The Importance of Tenant Councils: How Sonder Point’s Seniors Overcome Adversity Together
VOTER AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
ACER is empowering our community members to engage in civic participation. We encourage people to participate in the affairs of their local, state, and national governments in order to have their voices heard and needs met. We register voters, keep community members up to date on issues impacting their lives, and partner with community members and groups to advance causes that better the lives of our fellow residents.
Partnership Projects and Collaborations
Current Partnership Projects
ACER is working in partnership with Blue Line Coalition to ensure that the Blue Line expansion project operates with public participation and with appropriate anti-displacement measures in place. ACER and Blue Line Coalition will continue to promote safety, efficiency, and non-disruption during this ongoing project ACER has assisted in the planning and organizing process for candidate forums hosted by the League of Women Voters (LWV) and Jewish Community Action (JCA). After Election Day, ACER will continue to connect community members with candidates through housing cohorts that bring public health and safety concerns to the attention of local government, information seminars that emphasize civic engagement, and continued partnership with the Office of the Secretary of State ACER assisted Ayada Leads in Born to Lead, an event dedicated to BIPOC women who have run for or been elected to political offices in Minnesota. The event took place at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities and featured speakers sharing lived experiences and political information with attendees. ACER looks forward to more partnerships with Ayada Leads in the future ACER collaborated with JCA in order to gather information on and stand against hate crimes, unlawful acts by law enforcement, and political intimidation. ACER and JCA continue to identify and bring attention to discriminatory incidents and abuses of power
Community Engagement
Voter Engagement
Voter Registration
ACER has been engaged in an ongoing voter registration drive which has led to 51 voter registrations in 2022, and 127 voter registrations in 2021 and 2022 combined. ACER also gave voter registration applications and online voter registration information to community members who were interested in registering to vote in the future. ACER plans to continue to perform voter registration drives annually, with the next voter registration drive starting in the early summer of 2023 and running until the voter registration mail-in deadline in October 2023. GOTV: ACER spent the last two weeks before 2022 Election Day getting out the vote. ACER was engaged in three phonebanking sessions, connecting with community members who had contact with ACER in the past and letting them know about important voting information, as well as election times and dates. ACER also canvassed in order to let interested community members know where their polling location is, how to view their registration status, how to register if needed, how to view a sample ballot, and Election Day polling hours. ACER continues to encourage voting and voting information outreach through ongoing partnerships with the office of the Minnesota Secretary of State, informational seminars, and an office hotline through which community members can receive voting information and have questions answered.
African Parents Collaborative
African Parents Collaborative (APC) is a group of volunteer parents in Minnesota who are committed to improving early childhood development efforts and programming in the African community.
Community Events
ACER participated in a variety of community events, including health fairs, vaccination clinics, holiday community parties, farmer’s markets, and informational events at parks and colleges. These events gave community members the opportunity to learn more about ACER and the housing, health, economic, and civic engagement services offered by ACER. Community members who attended these events had the opportunity to receive ACER’s event and contact information as well as free health resources such as COVID test kits and vaccinations. ACER is continuing to host and attend community events and has plans to disseminate more resources and provide more contact information at future events. Additionally, ACER continues to notify community members of upcoming events through flyering, direct messaging, and updates on ACER’s website, and our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts. ACER attended and hosted events for community members interested in learning more about voter registration, voting rights, and important voting times and dates. Voter information events included an Elm Creek Park Reserve voting rights information panel and two voting rights and information seminars, one with the partnership of Common Cause, and the other with the partnership of the office of the Minnesota Secretary of State. ACER plans to continue to host and partner with other organizations on public voting information seminars
Shingle Creek Center Fair
In 2024, following the purchase of the Shingle Creek Center, the ACER Family Fun Day was renamed to become the Shingle Creek Center Fair.
It is a Farmers, Artisans & Entrepreneur Pop-up market experience celebrating the community, local talent and entrepreneurship at the Shingle Creek Centre in Brooklyn Center.
To learn more about this event,