Tag Archives: Duluth
Duluth Primary Election Kick-Off Door Knock
Posted July 9, 2019
The Duluth primary is on August 13. We’ve got only a month to get out into the community and to our neighbors about the issues they care about. Join us Saturday to knock doors for our endorsed Duluth City Council candidates: Mike Mayou, At-Large and Gary Anderson, District 1.
Duluth: Patch-Through Phone Bank for Healthcare and Climate
Posted April 16, 2019
We believe we can live in a Minnesota that is for us, by us. Join us for a phone bank to connect constituents with their legislators. We will be calling Minnesotans, connecting constituents with their legislators to support bills protecting and expanding our health care and moving Minnesota toward 100% clean energy.
Everybody in, nobody out. No exceptions.
Duluth: Patch-Through Phone Bank for Healthcare and Climate
Posted
We believe we can live in a Minnesota that is for us, by us. Join us for a phone bank to connect constituents with their legislators. We will be calling Minnesotans, connecting constituents with their legislators to support bills protecting and expanding our health care and moving Minnesota toward 100% clean energy.
Everybody in, nobody out. No exceptions.
Senate District 11 Phonebank – Duluth and St. Paul Offices
Posted January 28, 2019
We are building a people-centered democracy, and Stu Lourey is a people-centered candidate. Join us at our Duluth and St. Paul offices to support Stu in his run for this seat by making calls into the district!
Duluth Office:
25 N 21st Ave W
Duluth, MN 55806
St. Paul Office:
705 Raymond Ave #100
St. Paul, MN 55114
Building Minnesota in 2019 – Duluth
Posted January 10, 2019
We had a lot of wins in the last year and some difficult losses. Join us to dream big and learn what we have planned locally and statewide to build a better Minnesota this year. We will have breakouts on lobbying with your representatives, upcoming municipal elections, and our work with Vision Duluth.
Free food, childcare, and transportation (within Duluth area) will be provided.… Continue reading »
Come meet our new Executive Director!
Posted September 12, 2018
Friends, allies and supporters, join us at our Duluth office to meet our new Executive Director, Elianne Farhat. We welcomed Elianne as our executive director this month. She would love to get to know you in Duluth. Sign up today!
… Treaty Rights, Climate Justice and Decolonization Forum
Posted August 1, 2018
What is our relationship to the land? What is our relationship with one another?
We are all treaty people. Join us in learning about the connections between treaty rights, climate justice and decolonization. What role do treaty rights play in resource extraction, resilience, and relationships between Native and non-Native people? How can understanding our identities as treaty people transform our relationships with one another and with the land?
Join AICHO, Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light, University of Minnesota-Duluth, and TakeAction in learning about how these cultural and environmental issues relate to all of us.
This event is free and open to the public.
Note: This forum is a precursor to an upcoming participatory workshop series on Treaty Rights, Climate Justice and Decolonization in September.
Vision Duluth ESST Celebration
Posted May 30, 2018
Vision Duluth has worked together for two years to pass earned sick & safe time in Duluth – and on May 29th, 2018 the Duluth City Council voted to pass an ordinance! We should be really proud of what we were able to accomplish together. We became the 44th ESST policy nationwide – and only the 10th to pass inclusive family language.
Please join us as we celebrate the passage of the ordinance, the work we’ve done together & the many folks that were involved at every stage and in every aspect of the campaign.
We will gather for beverages & food, share stories & and continue to build our relationships with one another.
All are welcome – so please invite folks to join.… Continue reading »
Duluth ESST Council Final Vote
Posted May 23, 2018
Please join us for what we hope will be the Duluth city council’s final vote on the earned sick & safe time ordinance.
We are asking folks to join us at 6:30pm, on the steps of city hall.
We launched our Vision Duluth campaign for earned sick & safe time in the spring of 2016, it is fitting that it is spring again in Duluth and we are inching closer to seeing thousands of Duluthians get access to this essential worker protection.
This is a moment you won’t want to miss!
Please reach out to any of our staff in Duluth with questions.… Continue reading »
Minnesota’s Precinct Caucuses Set to Begin
Posted March 13, 2018
“For this area will it not only pick delegates for the mid–term election this year, but those folks will then continue to be delegates into 2019 for the municipal elections as well,” said Take Action MN Duluth Program Manager Shawnu Ksicinski.Ideas Worth Fighting For: Climate Justice, Caring Economy, and Justice 4 All
Posted March 4, 2018
This Ideas Worth Fighting For workshop is designed to introduce and relate our program areas in Climate Justice, Caring Economy, and Justice 4 All (i.e. ending Mass Incarceration). The format is interactive & relational. It’s designed to be exploratory, engaging, & creative, while still being knowledge-based, political, and pragmatic. Inspiring & grounded: that’s the goal. This workshop will feature orientations on the organization & how we campaign, policy basics on each issue area (and their intersections), our analysis on race, gender, & corporate power, and concrete next steps, if you want to go deeper on any of them. The agenda is designed to level-set between new & returning attendees. 5:00-5:30 will be an organizational orientation. 5:30-6:15 will be issue orientations. 6:15-7:30 will be workshopping time. 7:30-8:00 will be unstructured social time. Pre-readings will be emailed to registered attendees.… Continue reading »
No timeout for earned sick and safe time debate
Posted October 25, 2017
“The Duluth City Council may have opted not to receive a report Monday night from a specially appointed task force that was to make some recommendations regarding a prospective earned-sick-and-safe-time policy, but the topic dominated much of the evening’s meeting nevertheless.” Read more.… Continue reading »
Paid Sick And Safe Task Force Steps Closer To Closing Deal
Posted August 8, 2017
July 27, 2017
The Duluth City Council is working to adopt a sensible paid sick time policy.
Tonight it seems as if some progress has been made.
Duluth’s earn sick and safe time task force plans to present a final draft of the referendum to the Duluth City Council to approve or not approve.
If approved employees that currently don’t receive any paid sick leave would now be able to accumulate hours to help with much needed time off when needed.
“We know that 46% of the population would end up to having access to earn sick and safe time. Tangibly what does that look like, it looks like people and families not having to make a choice about whether they go to work sick or send their kid to school sick because they can’t afford to take a day off work.” Shawnu Ksicinski, Duluth Program Manager, Take Action MN says.
The Duluth City Council is expected to vote on the measure in the fall.
Leadership Assembly for Duluth Council Races
Posted July 25, 2017
We invite our members and leaders to join us as we screen the candidates running for Duluth city council races this year.… Continue reading »
Duluth ESST Task Force Input Session #3
Posted July 10, 2017
The Duluth earned sick & safe time task force is holding three final public input sessions to let the community respond to their proposed options for an ordinance. At these sessions, they’ll make available what they see is a list of options that could be included in an ordinance per their research and survey process. Things like, potential accrual rates, who is covered/not covered, which businesses would be covered, and what would enforcement look like. Please join us to advocate for what we know is needed!… Continue reading »
Duluth ESST Task Force Input Session #2
Posted
The Duluth earned sick & safe time task force is holding three final public input sessions to let the community respond to their proposed options for an ordinance. At these sessions, they’ll make available what they see is a list of options that could be included in an ordinance per their research and survey process. Things like, potential accrual rates, who is covered/not covered, which businesses would be covered, and what would enforcement look like. Please join us to advocate for what we know is needed!… Continue reading »
Duluth ESST Task Force Input Session #1
Posted
The Duluth earned sick & safe time task force is holding three final public input sessions to let the community respond to their proposed options for an ordinance. At these sessions, they’ll make available what they see is a list of options that could be included in an ordinance per their research and survey process. Things like, potential accrual rates, who is covered/not covered, which businesses would be covered, and what would enforcement look like. Please join us to advocate for what we know is needed!… Continue reading »
Cities, States Deliver Paid Leave so Survivors Can ‘Get Safe’
Posted June 26, 2017
A growing movement is making it possible for survivors of domestic violence to take time off—without sacrificing their income or jeopardizing their jobs.
The lack of paid time off from work can spell economic disaster, or worse, for people escaping abuse.
Shawnu Ksicinski, a worker rights’ advocate, told Rewire about domestic violence survivors “fired for showing up with bruises on their face.”
“They lost their jobs because instead of staying home, or being able to seek medical assistance, they were going to work,” said Ksicinski, Duluth program manager with TakeAction Minnesota. The organization is pushing for paid sick time and “safe time” in cities around the state.
A growing movement is making it possible for survivors of domestic violence to take time off, with pay, to care for themselves and their families—without sacrificing their income or jeopardizing their jobs. Read the full story. … Continue reading »
Vision Duluth Launches!
Posted October 15, 2015
For the last year we’ve been working hard at TakeAction and with other organizations to put together a shared vision for Duluth rooted in equity and democracy. Personally, I’ve participated in hundreds of conversations with people who’s voices are too often invisible and unheard. And I am so inspired by what has come out of these conversations and how it has created a clear path for our work at TakeAction. After hearing from hundreds of people, and sharing with thousands more, we are finally ready to bring this vision to the larger community. On October 19th we’re launching Vision Duluth!
What is Vision Duluth?
It began as nine organizations thinking together about how to strengthen our capacity to move forward policies that advance equity across our city. It moved into hundreds of 
conversations across our city where people began to imagine what a new vision for Duluth could be. It’s about working together, across organizations and with individuals, to address disparities by moving equitable solutions at a city level. Vision Duluth is rooted in the belief that together we are stronger, solutions must be shaped by those living experiences of injustice, and that we do so by being in deep, accountable, and transformative relationships with our elected officials.… Continue reading »
Bold & Visionary change in Duluth
Posted September 16, 2015
This year we had the awesome opportunity to talk with thousands of Duluthians about their vision for Duluth’s future. We collaborated with many organizations representing the diverse people of our communities to develop a shared vision for our city – AICHO, CHUM, PAVSA, SOAR Career Solutions, YWCA, Northeast Area Labor Council, Community Action Duluth and Education Minnesota.
What came of this is resounding shared interest in jobs that pay living wages with benefits like earned sick and safe time so people aren’t forced to choose between caring for a loved one and earning a paycheck. Residents wanting resources and consideration of needs to be spread across the city, increased green space, free youth activities & racial justice.
We have the unique ability at TakeAction to talk about these issues and more as we engage with voters in our community. We want to see bold and visionary change! The kind of change that happens when people – like our endorsed candidates who share our vision and the vision of so many Duluthians – are elected to office. Our endorsed candidates for November are: Gary Anderson (District 2); Em Westerlund (District 3); Joel Sipress (District 4); Janet Kennedy (District 5); Elissa Hansen & Noah Hobbs (At-Large); and Emily Larson for Mayor!… Continue reading »
The Power of Women
Posted July 13, 2015
If someone were to ask you what leadership is, I’m sure your responses would be as varied as the responses I have heard when people are asked to define racial justice. As is true of most things in our lives, our lived experience supersedes dictionary definitions.
Leadership per the Merriam Webster online dictionary is: 1) a position as a leader of a group, organization, etc; 2) the time when a person holds the position of leader; 3) the power or ability to lead other people. Though I do not argue the definition as it appears, what leadership means to me is more convoluted.
As a child I dreamed of being president. I wish I had a quarter for how many times I heard I was insane to think this was possible. It is regrettably not the only situation in my life where I was informed my pursuit of leadership was ambiguously linked and limited due to my gender identity. So my experience and definition of leadership inevitably became linked to how unattainable I felt it was for me to achieve because I am a woman.
I have been blessed in my life to have incredibly brave, intelligent and resilient women mentor me in my pursuit of leadership. … Continue reading »
We are in this together
Posted May 6, 2015
Being bold and ambitious means not going it alone. In order to bring into existence a more just and compassionate community we need strong, trusted partnerships. In Duluth we work closely with Chum, who not only shares a similar vision for what’s possible but is charting a shared course on how to get there together. It means they’re in the fight with us day in and day out, on good days and bad. Chum and TakeAction have come together on issues that align both organizations, whether it’s restoring the right to vote for 47,000 Minnesotans or ensuring workers in St. Louis County can have access to earned sick and safe time.
But beyond that we are building. We are weaving our people together creating a shared story. A story that says more is possible when we work together. This relationship continues to deepen each time we come to the table as equal partners committed to the same change in the world. What we are doing– a training together, a press conference, meetings with elected officials or making copies for one another when the printer breaks. Regardless the activity, we are working together to make more possible. Below is a blog post written by Cara Lundberg, an intern at Chum as she finishes her last week with Chum.… Continue reading »
Welcome Shawnu!
Posted March 18, 2015
I come to TakeAction as the Women and the Economy Organizer in Duluth from the YWCA of Duluth where I actively worked to eliminate racism and empower women. Although not an organizer in title until now, social justice has been a proponent of my life since I was young.
I grew up in a small town and discrimination toward Native Americans was present everywhere, especially in the school system. Coming from a predominantly Native family I felt first-hand how awful oppression is and how public systems work to perpetuate that oppression. As a woman I know all too well the struggles faced in the workplace and educational systems. I’m passionate about energizing and engaging the community in work that fuels change and creates equity for everyone.
For me the most exciting part of my work at TakeAction is being part of creating a vision for Duluth through connecting with organizational partners & cohorts, community members & leaders, public officials and local businesses. Growing and building a sense of true community in our towns and cities will help us address social justice issues.
Though my focus in organizing is around issues for working women and their families, I think that you cannot truly address anything in solidarity. … Continue reading »
We can do better!
Posted February 17, 2015
I happen to think Northern Minnesota is pretty darn great. We have big lakes, nice trails, and good people. Yet, we aren’t perfect.
In fact, in Southern St. Louis County less than half of workers can earn paid sick time — the worst percentage in the state according to a recent study conducted by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. That’s why when the campaign to pass earned sick and safe time throughout Minnesota launched last week, they came to Duluth to do it.
We were proud to stand with the Minnesota Benefits campaign as it kicked off with labor leaders, legislators, community organizations, small business owners and people who know what it’s like to choose between caring for their family and a pay check.
I believe that by working together, Northern Minnesota, can and will do better.
Onward in 2015!
Posted January 21, 2015
The New Year has me thinking a lot about our great state.
Minnesota is home to 5.3 million people and 852 cities. We have four different ecosystems. We are vast, different and unique.
But we are also so much alike. We are Minnesotans.
I have lived in six of our state’s cities. From a tiny little farming town on the border of South Dakota to the heart of our largest city. Each place has shaped my experience of what it means to be a Minnesotan. One thing is clear to me: we all want a good life for our family, friends and neighbors. And the things that get in the way of someone thriving in north Minneapolis are the same as the barriers to living the life you choose in Duluth. 
Whether we are talking about a failed criminal justice system or the antiquated workplace that holds women back, the only way we are going to move on a path toward a Minnesota that leaves no one behind is if we move together.
The city I live in now (and love so much!) also affords me the privilege to work for an organization grappling with what it is going to take to win real change in people’s lives. … Continue reading »
Women Across Minnesota
Posted October 21, 2014
Minnesota is a pretty big state. Stretching hundreds of miles from the rocky shores of Lake Superior to the vast prairie spanning along the Iowa border. But last Thursday night the state got a whole lot smaller.
We had over sixty people, mostly all women, calling from the far reaches of the state, from Northfield to the North Shore. Not to mention all the people making calls from our Duluth, St. Paul and Grand Rapids offices. Although the women callers may all see a different slice of Minnesota when they look out the window, all sixty volunteers shared a common story that night- we need a Minnesota that works for 
women and families. Several women shared their own stories of going to work too soon after a child was born or not having paid time off to care for a sick family member. Unfortunately these stories are too common in all corners of our state.
That’s why our work is so important. We can actually change this story for all Minnesota’s women and families. Seriously, this can be changed. On Thursday night we made 3,000 calls. Meaning we called households all over Minnesota to talk about these issues and why our elections are so important.… Continue reading »
Calling with babies.
Posted September 18, 2014
I don’t have kids myself. Perhaps that is why I am so elated when kiddos come to our office with their parents. 
Last week we had a little four month old girl come to a night of calling with her mother. (I spent a good portion of the evening calling with a sleeping baby on my lap!)
As I called other women in the 8th CD that night and heard babies crying or kids refusing to eat dinner or giggles of bedtime shenanigans, I felt an incredible resolve to talk to these families about why the elections mattered to them.
This is bigger than a victory on election night. This is about women talking to other women about what we need in Minnesota for women and families to succeed- paid time off to care for a sick child, paid paternity leave, affordable childcare.
It is so compelling and honest to watch our Duluth office fill to the brim each Monday and Thursday with a group of women ready to work. The elections aren’t the answer to the big daunting problems we face. But they are a start. They are a place we gather to share what isn’t working, and begin talking about what we can do next.… Continue reading »
What’s happening in the North Country
Posted August 13, 2014
It’s been a busy summer in the North Country for TakeAction Minnesota. We wanted to make sure you knew what we’ve been up to, so we’ll be writing a blog post every month. Here’s our first installment…
It is election season. Picnics, parades, and door knocking abounds in the beautiful land of tall pines and big lakes. It’s my favorite time of the year. As much as I love running on the amazing trails we have, I am equally jazzed to work hard to elect a slate of progressive Northlanders who will work to create a community that works for everyone.
From Grand Rapids to Duluth we are talking about why the elections matter to us. In Grand Rapids two 90 year old Rosie the Riveters marched in the Tall Timber Days parade to highlight the long way we have come, and the long way we have to go, on women’s economic justice. In Duluth we are hosting working families’ phone banks to talk about why paid sick days matter to working families.
Yes, it’s nice outside. Yes, we could all be dipping our feet off the dock. But would that get us where we want to be in November? Not so much.… Continue reading »
A Minnesota that supports women and families
Posted
Working mothers in Minnesota are increasingly the primary breadwinners in their families and make up more than half of the workforce in our state. Yet, women continuously fall behind in almost every measure of economic success. 
Last week Minnesota took a big step towards tackling these problems when Governor Dayton signed the Women’s Economic Security Act into law. And on Monday, Duluth City Councilors, organizational leaders and community members gathered at Duluth City Hall to celebrate the passage of the Women’s Economic Security Act and to call on policy makers to continue moving forward. That night the Duluth City Council unanimously adopted a resolution highlighting the work that still needs to be done including expanding earned sick time for working families.
But you and I both know that there’s more to be done. Now is the time to continue to fight for changes that improve the lives of women in Minnesot and allow all Minnesotans to thrive — not just survive.
Want to be a part of a conversation on what’s next?
At TakeAction we are excited to be working with the Center for American Progress to bring a statewide summit on women and families economic security to Duluth on May 22nd. … Continue reading »
