Tag: Minnesota

The Twin Cities Find the Key to a Happy Commute

Posted on by robbie

Waiting at transit stops is hardly enjoyable. Between navigating crowds, dirty platforms and schedule delays, public transportation can be a lot for commuters to endure. But part of that difficulty may be just be perception.
A study from 1993 found that waiting just one minute felt more like 4.4 minutes of traveling — which means if it takes you 20 minutes to get home, it’s likely you’ll feel you should have been there after five minutes of waiting.
While more transit agencies are alleviating the problem by updating stops with real-time schedules, it turns out that the setup of a stop might make the wait a little more bearable.
According to an unpublished working paper from researchers at University of Minnesota, a stop’s amenities — such as benches, shelters or visible schedules — may play more of a role than we think. The study found that riders at a stop with no shelter perceived a five minute wait to feel more like six minutes, whereas commuters at other types of “premium” stops (such as those with shelters or full stations) perceived a five minute wait to be closer to three minutes.
Researchers surveyed 822 bus and train riders in three types of categories: no shelter (a curbside stand), a basic bus shelter (including a bench and weather protection) and premium stations (completely or partially enclosed).

“That’s actually a very good thing, because this amenity shortens people’s estimation of waiting time,” says Professor Yingling Fan, a transport scholar leading the project.

The study also finds that posted schedules are more effective at low-frequency stops while high-traffic stops could benefit from displaying wait times between arrivals.

While the study reaffirms there is a psychological component to good transit planning, the findings are limited based on short waiting times. Shelters seem to make less of a difference after 10 minutes of waiting, however, few participants actually waited for longer than that period of time. Posted schedules caused people to overestimate how long they had been standing at a stop, but after 10 minutes, people at stops with schedules began to underestimate the amount of time they had been waiting. For example, 10 minutes would seem more like eight-and-a-half minutes.
As City Lab points out, human tendency to round up numbers in fives and 10s makes it more difficult to distinguish the difference between eight minutes versus 10 minutes. The study also neglects to probe why covered or enclosed shelters are perceived faster than curbside stops.
But ultimately, the takeaway is that a basic bus shelter (which can cost around $6,000 in the Twin Cities), may be a cheap solution to improving commutes.
MORE: Public Transportation Is Getting a Major Makeover

For More Than 100 Years, This House Has Been Welcoming New Americans

Posted on by robbie

Neighborhood House in west St. Paul, Minn. has come a long way since Russian immigrants in the area built a simple wooden structure in 1897. First opened to give newcomers the support and information they needed to make their way in this country, Neighborhood House now has a bigger and fancier home and the immigrants it serves come from different countries than they did 117 years ago. But the nonprofit’s mission remains the same.
Neighborhood House supports immigrants of every kind — from struggling newcomers who rely on its food pantry, family crisis center and refugee resettlement services, to people striving to become educated and advance their careers. It also offers a free preschool for the children of immigrants and an after-school program for teens that teaches them about health, education and careers and encourages them to engage in community service. But that’s not all. The center also provides health programs, gang-prevention activities, English language classes and GED prep courses.
Over the years, people from about 40 countries have benefitted from Neighborhood House’s services.
Nancy Brady, president of Neighborhood House, tells Angela Davis of CBS Minnesota, “Our mission at Neighborhood House is to help people gain the knowledge, the skills and the confidence that they need to overcome whatever the challenges are that they’re facing in their life — and move forward.”
The nonprofit’s three-year-old college access program is already changing lives — providing scholarships to adults of all ages who want to attend college. “Year one, nine people went to college,” Brady says. “Last year, 61 of our participants went to college. That’s how we measure success.”
Neighborhood House is funded through donations from its community, and for more than 100 years, residents in St. Paul have considered it a worthy investment. “We want to help people dream,” Brady says, “and then work to make their dreams come true, and to help all people see a positive future.”
MORE: From Field Hands to Farmers: This Program Helps Latino Immigrants Become Landowners
 

This Award-Winning Veteran Is a One-Woman Giving Machine

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The Veterans’ Voices Award is an honor given by the Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC) that recognizes former service members giving back to their communities in a way “that is going above and beyond the call of duty,” MHC Communications Director Christi Shortridge tells William Loeffler of the Southwest Washington County Bulletin.
Recently, 28-year-old Amber Manke of Milaca, Minn. was honored with this distinction for her incredible record of service.
“I’m incredibly humbled and wondering why I was selected over all the other candidates that were nominated,” Manke says. But those familiar with all of the good work that Manke does in her community aren’t surprised.
In addition to her school and military duties, Manke volunteered over 100 hours last year at Second Harvest, Habitat for Humanity, Feed My Starving Children, Make A Wish Foundation and the Mission Continues (a nonprofit that supports veterans as they transition to civilian life). Additionally, she coaches a team for Girls on the Run, an organization that helps girls — especially low-income ones — learn about running and healthy behavior.
She also took time on Veterans Day last year to speak to elementary school students about what the holiday means. “I like being a soldier,” she told a group of third graders, according to Lesley Toth of the Mille Lacs County Times. “I love going out and making sure you guys are safe back here.”
Manke helps others in part because she knows what it’s like to be in need of assistance. She grew up in poverty with an out-of-work mother, living on a farm with 13 brothers and sisters, often visiting food banks when they were hungry. Manke began working when she was 15 years old and worked two jobs while attending college.
In 2012, Amber Manke was selected from among thousands of applicants to become a Tillman Military Scholar. The scholarships, sponsored by the Pat Tillman Foundation, help military members pay school expenses that aren’t covered by the G.I. Bill. Manke is using her funding to pursue a Ph.D. in organizational leadership and policy development at the University of Minnesota.
And that’s not all she’s been up to. Somehow, she found the time to complete the 2013 New York City Marathon, raising money for the Pat Tillman Foundation.
“Everyone says that they don’t have enough time,” she says. “I truly believe that you make time for the things that are important to you.”
It’s a safe bet that we can expect to hear about more accomplishments from this dynamic veteran in years to come.
MORE: When Vandals Trashed A Park, A Group of Veterans Came to the Rescue
 

What the Latest Technology Means for the Farm-to-Table Movement

Posted on by robbie

There really is nothing quite like a vegetable picked fresh off the vine – the taste, texture and smell are all one-of-a-kind. While those with gardens are very familiar with it, the vast majority of us probably aren’t — and we certainly wouldn’t expect to encounter it in a supermarket or restaurant.
Until now. The business Fresh with Edge is closing the gap between farm and table by redefining the traditional farmer/consumer experience.
Through the use of hydroponics and aquaponics, Fresh with Edge grows their herbs and greens on five feet vertical towers inside a greenhouse system, according to Sustainable Cities Collective. When the greens are ready, the towers are simply transferred to the designated location where they’ll be consumed (think: a grocery store or eatery).
This Rochester, Minn. business is owned by Chris and Lisa Lukenbill, who started it back in 2011 because of an overwhelming urge to know where their food came from. Although both work in computer science and neither of them grew up on a farm, the couple used agricultural knowledge they had from aunts and uncles to get the business rolling.
It wasn’t an easy start. In between working full time and raising their two children, Chris and Lisa were learning how to run Fresh with Edge through a series of trial and error.
That all changed, however, after Chris attended an aquaponics conference in 2012. There, he met Nate Storey who operates Bright Agrotech, manufacturer of the ZipGrow vertical farming tower. Storey offered his assistance, and after a local food co-op let them sell onsite, the Lukenbill’s business began to grow.
Currently, Fresh with Edge has 300 towers in its facility and is connecting with consumers across the Rochester area. Its greens and herbs are sold at two local restaurants – Tonic in the Midtown district and Rainbow Café in Pine Island. It can also be found at the People’s Fund Co-op where its produce is sold by the ounce.
While Fresh with Edge used to actively participate in farmer’s markets, it’s taking a break to explore other avenues.
One of those is home sales, which will allow customers to purchase their own towers complete with fully grown greens and herbs, such as lettuce, bok choy, kale and chard. Additionally, the Lukenbills look to add more fresh, local and nutritious foods to their business, and they’re also looking into a way to use waste heat from electricity production to heat the greenhouse, which is currently only in operation from April to early November.
For Chris, though, the towers are a way of bringing people closer to the roots of the food they are eating.
“The towers help restaurant customers make connections with their food,” Chris tells Sustainable Cities Collective. “There is lots of opportunity for more growth.”
MORE: How Texas is Turning Toilet Water into Drinking Water
Correction: An earlier version of this article misreported the name of  Nate Storey’s business, Bright Agrotech. We apologize for the error.
 

Minnesota’s Bold Move to Hire More Employees with Disabilities

Posted on by robbie

A snapshot of disability in America:
There’s an estimated 56.7 million disabled citizens.
The national unemployment rate for people with disabilities is more than twice the national average, sitting at 13.3 percent.
Which is why Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton is planning to reform hiring practices with a new executive order that mandates state agencies to begin employing more people with disabilities. Dayton is aiming to raise the percentage of government employees with disabilities from 3.2 percent in 2013 to 7 percent by 2018, the Star Tribune reports.
Dayton has more recently come under fire from disability advocate groups criticizing stalled reforms in helping Minnesota’s disabled population, which includes one in five residents. Such disabilities range in physical and mental issues that can hinder an individual’s ability to perform a major activity.
“It’s a slam dunk, politically,” said Galen Smith, co-facilitator of the Minneapolis chapter of ADAPT, a disability advocate group. “This shows leadership while acknowledging the problem.”
Minnesota has fallen behind neighboring states like Iowa (4.4 percent) and  Wisconsin (5.8 percent) when it comes to disability hires. But under Dayton’s new order, more hiring managers will be required to take training on recruitment and hiring of disabled people while also reporting progress every quarter.
Dayton is not the first leader to address the growing problem. Although the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) prohibits discrimination against anyone with disability, some state agencies stopped tracking recruitment of disability hires, diminishing a law that once was a hiring focus.

“The attitude became, ‘Well, we have the ADA so we don’t have to worry anymore,’ ” said Roberta Opheim, Minnesota’s ombudsman for mental health and developmental disabilities. “That doesn’t affect my department or my division. There just wasn’t a lot of emphasis on inclusive employment.”

But since 2010, President Barack Obama has implored the federal government to hire 100,000 people with disabilities by 2015, and governors in California, Oregon, Florida, Ohio and Delaware have signed similar executive orders as Minnesota’s.
This isn’t Dayton’s first effort to increase services for the state’s disabled population, either. Last year, the governor announced the “Olmstead Plan,” a multi-year outline to expand Minnesota’s services for people living with disabilities or mental illness. But advocates argue the state is moving too slowly to implement new practices, which is why Dayton’s recent order signals a shift toward change.
MORE: This Autistic Professor Uses His Disability to Teach Others Like Him

How Second Chances Are Helping States Reduce Their Crime Rates

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Being convicted of a crime can certainly have lifelong ramifications that don’t necessarily involve life behind bars without parole. It can mean a lifetime of unemployment.
Minneapolis-raised Kissy Mason witnessed this firsthand in her own family. “People in my family were being locked up, and then they were locked out of a right to live, a right to employment,” she told Nur Lalji of Yes! Magazine.
Seventy percent of people released from prison commit another crime within three years, and part of this recidivism rate is due in part to how difficult it is for them to find a job.
Mason was determined to make better choices for herself than those being made by her family members. But in 2006, she was involved in a domestic argument that escalated, leading to a felony conviction. Although she never went to jail — she served probation instead — whenever she filled out an application for employment, she had to check the ubiquitous box indicating that she was a convicted felon. This status also disqualified her for low-income Section 8 housing.
Instead of lamenting the situation, Mason worked to change it. She joined the campaign to “ban the box,” which was started by All of Us or None (a group founded by formerly incarcerated people that had difficulty finding work) in 2003. Since then, 12 states have removed this question from job applications. Employers can still conduct criminal background checks, but by the time they get that far in the hiring process, they’ve usually had a chance to study the applicant’s other qualifications.
Mason’s home state, Minnesota, enacted legislation banning the box in January 2014. Because of the initiative, one of the state’s major corporations, Target, has stopped using the check-off box on job applications not just in its Minnesota stores— but throughout the country.
“Sometimes people bar you from jobs forever because of one incident, and I don’t think that’s fair,” Mason told Lalji. “People should be given another chance. It shouldn’t be one time and you’re out.”
MORE: Meet A Former Big-City Police Chief Who Wants to Turn American Law Enforcement On Its Head
 

Helping Veterans Is As Easy As Drinking This Beer. Seriously.

Posted on by robbie

In the summertime, the most exertion many of us are willing to commit involves turning over some hamburgers on the barbecue. But a new brewery with a special mission is making helping veterans as easy as cracking open a bottle of beer.
Navy veteran Paul Jenkins and Marine Corps veteran Mike Danzer founded the Veteran Beer Company in 2012 with the goal of easing the veteran employment crunch by creating a company that would employ veterans and generate profits that could be donated to charities that help veterans. They began selling their two varieties—Blonde Bomber and The Veteran—on Veteran’s Day in 2013, and the company has been expanding ever since.
“We only anticipated to sell about 2,000 cases our first year,” Josh Ray, regional director of Veteran Brewing Company told Nicole Johnson of Valley News Live. “After four months, we did over 30,000 cases, and we’re pretty close to approaching 60,000 cases right now.”
Beer drinkers can now find Veteran Beer Company’s brews for sale in Indiana, Illinois, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Ten percent of the profits go to veterans’ charities, and the rest is channeled back into the company. Veteran Beer Company, which brews its beer in Cold Spring, Minnesota, employs only veterans, and plans to hire more vets as it continues to expand.
“Some of the things that veterans are promised aren’t really always followed through on,” Ray said. “With this, it’s really our opportunity to give back.” And anyone planning to buy a six pack to celebrate a lazy summer afternoon can give back too.
MORE: When This Marine Couldn’t Find A Job, He Started A Business To Help Other Returning Vets

How The University of Minnesota Became an Incubator for Entrepreneurs

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Icy temperatures come to mind more often than innovation when thinking about the University of Minnesota. But the Twin Cities-based school has spent the last decade ramping up efforts to commercialize research discoveries while producing dozens of patents and companies.
The 48,000-student campus has become one of the largest public-research universities in the nation, according to the National Journal, allowing entrepreneurs, public research and new and existing companies to thrive. The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (UMTC) UMTC ranked 14th nationally in higher education research-and-development spending in 2012 — more than the revered Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The school’s efforts has led to an $8 billion economic impact on the metropolitan area each year, university officials said, but that’s hardly its ripple effect. That estimate excludes the impact of research discoveries across the country. In fact, since 2007, university research has produced 65 companies. Last year alone, UMTC filed 148 patents on behalf of professors and students.
One successful example is that of Jian-Ping Wang, a Minnesota professor who owns three companies and 39 patents. The Chinese immigrant has lived in Minnesota since 2002, working as a member of the electrical- and computer-engineering department.
Minnesota’s Office for Technology Communication (OTC) makes it easy for entrepreneurs like Wang to contact to see if technology has enough commercial promise and is new enough to file for a patent or an intellectual-property disclosure. While most research universities operate a similar office, Minnesota’s OTC employs people with both business and science acumen as well as runs a startup incubator.
“Everyone in our office has come from industry, which is unique. And we run this like a company,” says Jay Schrankler, a former manufacturing executive who runs OTC.
The Venture Center, the startup incubator, recruits a “CEO-in-residence” for entrepreneurs like Wang who are busy with day jobs. These CEOs take over newfangled companies while innovators like Wang can stay on in an advisory role or hold equity.

“We talk a lot about start-up companies, but that’s only about 10 percent of our activity here. The other 90 percent are other existing companies that license our technology,” Schrankler said.

According to Scrhankler, when he first began at UMTC in 2007, there were 193 invention disclosures, or the step prior to patent applications. Last year the campus saw 331.

More recently, the university launched the Minnesota Innovation Partnerships (MN-IP), which gives companies seeking university research the exclusive rights to any patents or intellectual property that results in the study. Minnesota welcomed 41 of these type of partnerships last year. Though much of the university’s research is still funded by federal grants — 70 percent — budget cuts in federal spending has forced Minnesota to get creative with corporate partnerships.

As the university begins seeking out more partnership opportunities, it continues to expand its network of leaders and businesses in both the public and private sector. It’s no secret that research universities can create jobs, but investing in an entrepreneurial-driven program like UMTC’s will be a model that more schools can look to as public funding dwindles.

MORE: Why It Took A Plea From A Pizza Guy to Increase Michigan’s Higher Education Funding

How Can Two Cities Develop the Area Between Them?

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With all the reports of a lack of funding of infrastructure and transit projects nationwide, the Twin Cities have some good news to share.
Last Saturday, they celebrated the opening of a third light-rail line: the Green Line.
The nearly $1 billion transportation project is touted as more than just an engineering project to connect the vein that pulses from St. Paul to Minneapolis — it’s the city’s biggest foray into economic revitalization yet.
The Green Line initiative is the result of more than three decades of planning — returning the vacant lots and blighted 11-mile stretch between the two cities back into the bustling corridor it once was during the early part of last century. Known as the Central Corridor, the Green Line’s route will provide public transit from the state Capitol through the area of immigrant-owned, small businesses and to the University of Minnesota’s campus.
But the project is more than just a means of transportation. Both city mayors contend the goal is to develop the stretch between St. Paul and Minneapolis, attracting new residents and businesses, underscoring that improved infrastructure can lead to growing neighborhoods, the National Journal reports.
A variety of developers and contractors have already spent $2.5 billion in construction and redevelopment on 121 projects over the last five years within a half-mile of the Green Line, according to local planning agency the Metropolitan Council.
But community members are also pitching in with planning. The Central Corridor Funders Collaborative (CCFC), comprised of 12 local and national foundations, has spent $10 million on strategy, planning, and funding initiatives throughout the corridor. In fact, the CCFC, the St. Paul city government, and the Metropolitan Council have doled out more than $3.5 million in loans to more than 200 small businesses in the area.The CCFC is also working with developers to create affordable-housing and assist students with housing and internships along the route.
The CCFC projects the Central Corridor will require 70,000 new housing units and $7 billion in development in the next 30 years with the addition of the Green Line, CCFC director Jonathan Sage-Martinson says.
The key to revitalization is transit-oriented development, or creating self-sustainability through commercial and residential development that hinges on good public transit,  according to the MinnPost.

“The experience across the country is that creating successful transit-oriented development takes not just transit, but the real commitment to create successful places,” said Adam Harrington, director of Service Development at the Metropolitan Council. “With the Green Line, we are really living that out.”

Along with new development, the Green Line has given many communities a boost in marketing and debuting each as cultural destinations. Part of Saturday’s grand opening included different celebrations at each stop, put on by each community.

“Transit is fundamentally about connecting — connecting one neighborhood to another, one city to another, a working mom to quality child care, a college student to classes, baseball fans to the stadium, and employers to their employees, ” said Metropolitan Council Chair Susan Haigh. “Implementing a comprehensive transit vision makes us stronger, healthier and more connected metro region.”

MORE: Minnesota Looks to a Historic Structure to Help End Veteran Homelessness

Can a Reverse Boot Camp Help Veterans Find Jobs?

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When veterans return from serving their country, it can be hard for them to figure out how to switch gears and transition into a new career.
Genesis10, a St. Paul-based technology and business consulting firm, is doing its part to help veterans go “from deployed to employed,” according to a motto on its website. Part of the process involves what they call a “reverse boot camp,” which helps former service members understand how a business mindset differs from the military one. One specific part of the training? Teaching soldiers “corporate speak,” which is different than how they talked in the military.
Katie Garske, a Genesis10 communications and social media manager told Elizabeth Millard of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal — which named the firm one of its Eureka! Award winners for innovative businesses in the Twin Cities — that lots of programs try to help vets find jobs, but “while well-intentioned, many of these efforts fail to make a significant impact on veteran unemployment, because each approach only partially addresses the issues that contribute to the overall problem.”
After finding there was a persistent demand for IT employees, Genesis10 hired Marine Corps veteran and reserve member Nick Swaggert in 2013 to run its veterans program. The company begins by evaluating prospective veteran employees to find out what their aptitudes and interests are. When it determines a vet would be a good fit for the IT or business sectors, Genesis10 welcomes him or her into its reverse boot camp, so they learn what the firm’s clients are looking for in an employee.
On Genesis10’s website, one veteran writes about his five-month frustrating search for a job that ended when he met a recruiter from Genesis10 looking for veterans with experience in GIS (aka Geographical Information Systems), a military specialization.
“Much of the messaging surrounding veteran unemployment has been ‘do it because it’s patriotic,'” Garske told Millard. “But veterans are not pity hires. Our clients are hiring them because it is a smart business decision.”
MORE: Does Military Jargon Prevent Vets from Landing Jobs?