minnesota’s unemployment insurance program.  However, when they applied for these funds, after being laid off, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development  (DEED) told them they were not eligible!

A statewide campaign began in March, 2020 to deal with this.  Here are a few items related to that effort.

  • In fall, 2020, a law suit was filed, challenging the state of Minnesota

thumbnail of Complaint(1)

Walter Cortina, Ajalon Peterson and Cole Stevens testifying at the Mn House of Representatives

 

  • KARE 11 – NBC affiliate TV station in Minneapolis/St Paul broadcast this story about some of the students affected
  • Column written by CSC Director Joe Nathan that is appearing in a number of suburban/rural Mn newspapers during June, 2020.  This is a copy of the column as it appeared in the Caledonia Argus
  • Facebook Page explaining the “Don’t Forget Us” campaign that students and their allies created.
  • Minnesota House of Representatives “Session Daily” discusses high school students testifying for economic justice
  • Ultimately the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled (December 1, 2020) that the students were correct.  They WERE eligible for Federal pandemic unemployment relief  funds.  This despite the insistence by DEED for months that students were not eligible for state or federal funds.
  • CSC Joined a coalition with YouthPrize and BridgeBuilders, among others to get information to students about this money.  Millions of dollars were delivered to deserving students.
  • During the 2021 legislative session CSC joined with other allies mentioned above.  The goal was to change the 1939 Minnesota state law so that going forward, high school students who are laid off will be eligible for state unemployment assistance,  As this is being written, the 2021 legislature has not yet made a final decision.

 

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    Meeting with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (in center, wearing white shirt and tie) to plan next steps.

 

 

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Meeting with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (in center, wearing white shirt and tie) to plan next steps.

Beginning in late 2018, with incredible collaboration from a number of St Paul district, charter, city, county, social service leaders, along with current and formerly homeless youth and parents named below, the Center for School Change began helping create a coalition to dramatically reduce youth/family homelessness in Minnesota.

PROMOTING GREATER USE BY SCHOOLS OF SOLAR & OTHER EMERGING FORMS OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

  • In 2021, CSC joined with other Minnesota organizations to encourage greater use by public schools of solar and other forms of emerging energy.
  • CSC  helped arranged a St Paul Public School  Board candidate forum focused on these issues during Spring, 2021
  • CSC’s director wrote a column for various newspapers describing how a variety of Minnesota district and charter public schools are making use of solar and other forms of sustainable energy.
  • CSC’s director co-authorized letters to the editor appearing in several St Paul community newspapers on this subject.
  • CSC has started work on a collaborative statewide on-line seminar or seminars on this topic.

THINKING EARLY COLLEGE & CAREER FAIR

Center for School Change has collaborated for many years with the St Paul Public Schools and Progressive Baptist Church on a FREE Thinking Early College and Career Fair.  The 2020 fair was held Saturday, February 22 at Harding High School, 1540 East 6th in St Paul, from 10:30 – 1:30.

Students and families from throughout the metro area are welcome.  There were  opportunities to learn how high schools students, starting in the ninth grade, can earn free college credit.  Students and families also will be able to meet with representatives of many Minnesota colleges and universities, as well as representatives of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

thumbnail of Early College Fair 2020

Learning From HBCUs and TCCs
Increasing College Readiness 2012-2015
Increasing College Readiness 2015-present
Completed Projects