This past summer, when a homeless encampment began growing on the patio of University Lutheran Church of Hope (ULCH) near Dinkytown, neighbors were unsure of how or if they should support the people staying there.

After a long summer of “mostly positive experiences” and needs being met, most of the housed people in the neighborhood had jumped on board with the idea to continue helping the unhoused community. However, after ULCH’s sober high school began the new semester, the church struggled with the decision and ultimately asked the unhoused residents to leave.

“It doesn’t feel good to break up an encampment,” ULCH lead pastor Jen Nagel said. “So then it was a matter of figuring out like, well, what can we do, and not just for us to feel better, but to actually make a difference that has a bigger, long-term impact.”

Now, a group of community members around Dinkytown has been working to continue supporting their unsheltered neighbors in any way they can — just as many of those neighbors have been supporting the community for years.

The Dinkytown unsheltered advocacy group was started by former ULCH minister of faith and community Nick Tangen and has been leading a variety of efforts within the last year, including hygiene and food kit distribution, food insecurity resource promotion and a drop-in day event earlier this month.

“We wanted to make sure that we were doing our best to make these folks feel as welcome here as possible and to make sure that they had a place to be seen and known in Dinkytown,” Tangen said. “If the church can’t be that place, then I don’t know what the hell we’re here for.”

While several of the actions have happened at churches in the area, Nagel stressed that the group’s work is not driven by a religious agenda and is welcome to all without judgment. She said other local organizations — like the Aliveness Project and a variety of other neighborhood associations — are equally important in getting the work done.

University graduate student and Como Cares team founder Cody Hoerning believes it is important to help people who need assistance within the community.

“Too many of us (and I have certainly done it myself) simply pass by those who are struggling without giving it a second thought or lending a helping hand,” Hoerning said in an email to the Minnesota Daily. “This work is also important as a way to destigmatize reaching out for help and talking about personal struggles.”

Advocacy group members and unsheltered people around the area said personal struggles often include things like long-standing mental health issues, problems finding resources and substance abuse.

Chris Zann, a formerly unhoused community member who has lived in the area for about three years, said people will sometimes drink or smoke to push away their worries. Whether they failed to get a job or their mother died, he said alcohol could be a comfort through tough times.

Dinkytown is a “magic street,” Zann said. He said the density of students and businesses, plus the historical legacy — like Bob Dylan’s past in the area — has made it more appealing for unsheltered neighbors to stick around Dinkytown.

Several unhoused people spoke about regularly cleaning up the streets and working to keep the area safe.

“Everyone’s just out here trying to live, man,” said Robert Commodore, a formerly unhoused community member who has been living in a sober house since last April. “It depends on who’s out here day-to-day: who wants to give or who is just trying to take advantage. Everyone can appreciate 20 bucks.”

Several camps often pop up around Dinkytown and unsheltered people have formed a “black and gray market” system of bartering with one another for resources and money. When the wet and cold are some of the biggest threats to their life in the fall and spring, items like socks and spare blankets become extremely valuable commodities.

BeetleJuice, a “free-range” community member who chooses to remain homeless, works as on-site security for ULCH. He said he always makes sure to keep extra essential items for other people he may see on the street.

“I try to provide what I can when I can,” he said. “I know how much it sucks not to have something when you really need it out here.”

Many of them are concerned that more people will experience homelessness after the state’s eviction moratorium is lifted. In the meantime, the advocacy group is still working to get its bearings and become a fixture that neighbors can trust and reach out to. Another drop-in event is on the horizon, and the group is hoping to have more regular things available, like bathroom access.

“I think often in Dinkytown, our unsheltered friends are thought of as problems,” said Tangen, the founder of the advocacy group. “Really, we’re just people helping people or showing ways to have people help themselves. In the end, who can’t get behind that?”

After months of community pushback, a seven-story housing development in Dinkytown was approved by the Minneapolis Planning Commission earlier this month.

The 4th Street Apartments — located at 1309-1315 4th Street SE next to Mesa Pizza— will be an 81-unit apartment building with almost 3,000 sq. ft. dedicated to commercial use on the ground floor. North Bay Companies, the developer, will also include a lobby and amenity areas on the ground floor.

However, some community members remain concerned about the project’s impact on Dinkytown’s historic district and are frustrated that the developer did not make more changes based on their criticisms.

The building will have about six affordable units, the minimum required by the city. But Barbara Camm, Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood Association (MHNA) treasurer, said she is still concerned about the impact on Dinkytown street life and affordable housing.

Community members requested that the development be reduced from seven stories to six, maintain parking minimums and reconsider a “step back” design to mitigate the visual impact of the building. North Bay added the step back to the design that was approved by the planning commission.

The project is part of an ongoing pattern of apartments built in the core blocks of Dinkytown’s business district.

“Student housing is not a bad thing as it is,” said Marcus Mills, a Marcy-Holmes resident and former board member of MHNA. “Luxury housing isn’t a bad thing, either. But anything in excess … can be problematic. And that has been the gross majority of the development in Marcy-Holmes … There’s very little effort to try and balance out the housing.”

After difficulties with historic guidelines and community pushback, the development will not force Camdi and Mesa Pizza to close during construction. Hideaway will close temporarily and reopen in the building’s ground floor. Cosmic Bean Dispensary is expected to close permanently. The neighboring Kollege Klub bar will be untouched by development.

Kristen Eide-Tollefson, founder of the Book House in Dinkytown and coordinator at Preserve Historic Dinkytown (PHD), said she takes issue with the changes it would bring to the street.

“Dinkytown is about accessibility and inclusion,” she wrote in an email to the Minnesota Daily. “Privatizing even a small portion of the small business district (defined as the inside blocks of the 4th and 14th intersection) undermines the whole.”

Eide-Tollefson said PHD members would like to meet with developers again to ask for further changes to the apartment.

“We all understand the developer’s perspective and requirements,” Eide-Tollefson wrote. “The lack of accommodation or consideration of the neighborhood’s perspectives and interests was surprising for a local architect and developer who [knows] so much about Dinkytown, to be unwilling to further discuss the design concerns.”

Garret Duncan, a North Bay development analyst, said the company’s goal is to communicate with the community where they are building as much as possible before and after plans are approved. He said the company often returns to community groups multiple times throughout the planning process, and that they would be willing to collaborate further with Dinkytown and Marcy-Holmes organizations in the future.

“Our goal is to always build something that’s going to fit into the community where it’s being built,” Duncan said. “We really want to make sure that the voices of the community are being heard while also complying with the city’s 2040 plan … It’s a tough medium.”

The project is expected to be completed by March 2023, according to planning documents, barring extensions from the zoning administrator or any permit non-compliance.

An overhaul of the Southeast Como Improvement Association (SECIA) is underway, and the organization is moving forward with the reimagination of community engagement tactics for underrepresented groups in the neighborhood.

The “Reimagining SECIA and Racial Equity Initiative” was approved by the SECIA board Tuesday as part of longtime efforts to diversify the neighborhood organization and improve outreach. The plan, which has been ongoing for about three years, was invigorated by funding requirement changes under the citywide equity-focused Neighborhoods 2020.

Reimagining SECIA includes four components: equity and anti-racism education, neighborhood mapping, improved outreach efforts and a possible modification to SECIA’s structure. However, the group is in discussion with community members before taking action.

Karl Smith, former president and current board member of SECIA, said they do not think the project has found a “sweet spot” yet in making progress but said they think the reliance on community input will be key.

“It’s a work in progress,” Smith said. “You just have to start somewhere and start putting things together to see who you can get on board. You have to have somewhat of a plan and be open to changes based on the interests and willingness of the community.”

The “Racial Equity Framework” portion of the initiative is derived from research by Cody Hoerning, Emily Padrutt and Claudia Santana, who participated in a University of Minnesota civic leadership program. Their work found that SECIA needs an accountability system and racial equity resolutions based on current models. They also recommended a community survey and a welcome packet for new neighbors.

Hoerning said he looks forward to applying information from their work to the Como Cares team, a newly developed public safety group in Southeast Como.

“It’s been a learning experience for me personally,” Hoerning said. “I’ve never really been engaged in so much work like this. … It’s really made me and the team rethink how we go about operating in these systems that perpetuated racial harm.”

Both the mapping component and some of the work done by the equity framework group was informed by the University’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs.

Jessica Focht-Perlberg is still new to her position as executive director of SECIA, but she said she feels ready and excited to help make the neighborhood a more welcoming place.

“The issues of trying to more fully engage underrepresented communities or neighborhoods are not new,” she said. “It’s not a new idea or aspiration, certainly, but I think there’s a new lens to it and a new energy to it and hopefully a new urgency to it.”

Neighborhoods 2020 goes into effect July 1 and requires compliance by Jan. 1, 2022, offering neighborhood organizations additional funding based on various factors. The next step for SECIA’s initiative includes gathering feedback from neighborhood residents at a Feb. 16 Community Project Night.

Al Milgrom was a Dinkytown giant.

He was the “godfather of the Minnesota film scene,” according to a Star Tribune article published after his death. Milgrom founded the Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul, taught cinema at the University of Minnesota and released his beloved 40-year project, a hyperlocal documentary titled “The Dinkytown Uprising.”

He suffered a stroke and died at home just weeks after his 98th birthday, the Star Tribune reported. Milgrom was still working and hoped to finish another documentary this year.

“The spirit of Dinkytown is something that Al, I think … sort of both embodied and brought to light in many ways,” said Kristen Eide-Tollefson, founder of the Book House in Dinkytown and coordinator at Preserve Historic Dinkytown.

A sensitive filmmaker in a changing Dinkytown

At the age of 92, Milgrom released his first feature-length documentary, “The Dinkytown Uprising,” which was a culmination of 40 years of filming the neighborhood.

The film focuses on the Red Barn protests, a student-led occupation of Dinkytown opposing the Red Barn restaurant development from taking over a local business and the Vietnam War. The protest reached its peak around the time four university students were killed by police at a demonstration at Kent State University.

Today’s Dinkytown is no stranger to such development, something which Milgrom never reserved judgment for, according to Dinkytown historian Bill Huntzicker.

Huntzicker said he remembered Milgrom as a sensitive filmmaker. He said Milgrom helped capture Dinkytown’s history and was persistent in preserving the small-town appeal and “architectural integrity” of the neighborhood.

“Dinkytown was a place to feel at home for small-town folks and Al really got that,” Huntzicker said. “We agreed … with a lot of these changes, eventually it won’t be a town and it won’t be dinky.”

The shifting landscape of Dinkytown is ongoing. The COVID-19 pandemic and new commercial developments have led to a string of closures from the Purple Onion to Dinkytown Wine and Spirits and McDonald’s. Community members say the changes create a strain that feels overwhelming at times.

Last year, Milgrom wrote an editorial to the Star Tribune reflecting on Dinkytown’s history and criticizing the gentrification and modernization of the area.

“Today? A different Dinkytown. No longer the students, hippies, neighbors congregating in a mélange of coffeehouse, ma-and-pa grocers, scattered bookstores. Now, gentrified high-rises, smorgasbords and diners, and a Target replacing former Marshall High,” Milgrom wrote. “You will find a far different clientele, along with many foreign student newcomers, all with seemingly little awareness of the 1970 sidewalks underfoot.”

After the George Floyd protests and a contentious election, Milgrom’s film will continue to stand as a time capsule for the echoes of Dinkytown’s rich protest history, said community historian Mike Linnemann.

“Some of the [historical] sources are going to disappear or degrade over time,” Linnemann said. “We’re going to have books on the George Floyd protests and what happened and why we burned down a police station. … That’s no different from this, it’s just that Al did it himself.”

Eide-Tollefson said she will miss Al’s constant presence in Dinkytown and the richness he brought to the neighborhood. She said his critical eye and love for the four square-block town will carry on through his work and the people he met.

“Dinkytown has sort of been a center point for Al’s whole life,” she said. “He traveled and he was in the war. And yet he always came back … His connection with the people of Dinkytown and the pulse of Dinkytown and the creative dimension of Dinkytown was just a constant through all these years.”

Several local mosques have begun to consider locking their doors for the week due to concerns of targeted violence as President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration is on the horizon.

On Tuesday, multiple Muslim community leaders met at Seward neighborhood’s Tawfiq Islamic Center to discuss public safety concerns with Hennepin County Sheriff David Hutchinson and sheriff’s office administrative assistant Abdi Mohamed. After the meeting, the mosque locked its doors for the remainder of the week.

Recent violence committed against East African elders in south Minneapolis and threats of violence at the state Capitol following the Jan. 6 insurrection attempt have aggravated these fears.

Community leader Abdirizak Bihi was a victim of a carjacking in September near where the meeting was held. He said he and other leaders would be comforted by an increased police presence during this time but still hope to see substantial police reform in Minneapolis.

“There are a lot of unreported crimes due to language and cultural barrier,” he said. “This is not the first time [the community has been concerned about violence], and it will not be the last.”

Bihi said he plans to relay recommendations from the meeting to leadership at the Dar Al-Hijrah Mosque in Cedar-Riverside. Multiple imams were present at the meeting and are weighing closing their own mosques through the week.

Meeting attendees also discussed how community centers and mosques that are staying open through the week can stay safe.

Community members repeatedly asked Hutchinson if he recommended closures, but he said he was hesitant to officially make that call. He did offer more patrols near the city’s mosques upon request, depending on officers’ availability, and said his office could also provide community safety training to residents.

He encouraged blanket caution and increased vigilance in the coming weeks.

“Our goal is to make sure that you know we’re here for you,” Hutchinson said in the meeting. “The sheriff’s office is here for you.”

Hutchinson said mosques have a pivotal role in easing community members’ possible hesitation to call the police. He also recommended people use the non-emergency line to report any possible dangers and added that law enforcement will contact community leaders if they learn of any threats.

Community leaders and members from the sheriff’s office said anti-police sentiment can be an obstacle to community outreach efforts and crime reporting.

“We can have better training, hire more people,” Hutchinson said. “Being sheriff, I’m political by nature. But my only concern is people’s safety and public safety. I don’t care about anything else.”

Despite his wariness, Bihi is hopeful about the resilience of his community.

“This isn’t the first time for us as Muslims or those of us with an immigrant background,” Bihi said. “We know we will get over it. We will come out and be fine.”

After 57 years of business on the University of Minnesota campus, the Dinkytown McDonald’s has closed its doors, according to signage posted around the building.

Following a yearslong battle over its fate, the McDonald’s located on the corner of Fourth Street Southeast and 15th Avenue Southeast has been closed for construction. Although the existing structure is slated to be demolished, the restaurant is expected to reopen on the ground floor of the CA Ventures apartment development.

Construction on the apartment complex is expected to begin in summer of next year, pending approval from the city.

Jermel Spears, a supervisor and general manager at the Dinkytown McDonald’s, declined to comment on the closure of the establishment.

This is a breaking news report. More information may be added as it becomes available.

With the race to distribute a COVID-19 vaccine on the horizon, the University of Minnesota has established a national organization to help mitigate the spread of the virus in migrant communities.

Based at the University, the National Resource Center for Refugees, Immigrants and Migrants (NRC-RIM) will work with state and local health departments across the country to develop and disseminate better practices for COVID-19 control and prevention in communities that need it. Key goals include fighting disinformation, destigmatizing healthcare and eliminating barriers for refugee, immigrant and migrant populations.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the International Organization for Migration awarded more than $5 million to help create the center, which is a collaboration of multiple departments and colleges across the University.

“It’s been really exciting so far,” said Erin Mann, NRC-RIM program manager. “There’s a lot of energy and urgency with getting the project up and running in order to get some resources and materials and tools in the hands of state and local health departments.”

Mann works within the University’s Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility, which houses NRC-RIM.

Dr. Shailey Prasad, a professor in family medicine at the University and co-lead of NRC-RIM along with Dr. William Stauffer, said this work will involve creating accurate communications between healthcare professionals and the communities they intend to serve. The center also aims to improve culturally relevant practices and training for those health professionals.

“I would make the case that we need to approach these communities wherever they are,” Prasad said. “In some of the communities, there was more of a communal sense of participation in programs. [We consider] how we can tap into that as a way to approach healthcare messaging. Those are the things that we will be looking at.”

Prasad said the center is especially necessary because of the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on many refugee, immigrant and migrant communities. Although the CDC has not yet identified the full scale of this impact, a growing body of evidence shows that various socioeconomic factors lead to poorer health outcomes in these communities across the U.S.

These factors include: attitudes toward healthcare, density of housing, access to housing, language barriers, working jobs that do not emphasize COVID-19 precautions, distrust and fear of government authority and a predisposition to underlying medical conditions.

Prasad said he thinks the next phase of the work includes vaccination strategies, which would involve tackling issues like vaccination barriers and hesitancy in refugee, immigrant and migrant communities.

Vaccine hesitancy has hit close to home before. In 2011 and 2017, the Somali community in Minnesota experienced large measles outbreaks that have been partially linked to vaccine hesitancy. This was due in part to widespread misinformation fostered by a 1998 study linking certain vaccines to autism.

The study has since been disproven, and almost all ensuing theories have been thoroughly debunked by doctors and scientists. However, it has had a lasting impact on attitudes toward vaccinations — especially those in migrant communities in the United States.

Ahmed Mussa, community health coordinator at the Brian Coyle Center in Cedar-Riverside, said outside efforts to curb wariness around vaccines would be largely ineffective in communities like the one where he works without the assistance of trusted leaders.

“It has to be from someone they know and trust in the community — an elder or an imam or someone who has worked there and knows them,” he said. “It needs to be someone who can clearly say, ‘Here is what it is; here is what it does.’ Before anyone else comes in, they need to listen to people in the community, really hear them, and address those concerns first.”

An attempted armed carjacking occurred in Stadium Village early Monday morning, according to an all-campus alert.

The incident took place near Fulton and Ontario Streets Southeast at approximately 6:30 a.m. The suspect was described as a 5-foot-10 teenage male with a “thin build,” according to the alert. He was said to have displayed a handgun.

This alert was the second in 8 hours, following an alert about a robbery that happened near Coffman Union around 10:15 p.m.

This is a breaking news report. More information will be added as it becomes available.

A robbery happened near Coffman Union Sunday night, according to an all-campus alert.

The incident took place around 10:15 p.m. The suspect was described as male, 5-foot-10 and between 30 to 35 years old.

The University of Minnesota Police Department later apprehended the suspect, who was found near campus and identified with surveillance video, according to an additional SAFE-U alert sent out Monday morning.

This is a breaking news report. More information will be added as it becomes available.

As the results of the 2020 election set in for the rest of the country, University of Minnesota students have started gearing up for an equally — if not more so — divided future.

With some refusing to accept Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election and pro-Trump protests continuing throughout the country, University political groups are already planning for future elections.

Claire Anderson, president of the UMN College Democrats, said the group was disappointed that Democrats were unable to take control of the Minnesota Senate, but wins for Biden and Tina Smith have given the group a necessary morale boost.

“It’s good for us to be able to celebrate a win,” Anderson said. “It kind of rejuvenates us for whatever work we want to do in the future as well like, ‘Hey, we did this. We got this done. Let’s keep going,’ kind of thing.”

Minnesota’s state Legislature will remain divided following the election. The Senate will remain held by the Republicans and the House is still majority DFL.

The support for Biden among Democrats at the University has been mostly subdued. Instead, many said they hope Biden’s presidency will be a vehicle for more progressive policies regarding issues like climate change, criminal justice reform, racial justice and COVID-19 pandemic response.

UMN Students for Biden president Sam Schulenberg said he sees the Biden presidency as a significant first step in returning to “normalcy.” However, Schulenberg said it is important for young people not to begin feeling complacent.

“It’s kind of like we’re in a house and the house is on fire,” Schulenberg said. “Part of the group wants to start building a new house, but the other part wants to just go get a hose. I feel like Joe Biden is that hose.”

Schulenberg said it is too soon to say whether or not the group will dissolve without a clearer sign about Trump’s possible plans to contest the results of the election, but that the group would be happy to do anything they can to help defend Biden’s win.

College Republicans and Collegiate Group for Trump leader Kirby Gibson said the group was disappointed to not have “flipped Minnesota red,” but they were pleased with other gains Republicans made this election.

Gibson said while there are certain state results he’s wary of and that he thinks warrant some sort of investigation, he thinks the “fraud and theft” rhetoric overall is harmful.

Collegiate Group for Trump, a reelection-oriented group, has largely dissolved, but Gibson said that College Republicans are poised to begin preparations for the 2022 and 2024 elections.

“I think the Republican party’s in a very good spot right now,” he said. “I think in 2022, there will be big rejection of the Biden campaign regardless of what happens, and that it’s going to invigorate the Republicans.”

Both College Republicans and College Democrats intend to turn their attention to the run-off races in Georgia that are set for January.