The Citizens League

builds civic imagination

and capacity in Minnesota.

"I Am Minnesota's Future" Video Contest Winners

Congratulations to Nathan Huber and the Polar Producers for their winning entries in the "I Am Minnesota's Future" video contest! The contest asked young people to create short videos answering: "What kind of state do you want to live in when you're an adult, and what do you think ought to be done to make sure that happens?" We got some great responses on topics ranging from global warming to immigration, youth violence to technology. You can find out more about the winners and check out all the videos on www.studentsspeakout.org.

Citizen Involvement Survey

Through the MAP 150 project, the Citizens League has been testing and carefully observing how citizen involvement processes work. An extensive literature search seems to verify much of what we are learning. (It also verifies that the Citizens League is on the cutting edge of understanding citizen involvement processes.) Please help us add to that understanding by taking a short survey online.

Two versions of the survey have been prepared -- one for the public, and one for public officials. The results will be tallied and compared and posted online at www.map150.org.

Your contribution is important -- please take a few minutes to complete this multiple choice survey -- and pass it on to others! Click here for more information and to take the survey.

Board member Jennifer Godinez awarded Humphrey Public Leadership Award

Congratulations to Jennifer Godinez, executive director of the Minnesota College Access Network (MCAN)! Jennifer has been selected to receive a 2008 Hubert H. Humphrey Public Leadership Award, honoring her contributions to the common good through public leadership and service. Read more about the award and this year's recipients on the Humphrey Institute's website.

Support the Citizens League (for free!)

The Citizens League has registered with www.goodsearch.com and www.goodshop.com. Use GoodSearch as your internet search engine, choose the Citizens League as your designated cause, and we receive $0.01 for each query. Likewise, visit any of hundreds of online retailers, including Amazon.com and Travelocity, and the Citizens League receives about 3% of your purchase - at no extra cost to you.

Citizens League strongly opposes use of Fiscal Disparities for MOA Expansion

The Citizens League has urged the Minnesota House and Senate not to use the Fiscal Disparities pool to subsidize the Mall of America Phase II, yet it appears that legislative leadership is committed to a subsidy package that includes fiscal disparities to subsidize a large ramp with "free" parking for $200 million. This would violate the fundamental purpose of the pool, set a very bad precedent and increase property taxes on everyone else in the region to subsidize one development. Read the Citizens League's letter advising House members to oppose this proposal.

The Citizens League public policy work online

Check out the new Public Policy section of the Citizens League website. This section is a gateway to all of our policy work. Here, you can view the current work of study committees, see progress on policy advancement, and much more - and learn how to get involved in all of this. You can also find this section under the "What We Do" heading in green, above.

Project One-Pagers

Want to know more about the Citizens League's current projects, but missed the Policy Open House? Learn about various projects - including study committees, convening efforts, and policy advancement work - and how you can get involved. Click here to view the one-pagers, which were on hand at the Open House on February 28th. Also, check out the Policy Open House webpage to view presentations given, summaries of the activities, and other information from the event.