A Bright Future Awaits the East Phillips Community with the EPNI at the Helm
Maggie Lile, features editor
Just a few weeks ago on Sept. 21, the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI) hosted a Harvest Moon Block Party. This festival, located in Cedar Field Park, featured food, art, dance and music, as well as other activities focusing on community building and youth programming. But what is the story behind this celebration?
The East Phillips neighborhood has long been a victim of environmental racism. If you’re not familiar with the term, it is “the intentional siting of polluting and waste facilities in communities primarily populated by African Americans, Latines, Indigenous People, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, migrant farmworkers, and low-income workers,” as defined by Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., a civil rights activist, in an article from the Natural Resources Defense Council. This has manifested into countless social issues throughout history, such as redlining, lack of access to safe drinking water and much, much more.
It can be hard to see, but in reality, environmental racism is all around us every single day — even here in Minneapolis. For example, according to an EPNI report, “East Phillips has some of the highest rates of asthma, lead poisoning, and heart disease in Minnesota,” pointing to a clear correlation between environmental factors and health. “For generations — ever since Minneapolis zoned the extremely racially-diverse and working class neighborhood of East Phillips for heavy industrial use — residents here have been breathing in extremely concentrated air pollution. One can taste it on a bad day, with particulates spewing from an asphalt plant, a metal foundry, a roofing company, and three highways.”
EPNI formed to combat these issues and, after a 10-year battle of advocating for the East Phillips neighborhood, May 2023 marked a major victory for the company: rights to an abandoned warehouse were granted! This warehouse was originally seen as disposable by the city of Minneapolis, where the plan for the existing structure was to be torn down and make space for a public works facility, which would just add to the pollution in the area. Instead, EPNI saw the warehouse as an opportunity for their neighborhood; with the warehouse in the hands of EPNI, according to their website, the space will be given a new life as the face of “personal, social, environmental, and economic health” in the East Phillips neighborhood. Retail spaces for small businesses, a community kitchen, job training facilities, housing services, art studios and even an indoor farm are all on track to be seen within this new community space.
Instead, EPNI saw the warehouse as an opportunity for their neighborhood; with the warehouse in the hands of EPNI, according to their website, the space will be given a new life as the face of “personal, social, environmental, and economic health” in the East Phillips neighborhood.
East phillips neighborhood institute
As EPNI prepares to buy the warehouse, this transformation is just beginning. Currently, funds are being raised for the pre-development plan, including tasks such as environment, building and land assessments, legal consultation for the durability of the project and architectural blueprints. The next steps “will be centered around structural renovations and installing a rooftop solar array – estimated to cost $15 million,” EPNI stated on their website. With a big dream comes a big price tag, which EPNI hopes to fund through government grants, crowdfunding and other types of donations.
While the annual Harvest Moon Block Party celebrates the East Phillips neighborhood’s unique culture and EPNI’s overall progress, their work is never done. As EPNI paves the road for this never-seen-before type of community space, helping out in any way possible is greatly appreciated. With a quick visit to EPNI’s website, you can see what roles are needed to help this project thrive. Volunteers are needed in areas of graphic design, social media, communications, translation, grant writing, donations and much more. This is just the tip of the iceberg of all that EPNI has and will continue to do — a brighter future awaits.
Link to EPNI press photos for new community space
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