News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Monday December 22nd 2025
East Phillips Neighborhood Community and Press Conference a Major Success
By EAST PHILLIPS NEIGHBORHOOD INSTITUTE
 “I can”™t in good conscience continue to support unsustainable unimaginable policies that continue to disrupt our communities. I really support this effort to create a more sustainable future for our communities, for our City.” ”“ Minneapolis City Council Vice President and Ward 8 Council Member Andrea JenkinsÂ
On January 16, the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI) hosted a virtual press and community conference to discuss the future of the Roof Depot building. Community members and elected officials joined together in solidarity for the fight towards environmental, racial, and economic justice. Dean Dovolis, EPNI President, began the conference by introducing EPNI”™s diverse board of directors and their tenacious commitment in making the community”™s vision of the East Phillips Urban Farm a reality. They hope that the 230,000 square foot Roof Depot building at 1860 E 28th St will become a community owned and operated enterprise that includes hydroculture; aquaponics; affordable low-income housing; a world market; community kitchen; entrepreneurial start-up spaces for people of color; and the largest solar array in Minnesota.
Andrea Jenkins, vice-president of the Minneapolis City Council, spoke passionately about her experience as a civil rights advocate, declaring that racism is “a public health crisis” in the City. … Read the rest “East Phillips Neighborhood Community and Press Conference a Major Success”
Eating Better and Saving Money in 2021
By MARY ELLEN KALUZA
By the time you read this, the holiday season will be a faded memory, even if the tree is still up dropping needles all over. Many of us have made and already fallen off our New Year resolutions, like spending less on take out and eating healthier.
Reducing what we spend on food isn”™t just a New Year”™s concern, though, it is a year-round issue. And, it”™s a tough one. We do have to eat and food costs money. We also have to contend with our busy, hectic lives. How many times have you stopped at a fast food place after picking up kids because everyone is tired and crabby? I only have my tired and crabby self to deal with these days and I”™ve stopped more than I care to admit.
Cook BIG on the weekend
What”™s a solution to the tired/ crabby syndrome? Cooking big. I always say, “If you”™ve cooked and don”™t have leftovers, you”™ve just wasted your time.” I know a few people who cook something new each night, but when I finish work hungry and worn out, I will eat whatever is easiest, which is typically not the healthiest and comes directly out of a bag. … Read the rest “Eating Better and Saving Money in 2021”
Early African American Barbers in Minneapolis
William Goodridge (photo credit John Vincent Jezierski)
Tales of Pioneer and Soldiers Cemetery By SUE HUNTER WEIR
184th in a series
Barbershops have long played a key role in African- American communities. In addition to providing gathering places, they have often provided a path to economic independence for African- American entrepreneurs. In “Cutting Across the Color Lines,” historian Quincy Mills noted that: “Barbers were members of the black middle class in the nineteenth century, and their shops were among the most numerous of black businesses in the 20th century.” Barbers were among the more prominent and most well respected members of the community.
In the 1859 City Directory, Ralph T. Grey was listed as one of only six barbers in Minneapolis. He was the father of Toussaint L”™Ouverture Grey, the first African-American child born in St. Anthony, and the son-in-law of William Goodridge, a barber and entrepreneur, who ran the Underground Railroad between York Pennsylvania and Philadelphia before the Civil War.
Goodridge was one of the most successful African- American businessmen of his time. He used the knowledge that he gained as a barber to invest in real estate as well as a number of other business ventures and to use the profits from his businesses to further the cause of social justice. … Read the rest “Early African American Barbers in Minneapolis”
Keep citizen journalism alive!
