Carleen K. Rhodes, president, St. Paul Foundation

Last update: February 9, 2008 - 6:36 PM

CARLEEN K. RHODES, PRESIDENT, ST. PAUL FOUNDATION

Minnesota has a lot of assets. We're No. 1 in a lot of things. The key issue here is the disparities between haves and have-nots, between ethnic groups. We have too many kids living in poverty.

But this is a challenge we can take on. This is a state with a lot of assets, a lot of pride and a lot of committed people. We had $82 million given to us this year. The good news is that the disparities here may be more manageable.

Philanthropy is not going to fill the gap. But the question we've been asking is, how do we work together to leverage more dollars, from other donors, from the Legislature, from city government, from whatever? There's a huge need for our voice, because a lot of other leaders are occupied in running their global companies. Their eyes are not on the place-based world. We have an opportunity to lift things up.

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I'd put affordable housing on the list [of this state's top concerns]. If I'm not under a roof, even if I get to a school that's improving, I'm not going to be able to focus and study.

Because of the subprime fiasco, we have more people out of their homes. We're also involved in the Central Corridor [light rail] project. As that goes forward, you like the idea that property values go up. But are people there now going to be able to afford to stay? There are something like 100 nonprofits on University Avenue. What are they going to do?

We have to be asking as we redevelop, what kinds of actions are our civic and philanthropic leaders going to have to take to make sure there is affordable mixed-use there, business stock and housing stock? We have to intentionally think about how we protect existing assets, even as we let the market work its magic.

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We [as foundations] have to rethink our approach. Saying we're going to be advocates, saying we have to tell others "You have to care about these people" hasn't worked.

I think we need to make the issues we're discussing urgent and personal, help people see that it's in their self-interest that the workforce is ready. It's in their self-interest that health care is affordable for everybody.

That's the remedy, not just for philanthropy, but for the whole community. We need to talk about what we value. I am worried about the American ideal. Is the democratic tradition going to continue? We have to figure out how to get more people concerned about what is happening in our communities.

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What we're talking about adds up to the re-creation of a real middle class in our community. If somebody could create a vision that would allow people in poverty just to get into the middle class, the problems we see are going to take care of themselves.

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