PRESS RELEASE: Little Earth Protectors to become co-owners of the East Philips Urban Farm Project
Little Earth Protectors is investing $900K to become co-owners of the East Philips Urban Farm Project
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - On June 26th, a Memorandum of Understanding finalized between Little Earth Protectors and East Phillips Neighborhood Institute marked the start of a formal process to bring the people of Little Earth into co- ownership of the community-led project unfolding at the Roof Depot site.
Little Earth is an Indigenous-preference housing complex started in 1973. Today, it houses roughly 1,000 residents representing 38 tribal nations. It sits on the northern half of East Phillips, blocks away from the Roof Depot warehouse, where neighbors organized for over a decade for the opportunity to purchase this building from the city of Minneapolis.
After successfully halting the city’s plans to demolish the warehouse in 2023 with the help of community leaders at Little Earth, East Phillips Neighborhood Institute has been making steady progress toward building out the long-held community vision for an indoor urban farm and climate resiliency hub in the heart of this historically neglected neighborhood.
“Little Earth Protectors believe in investing in our future to create economic equality for our community and our youth. We have participated in and with EPNI and supported the cause from the beginning,” said Jolene Jones, Treasurer of Little Earth Protectors and lead organizer for Native American Community Development Institute (NACDI) Make Voting A Tradition, “We wanted to be a part of it. East Phillips is a very diverse community and the opportunities the Roof Depot project would provide for economic opportunities for our people are beyond imagination.”
EPNI has been working with Nexus Community Partners, PathLight Law, and Fundamenta Community Capital as well as receiving pro-bono consultation from law firms including Faegre Drinker, Fredrikson & Byron and Dorsey & Whitney to create a nationally-unique model for community ownership. A multi-member LLC to hold the building would allow the building to be co-owned by three parties: EPNI, a cooperatively-governed community investor group, and the Little Earth Protectors. Governance and profit allocations have not been determined, though these three groups have agreed to meet monthly to determine governance.
Within a drafted provisional structure, EPNI would be the primary decision making entity, with board seats allocated to Little Earth Protectors and the community investment group.
“Across the country, people are looking for actionable and innovative models for economic development based on bottom up governance rooted in a community's needs, rather than paternalistic top down governance. With the help of our partners, East Phillips Neighborhood Institute is building this model,” said Daniel Colten-Schmidt, EPNI Finance and Development Director, “We are so excited that the Little Earth Protectors will be co-owners of the East Phillips Urban Farm because they are the reason that the Roof Depot is still standing today. People in East Phillips have proven time and time again that grassroots community decision-making can achieve amazing results.”
This partnership comes as EPNI is navigating an unexpected loss of pledged state funding needed to complete its current purchase agreement with the city of Minneapolis (link to statement). EPNI will be meeting with the city today, Friday June 27, to discuss this obstacle and negotiate a path forward for site acquisition.
According to a contingency deadline in EPNI’s current purchase agreement with Minneapolis, the city has the option after July 1st to terminate the deal that East Phillips and Little Earth fought for 10 years to secure. Full statement on the recent funding loss can be found here.
Get in touch at media@epnifarm.org, to ask questions, request additional explanatory materials, and get connected with sources for interviews.
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The East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI, epnifarm.org) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization fighting for environmental justice and sustainable economic development in the East Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis, MN. Started by neighbors with a shared dream of reduced pollution and increased access to healthy food, good jobs, and other needed resources, EPNI led a 10-year fight against the city of Minneapolis to win communal stewardship of a 7-acre vacant warehouse in the heart of East Phillips. Now, EPNI and its many collaborators hold the opportunity and responsibility to transform the warehouse into a community-owned, solar-powered multi-use hub and indoor urban farm, with community care at the core.
Photo by Drew Arrieta
