News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Thursday March 20th 2025
16 residents will interview 750 households door-to-door by year”'s end
By Janice Barbee
The Backyard Initiative”'s Community Interviews are now happening in the Phillips Community and in Powderhorn Park, Central, and Corcoran neighborhoods.
Over the past several months, community residents have been meeting weekly as part of the Backyard Initiative”'s Assessment Team. The Assessment Team has been charged by the larger BYI community group that meets monthly to oversee the process of creating a picture of the current state of health and well-being of the residents and families in the Backyard area.
Early on in the process, the community had given feedback to Allina that they did not think that a proposed mail survey would be an effective and accurate method for assessing the health of people who live in the Backyard area. They decided that a better process would be to hold a number of Listening Circles where people would give their input in groups, and a Walk-around process where people would be asked questions about their health in a one-to-one interview. The Assessment Team has been designing the details of this assessment process, including choosing the questions for the Listening Circles and the Walk-around. The team members, including Africans, African Americans, Natives, Latinos, and European Americans, have worked hard to ensure that all the questions are based in the BYI”'s definition of health that was first developed by the large group.… Read the rest “16 residents will interview 750 households door-to-door by year”'s end”
Leon Oman retires after 28 years in Community Education at Andersen Elementary
By Harvey Winje
Two hundred people greeted and cheered Leon Oman on his last day of 28 years as a Minneapolis Schools Community Education Coordinator at Andersen School in the Phillips Community. His years as a community educator brought together his passion for education, his seven years experience as a social worker, as well as, his involvement in citizen participation in the Rice Park neighborhood. Five presenters reminisced about years spent, experiences shared and generally agreed that there were no skeletons about which they could “roast” Leon. However, they altered a shared experience while on a car trip in order to be sure we all knew Leon had made at least one mistake in his career.
The Webster Open School Cafeteria was gaily decorated setting the mood for an upbeat celebration that included several of Leon”'s family members, Phillips Community residents, community leaders from many neighborhoods, past interns, students, current and former colleagues and many, many friends. Paul Boranian attended the event. He was the founder of Community Education in Minneapolis, its director for many years and was the person who hired Leon 28 years ago. Community Education”'s current Director, Jack Tamble also paid a tribute to Leon.
The program was one and a half hours long as attendees shared personal experiences and examples of Leon”'s gentle demeanor whether he is handling parking or curriculum issues, interfacing with the day school, student conduct, or sustaining relationships with many community groups in South Minneapolis.… Read the rest “Leon Oman retires after 28 years in Community Education at Andersen Elementary”
Memories of Leon: Being with Leon, you are the focus
by Jonathan Miller
Without Leon Oman I would probably be unemployed right now. No, Leon didn”'t personally give me a job, but the strong impression he left on me during my internship with The Alley Newspaper did steer me away from the career path I was on”“Magazine journalism. We all know how swimmingly that industry is fairing right now and in part because of Leon, I realized that believing in what I do is very important to me and I moved into non-profit communications.
Leon was my mentor and advisor during my first internship with The Alley Newspaper way back in 1999. The focus of the project was to get children and teenagers involved in the paper, so Leon was the natural choice for two reasons: 1. He worked at Andersen School. 2. He knows EVERYONE in Phillips and EVERYONE knows him and respects him. Leon was always able to make time to provide guidance or give me background on the complex dynamics of the Phillips Community even though he was constantly being pulled in different directions.
But the advantages that Leon provided were more than just his connections. When you talk to Leon, he has a real knack for connecting with you.… Read the rest “Memories of Leon: Being with Leon, you are the focus”
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