coming up in the st paul for my speaking with beverly oliver hawkins and brenda bailey about the model cities program that's coming up next on the st paul  welcome to the st paul form i'm catherine day and joining me today are beverly oliver hawkins c e o of the model cities program and brenda bailey who is in their real estate development area welcome thank you thanks for coming i think i could be he model cities has been around for quite a long time i have heard of it over many years what's give me an overview of what model cities is so that our audience can understand what you do well model cities has been seen as a human service organization we are a group that actually define community development in a broad sense because the way we see it community development includes human services which for us is crisis intervention housing services working with children's mental health issues but it also includes real estate development it includes economic development commercial development it includes working in community so that's basically what cities is a community based developer and so when i think about some of the kinds of work that's happening today for example one of my heroes is geoffrey canada and the work he did in harlem the harlem children's zone that's modeled on the that's always been the case that came from our history as well but the issues that are presented to us we don't see as a silo we see it as being interconnected with so many other things so when families present a problem to a lot of that oftentimes is not just tied into the family is also tied into the economic status of their family maybe the problem that they're dealing with is lack of employment or lack of employer will skills so that takes us from being a human service provide to actually looking at economic development in the critical link between those two and so give us a location so when you're talking about model cities since you're in the real estate side where are you physically located  and so you're right in the middle of light rail construction and then realize ground zero that you know is that affecting some of your clients is that another factor i mean i'm in the long run i'm sure it'll be a positive but in the short run is it creating some some turmoil for your area well i should say that brownstone building that's located at victoria university is a trances stop and we all wanted that to be included as a transit stop but our part of that building includes retail space so of course the parking is the situation and being able to access those businesses so we know that the businesses are being affected by this so what we have tried to do on aryan as a property owner and a landlord is to make sure that the parking is available for customers so customers can still come in and guard and get in the building but there's certainly as one of the things said his affected all the businesses along the central corridor the university avenue and that is with the construction and everybody is expecting a lot and we are among that group i'm a proponent of the l r t owsley i think it's very important and it moves us from where we have been to where we need to be where was the original funding from from model cities well federally funded exclusively yes yes we actually came from we were a model cities project and as such the model cities demonstration program back in the sixty's was not intended to be a continued project it was a demonstration so essentially we were any supposed to be here we shouldn't be talking to you now we went beyond that demonstration that five year demonstration from that money we got money from the city of st paul which was community development block grant funding and when that funding phased out we received money from back then it was called health education and welfare for a clinic but the more we began to expand and to get into more things such as  childhood early childhood development when we branched out into that then our funding sources also began to expand and we began building buildings basically because our patients and our clients we needed the space to serve the people we were intending to serve so we began building buildings for that we have a couple of clinics that we've built we build a family development center we got into supportive housing so we began building buildings for that and it actually wasn't until we got involved with a brownstone building that we built a building that was generating rental income from people who were not our client as a sustainable yes active yes so when you talk about the clinics and the locations of those where what are some of the centers of activity from the real estate perspective the clinics are also in the or one district eight in there on the north side of universes district seven tell us a little bit about what is the most important right now for model cities and what you do you want the public to understand what you do what we could talk probably a little bit about the upcoming projects we have central exchange well it's called model cities redevelopment we are looking at constructing two mixed use buildings on university avenue we're very interested in what's going on on university and have been for a number of years yes but what they are t construction we see this as a wonderful opportunity for community based developers to really get involved and to do some real substantial stuff and so we are intending to redevelop the brownstone building and also to create a new building called central exchange both of those buildings will be what's called mixed use buildings which is commercial on the on the street and on top of that will be residential about forty four units affordable housing  they're drawing so we just think they've got to fit very well with the neighborhood what kind of what kind of architects are you employing for this are they part of the model cities program that they're the drawings that you're getting yes development team ok and so where are these two physically going to be located on the avenue brownstone of course is on the corner of victoria and university and the central exchange is about one block block and a half east of our office location and when you say central exchange does that mean you have an idea of who you actually want to be in that building or are you in the process of thinking about what kinds of services and we're going to say changes  see that is a demonstration again and a model and a pilot for what can be done in terms of the infield development most of the women i should say most a lot of development concentrates at intersections and that makes a lot of sense brownstone is at an intersection and it has a lot to do with accessibility to customers and so on so certain retailers prefer being on the corner but we only have four corners on the block everything else is in feel and so there needs to be some way of figuring out how do you develop the middle of the block is well in a way this attractive that meets community needs that also brings about some green space as well next another thing that we're very interested in we're looking at urban gardening and urban farming as a way to bring out this whole what can be done in the middle of the block so we intend to incorporate that in the central exchange building in actually at the brownstone we also want to include some a pocket park that would not only be a space that could be accessible and nice and pleasing but also would have some vegetation in the area so we're hoping to be able to partner with some other groups to help us along with that well that's fantastic and you know i i'm i'm very involved with the other end of light rail at the creative enterprise zone area down to two eighty and you know yeah and it's so interesting i'm such an advocate for the pocket parks as well it's so interesting though how many people think that they actually will promote loitering and crime and and do you have some information about what you think pop pocket parks can do for a neighborhood well  i think i think it is an added feature for one thing it brings beautification if it makes you feel home and when you when you mentioned possibility of crime it's people oriented to the television as what they see when they see trees they see people lurking behind them they think that the pocket parks parks can be designed with low vegetation as well and it can be pleasing and inviting and that's what we want our development to be pleasing and inviting well and i know that the evidence actually is the opposite if you look at like the brooklyn i'm not going to get the name right but that's i want to say greenway but that's not what it's all there i know what you but that whole area that they've developed if i ever get a chance to look at some of the beautiful pictures it's the it's just the opposite that all the parks and those green spaces can and it creates relationships and so and it creates a sense of ownership so actually i think it can be so i'm i'm thrilled that you're incorporating and i think that's very important what kind of partners are you looking for in that because i think there are some great partners doing some somewhere kind of world we're so glad to hear that because we actually or we have our feelers out in different places including even the federal government we're interested in working with government with the private sector nonprofits we actually are meeting with a community group on friday to begin talking about how we can develop programs that incorporate say working with you or working with seniors where they actually can the heart of a city yeah it's being done in other cities it certainly can be done here absolutely and i think detroit is another model yeah you know walkie yeah so you got the idea the pocket parks what about what kind of tenants when you say central exchange it feels to me like there's a vision be high that idea so can you what's the vision for the housing will be workforce housing which could refer to younger singles are older not retirees  eligible for the homes and so the average rents might range from what to what do you think if i remember correctly a preliminary numbers are life from six seventy five i to nine twenty five something like florida and then on the lower level in terms of crime or show because it's the infield development probably what works best for that would be office that kind of a space although we are also looking for coffee shop  tenants that are currently in the building the commercial tenants are interested scuse me in staying in the building so but there will be ample space we are expecting to have additional space available for others who may want to be right here were we had a meeting this morning with our architect to try to hone in on some specific designs you know we thinking terrorists designs for the units and then you can walk out into the garden area so the tenants would actually  doing the rooftop garden hose with other guys and that's what our meeting on friday is to see if the tennis on that interest it then we want to fall back do you think it will be tied into any sort of farmer's market kind of sale  well you know i kind of as i look at what's going on in milwaukee i think well why not here you know and i don't know only enough to be dangerous and that's saying something i've got very involved in urban farming and urban gardening to the extent where they actually are growing vegetation and growing crops that they are selling to restaurants and so and to and to farmers markets so it's possible to have in the inner city in the heart of the inner city urban core to have this kind of a farming kind of a relationship and the thing that that i like about it is that is so therapeutic people are then right back at nature i mean you have a chance to get your hands in the soil the space that we have available was essential exchange in brownstone won't down eastward to where we are and it hopefully will continue to go eastward into the there's other projects that are being probably have to allow dale in university and also at western and university the old home site is being developed by thing anthony and in d c is looking at redeveloping the north east northwest corner of deal and university and hopefully we can incorporate all along the corridor this green so there are there are possibilities and our hope is that you know once we are further into this that we'll have a chance to actually go and visit and see what these other groups are doing given that we may be teigen said attack in a lot of ways we may be talking about two thousand square feet of space what actually can be done there and what can you put on the roof and how do you manage that and how do you incorporate community in that as well so as you're it's an important anniversary year forward for the program forty five years  how are you celebrating it and what's the vision for the future well we started the year off with a worship service in january we had our service at camp for a more united methodist church and we have a connection with cancer and have had over the years the pastor at camp or actually worked at model cities gloria roach thomas and then we are planning on the twenty first of july having back to this sixty's dance ok and mostly it is known for having a lot of enjoyable social events when we have our anniversaries so hopefully people will be interested in coming to this we're selling tickets for forty five dollars  but goodie music and some just a lot of fun that we expect to have there and they will in the year with another a social event they will also have at the crown plaza that won't be the big thing but hopefully will be a reunion of people who have been involved with model cities over the course of these forty five years and that's a lot of it has a lot of people if you're just joining us i'm talking with brenda oliver hawkins and brenda bailey about the model cities program so so it'll be celebre tory it's going to be a lot of fun let's talk a little bit about the strategic direction i mean when you get to forty five years and i know you're talking about of that with these new things you're doing but when people think about this organization what is it about you that makes it relevant to today from your perspective what's at the core of the relevance for model cities well i think that we are in to and determine to be fully involved in community we are we came up out of community we were birth in the basement of st james a m e church that's how we came about and our whole reason for being then and still now is to increase the access that residence in not just in some a university and frogtown although that is our primary service area but essentially throughout as brenda sit in the world because we have also worked with people in other countries in uganda we've been in india we've worked in sierra leone so we've done various things outside of the country but to try to increase their quality of life and we do that by human services we do that by jobs creating job opportunities we do that through construction projects like our real estate development project so we do expect to continue in that area we're very interested and involved in what goes on on university avenue and we have been for a very long time we've been actually a property owner on university since  actually and we bought that the building there we're in now we've been there since one thousand nine hundred eighty so we're very interested in making sure that what goes on university avenue is a strong economic base a strong vitality we want that whole strip from victoria to western to be full of life there there are people in the community who would like to see the cultural diversity of the community and i'm one of those to be fully and rich you know to really bring that out there a lot of diversity of rock town rando neighborhood and so we need to be showing that and spreading that around so we will be involved and that will continue in real estate development projects and focus toward families who ordinarily cannot buy a home for credit issues debt issues whatever so we instituted a well we didn't really answer today but we do provide a pre purchase counseling  program i don't know if you're familiar with he kept the minnesota home on a ship center provides funding through the he can't gret which is subsidized through minnesota housing and we are recipient of that greg ok that allows us to provide th we have constructed six and rehab ten thus far than the last three four years so yes it's a beautiful program because we just make a family just so happy when they can feel like they're they have an investment park so there was a lot of excitement about that well you know the opportunities that exist with this is in five years we have the benefit of being part of the development that's going to create this where we are our market now includes milwaukee it includes chicago people literally get all i won this is all done they can get on a train in milwaukee and they can go shopping at the mall of america years to come that's what i think people should be doing university avenue businesses should market to our community but they should never forget that their market is a broader group now it includes people who don't even live in in the sa the twin cities list program and i believe it's not just the twin cities program but certainly the twin cities list has intentionally tried to engage community and there have been contracts with other groups to very much involved community in decision making in planning in deciding what the community really needs and what should go on along university ave you're at forty five years and you started the conversation by saying it was just posed to be you know a model for a short time that even the name model cities i mean it feels like you could update the name by the humor to say you know is it going to be another forty five years and if so what do you imagine we'll have change for the organization in another forty five well i think you will we are intending to stabilize organization we expect that being a property owner and that by continuing to meet community needs there will be a need for what we are doing we don't see ourselves as being stagnant we do strategic planning and we'll assess what the environment is what the needs are and we try to work our services to match those needs given funds available so we are always out there trying to see where it is that we can be helpful and i don't see where that would go away we do intend to be a property owner it's important at the community own itself and so this would we're about and we firmly believe that if we can get people in the community to to build an own and have businesses in the community hire in the community that stabilizes the community we intend to be a part of a forty five years from now i may not be around the see it but hopefully whoever is there its model cities has been there for ninety years doing this doing this work so one of the things you want to do is make sure they come to the event in july twenty first is the back to the sixty's tare yeah sounds like a lot of fun it will be and the crown plaza is a great place to hang out especially on a summer night as you can go out on and look at the river out there so we'll put up your website so they can go to our website and purchase tickets  to chant as to party yes yes it's not a city yeah and then if there's sort of a last thought you know what is it you would like to a call to action if you would what what do you want the community to do to be part of model cities besides come and party with you well you know we are always open and in need of support from community and that includes not only just financial support which we do have donors who support what we do but also to some very critical issues and we one of the human service programs that we have is we are one of the county's contractors for the juvenile detention alternatives initiatives program which is working with young young guys and young girls who had been were they not in our program they would be in juvenile detention and so they're saving you're saving some tax dollars and saving some lives yes indeed tell us your web site so we'll put it up but tell us how how did the model cities dot org ok and all of our services are on there and the events that are coming up are good as well good well i'm just delighted that you could join us that's all we have time for on the saint paul