Introducing Two New Team Members
Sonya Ewert, BUSINESS MANAGER
Sonya has lived in South Minneapolis for most of the last 15 years, moving into East Phillips last year. She loves being out and about in the neighborhood whether it’s eating tacos, going to writing workshops at the library, or bike commuting. She has two degrees from the University of Minnesota, the first in Environmental Science and the second in Business Administration. Her previous work has been in agriculture and she is excited to bring her love of spreadsheets to an organization dedicated to elevating the voices of the Phillips neighborhoods.
Have a question about advertising or promoting your business or organization in the alley newspaper?— email Sonya at businessmanager@alleynews.org.
Mattie Wong, DESIGN & LAYOUT COORDINATOR
Mattie has lived in South Minneapolis the past five years. She has experience being the editor and layout designer for several community-based publications including DAY PLANNER, an arts-based publication, and Litorum Journal out of the University of Minnesota’s Landscape Architecture department. She is honored to be the graphic support uplifting the voices of Phillips through the alley. You can find her riding her bike all over town, playing trumpet at a show, or staring at trees trying to identify them.
Announcing the alley Community Resource Assessment Project
Hello Phillips Community. My name is Cirien Saadeh, and I am a Twin Cities community journalist and organizer. As with all of you, I believe that the alley is a crucial community resource. Over the next few months I will be engaging residents and organizations in the Phillips community – as many of you as I can reach – around the alley as part of a project to help this Phillips community newspaper and institution find greater resilience.
I would love to speak with any and all of you in this project. I’ll be hosting community cafes, to be announced soon, on a regular basis. I would love to grab coffee with as many individuals as I can to talk about the future of community journalism in Phillips neighborhood. I can be reached at ciriens@journalismofcolor.com and I would love to hear from you.
A Big Thank You! But, Not a Goodbye!
Ben Heath finished his year’s commitment as the alley business manager, but is not leaving the alley family. He promises to continue contributing to the paper in any capacity he can, including occasional reporting and supplying photographs to enhance the pages of the alley. Ben managed communication and transactions with our advertisers, collected readership data, maintained banking duties, and more. Thank you, thank you, Ben!
Jessie Merriam has designed and laid out the alley since January 2021, as well as contributing as a writer and artist to the pages. Jessie also coordinated with our printer and delivery folks. She began a graduate program, hoping to be able to continue designing the paper. But, alas, best hopes don’t always match reality. Like Ben, Jessie promises to continue contributing to the alley and the community. Yay! Thank you, Jessie!
See you both around town!
