hey everybody, this is Lisa from the Greater East Side District Two Community Council, and this is D two and U. Today we are talking to Megan, who has been partnering with us for the past few months on an amazing project, raising funds for East Side families that have been impacted by the ICE operation Metro Surge. So, welcome Megan, and thanks for coming on the pod today. Yeah, thanks for having me. Let's start by telling everyone a little bit about you. do you live over here on the east side? I do, I have lived on the east side for about 10 years. I live, on the other side of the east side. I live in more of like the Highwood Hills area, but my husband grew up on the greater East side, so he has been an east sider for his whole life. Fantastic. And so let's talk a little bit about your group. So how did the. East side renegades come together. And, when did you first start organizing this group? So we are a group of parents, who all have kids that attend East side schools and we all live on the east side. And we all got brought together through, a larger network, through the St. Paul Public School system, to address the issues that were happening at the beginning of Operation Metro. Surge. We were noticing that, our schools were being watched and our kids and their families weren't feeling safe. So we kind of all came together as a larger group. And we saw on the east side especially that it was a very vulnerable area. As I'm sure you know, the east side is made up of. Mostly people of color. I think it's over 70% people of color, with about 20% of those people being immigrants. And so we were a really heavily targeted area. And very quickly in the work that we were doing throughout the school district, we saw the disparities across St. Paul. A lot of the areas in St. Paul were able to mobilize really fast. They were able to raise a bunch of money through their. Already, made PTOs. They had a lot of people that were able to volunteer and the east side, that just wasn't the case. We didn't have people that could volunteer because as I said. Made up of a vulnerable population. We weren't trying to get that vulnerable population to be in the forefront of what we were doing. And most of our schools, we have 20 schools on the east side, and less than half of them have established PTOs. And out of those about eight that have PTOs, most of'em are not functioning. And so we actually couldn't collect any money. Through the PTOs, for most of these schools. So the schools didn't have any way to accept any kind of fundraising or mutual aid. And so, a couple of us came together and decided to start the East Side Rent Relief Fund in order to bridge that gap for those families, and have a place that we could start collecting money, to be able to give them out to those families that were sheltering in place, during the operation, that weren't able to work and. Not pay their rent. And so we reached out to Lisa at the council to be our fiscal sponsor.'Cause we are not a nonprofit. We are just, like I said, a group of parents that kind of came together and our, you know, east Side Rental Relief fund and partnership with the District two Community council was born. That's wonderful. About how many parents are we talking that are working on the east side? They're so, I. It's kind of like, it's a, it's a larger system, so Sure. There are three of us, that are kind of like the lead of our region, which is half of the east side. So the east side is kind of broken up into two regions because it's so big. So there are about four parents that are kind of in charge of the east side region, and then each school within the regions have their own parent captains too. Okay. Well, I, I tell you, we were happy that you reached out to us because as we were noticing all of these things coming down, we didn't exactly know what our place was, what we should be doing, but we wanted to do something and just was at, as I was at my wits ends trying to say, you know, what can we do? I got your phone call and, just for folks to know, so far we have raised approximately$191,000 and given away approximately 127,000 to about a hundred families. What are some of the things that your group has been doing to raise those funds? I know that we have been, putting it out on social media, ev every chance we get. We got some nice, sized donations from the Minnesota Immigrant, resource Network. Rac. What are some of the things that you've been doing to raise awareness and, and, do some more fundraising for the fund? So, so much of these efforts, for our fund and all the other rental funds across Minnesota have been like true mutual aid. So it's been community members that have been donating money. So we have our fundraiser that, is put on through Better World and we also have a t-shirt fundraiser. So we're selling t-shirts and sweatshirts, east Side and non East. Side apparel. And then we have had one in-person fundraiser where we raised almost$10,000, which was amazing. But really the majority of where our money is coming from is from people like you who is just here to support the East side. It shows true east side pride and it shows that we just really take care of ourselves. You know, this has been a really trying time, but it's also been. A really uniting time. I think post COVID, I noticed, and I'm sure you've seen this too, everyone just shut up in their homes and they haven't come back out. And this has really given us an opportunity that it's an awful reason, but it's a great opportunity for us to unite and take care of our neighbors and ourselves. So, I, I think this has just been an amazing opportunity for us to take that next step on being neighbor and taking care of our neighbors. So what have you, oh, first let me ask this. How does a family get qualified or how do they apply for funds? So we are a referral only service. So we service, the. St. Paul Public Schools on the east side. So the, the families that apply have to have children that attend, a school on the east side, or they have to attend like an early childhood program and live on the east side. And so. We give out our information, our encrypted link to the school workers, mostly social workers at each school, the social workers. Then identify the families that need the help, and then they submit a form with the family's information. And you know, honestly, those social workers. They know who's in need and they're doing the hard work, during this time and then before, and I'm sure long after they'll be doing the hard work What have you heard from some of these families? Have you had any response directly from the families? Have you heard, have we been able to save any families from being evicted? What have you heard so far? Absolutely. So I am in the very wonderful place of the person that gets to communicate with the families. And so I'm the one that gets to reach out to the families and tell them that they've been approved. And a lot of times there is a language barrier and we have to work through that, but a lot of times I can communicate with them and they're just so grateful. You know, these are really hardworking people. That didn't wanna be put in this situation. Right, right. And they are just so grateful that there is somebody to help them in their most trying time and to help them with dignity and to help them in like a really culturally appropriate way where we're not taking a lot of information from them. We're helping them to feel safe and heard. And they're just all really thankful that a program like this has existed because. I, I can't imagine how scary it would be to be fearing for your family's future in our country. And then also losing your housing. Yeah. And being put out on the street in the winter in Minnesota. Right. It's, it's absolutely terrible. And there are no safeguards for them. No, there is. The city has not the city, the state. No one has passed any safeguards for these people and so. Families are just so thankful. I think as of today, we have directly kept at least a dozen families from eviction. But we have also paid back rent for almost half of the families that have applied. And so also in that regard, keeping them from being evicted. And it's, it's been just. It's, it's felt really great, but the need is also so great that it, it can also feel kind of crushing. Absolutely. Absolutely. And we know that, you know, we keep being told that ICE activities have cooled a little in the neighborhoods, but they're definitely still here. Mm-hmm. People are still afraid. And now the media seems to be deflected into other areas, so there hasn't been as much attention. Um, many of the funds are now starting to, you know, say, oh, we'll be here until end of March. You know, we'll be here maybe till mid-April, you know? I think that we've had the benefit so far of being able to, every time we think we're, we're done, we'll, we get another wonderful donation again. MCK has been fantastic. Mm-hmm. MCK and Neighbors Helping Neighbors has also And Neighbors Helping Neighbors. Yes, exactly. The Minneapolis Foundation that's been re-granting hundreds of thousands of dollars and it's just amazing. Yes. Yes, indeed. We, we don't wanna forget about those folks. And then also, the generous contributions to Yes, through the website as well. How long, it's hard to say,, but what is your estimate of how long that you plan to continue this work? That's, that's the question, Lisa. It's a million dollar question, isn't it? It's a million dollar question. I wish we had a million dollars. Yeah. So I mean, when we originally started talking about this, it was meant to be, I think, pretty short term. I don't think either of us thought that this would be months and months. Right. But like you said, money kind of keeps falling from the sky and we keep being able to fund people and so. I feel like right now it would be a real disservice to say we're stopping. Mm-hmm. But we also can't do this forever. Right. And so I think right now we're just really having to be really fluid about it and. Continue to fund as we see that there is need. And as long as that we have the money to do it, you know, once school is out, it's gonna be a lot harder for us since we do work on referral through social workers. So. Right. I mean, I would, I would guess that probably before that would be. Around that time and you know, we're hoping to gather some more resources, so we'll have some more places that we can send people in order to keep getting funding if they need it, because it's gonna take families a really long time to come back from this, whether, oh yeah, you start working again or not, it's gonna take a really long time for families to feel stable, enough to have enough money to pay for all of their. Their normal necessities that they need every day. Right, exactly. So what are some of the things that you've learned through this process? Oh gosh. Lots of things. I've learned a lot about, Being an advocate for people. I've learned a lot about the difference between charity and mutual aid and helping people the way that they need to be helped and they've asked to be helped, not the way that we think we can help them. Having cultural responsiveness when it comes to giving mutual aid, I think is a really big one that I don't think a lot of people talk about. And just that there are, there aren't these stop gaps for people. Nothing was set up for this kind of horrific event, even after we went through COVID and Yeah. You know, after we, we went through George Floyd, like there was still, there was nothing in place and so there was no roadmap for this, and I think. St. Paul and Minnesota have now started to build that roadmap for other places because we know that Metro surge isn't gonna end here. It's just gonna move on somewhere else, and they're gonna keep changing their tactics. And now we have a really good game plan of how we have successfully been able to fight against them. And so that's been a really great thing to learn and to help other people learn. Yeah, and from our perspective, we've always had, a great partnership with the St. Paul School district, but they have so many limitations on what and rightly so to protect the kids, because ultimately that's what they're there for. But to have this relationship with you and your group, you know, if God forbid something like this happens again, you know who to call, you can call me, I can call you, we can start this process again or something similar based on what the needs are at this time. So I think what we've learned is, you know, maybe not focus so much on. The structure, of the St. Paul School district, but maybe start working with these parents, the parent, teacher, organization, that sort of thing. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think, like you said, there's so much red tape when it comes to schools, and so it is like you have to work outside of that sometimes in order to actually get things done.'cause administrators have their hands tied, they can't, they can't be the forefront leader of these things because of. Unions and you know, the feds and everything. So no, making this connection, like I think I told you at the beginning, I didn't know what a community council was until I reached out to you, and now I'm like so interested in it. I think it's such an a cool thing that most people probably don't know exists in their community that can be so beneficial for the community. Right, right. Well, so, Thinking beyond end of school year, are you planning on, you know, continuing to meet, to talk about, what needs there are in the community way, other partners that we can pull in? What's, what's your plan for beyond this crisis? As I stated at the beginning, this, this crisis really showed the disparities in St. Paul and showing that we don't have on the east side a lot of access to the same things that other schools have. Yeah. So my next step along with some of the other parents and teachers. To work on creating a nonprofit that's going to help bridge that gap. Yeah. For schools that don't have PTOs. To be able to have the same abilities as schools that have flourishing PTOs and to give all of our kids on the east side the same experiences and opportunities as the kids that live in more affluent, whiter areas. And benefits. Yes. And benefits, yeah. Well sign us up to help because we're, we're, we consider you guys partners. So we're, we're in it for the long haul. Finally, you have an event that's coming up on March 28th at Urban Growler. Do you wanna talk a little bit about that fundraiser? Yeah, absolutely. So we're having, another in-person fundraiser on March 28th, from 11 to two at Urban Growler in the barrel room. We have some amazing raffle prizes, that I think are gonna get people really excited. We have Vikings tickets. We have loon tickets. We have show different shows, concerts, tons of really cool baskets and really amazing partnerships that have come, from getting those donations for that. And we're also gonna have some t-shirts for sale there. And it's just a really good time. We've got some performers, we've got the red balloon is coming to read some books. It's family friendly. We have Lucy Michelle coming to play some music. So it's really gonna be a cool, fun event. Last time when we had it, I think we. It blew everybody out of the water of our expectations, all the people that came and supported. So we're really hoping to have that again. It's also the same day as the No Kings March. Mm-hmm. And so it could be a really good way to start your day of protest, to come and donate to a really amazing charity. And also get your family together and have your kids be able to be part of this advocacy also. Yeah, for sure. And if folks would like to donate, they can do so either by going to now everyone, this is a very long web link, so bear with me. It's D two cc dot better world.org/campaigns/eastside partnership rental aid, and. The easiest way is to go to our website@greatereastside.org and click the link at the bottom and it will take you right to that webpage. Megan, I can't tell you how just inspiring you and the Renegades are, Liza, Marissa, um, everyone else I've met Anna. And is there anything that you would like to tell the neighbors out there kind of in closing? Just that, you know, your neighbors still need you, and this community is amazing. The East side is a really strong and resilient community that has always been. Deeply rooted in mutual aid and caring for each other, and you guys have really shown it. And we just wanna keep on helping the east side and, you know, check out your local community councils because they are a wealth of information and aid for you too. So I can't thank you enough, Lisa, because we wouldn't have been able to do this without you. This is amazing. Well, and I've said this to you before, we'll all get through this together and, we're just glad to be a part of it. So thank you for your time today. Of course. Thanks for having me. This has been another episode of D two and you. If you are new here, welcome and don't forget to hit the subscribe button so that you never miss a new episode. Check out our website@greatereastside.org. That's greater eastside.org, and you can check out our event calendar, or if you'd like to make a donation to the Eastside Renegades Fund. You can press the button on the front page and we can take you right to that website. Thanks again, and we'll see you in the neighborhood.