Above photo: Youth community journalists from the Strong Mind Strong Body Foundation’s Youth Community Journalism Institute meet with EPNI farm stewards, plant educators, and food justice historians at the East Phillips Community Garden. Eric Ortiz.
Justice starts in East Phillips.
And love grows here. Now is our time to build the future we all deserve.
East Phillips is ready to rise. In Minneapolis – a city long divided by race, pollution, politics, and pain – this Southside neighborhood is showing a new way forward. It’s a path rooted in care, justice, and restoration.
The East Phillips Urban Farm is more than a neighborhood development project. It is a bold, community-led vision to reclaim land poisoned by decades of environmental racism and convert it into a thriving hub of healing with fresh food, clean energy, good jobs, and cultural connection. This is what restorative practices look like in real life.
That vision is now at risk.
After years of organizing, legal battles, and raising more than $10 million, the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI) stands ready to buy the 7-acre Roof Depot site from the city of Minneapolis. But the Minnesota state legislature cut $5.7 million in funding (again) that would have completed the purchase agreement. The shortfall gives the city an option to walk away, despite promises made and a deal in place.
The city has not terminated the agreement. But the clock is ticking to complete the sale by the Sept. 15 closing date outlined in the purchase agreement.
We are at a crossroads. Not just for East Phillips or Minneapolis. But for communities everywhere facing similar struggles.
If the city follows through and sells the Roof Depot to EPNI, EPNI will create a new model of community ownership. It will be a win for environmental justice. A win for Indigenous sovereignty. A win for economic development that puts people over profits. A win for our collective future.
If the city walks away, it deepens the wounds of broken trust, missed opportunity, and status quo systems that have failed East Phillips and neighborhoods like it for far too long.
People who want a better future need a win for love. This is the moment to make it happen.
Why restorative practices matter now
Restorative practices are grounded in relationships. In building and repairing trust, acknowledging harm, and creating space for everyone to belong and contribute. They are proactive, not reactive. They ask: How can we work with people, not do things to them or for them?
This idea is at the heart of the East Phillips Urban Farm. It’s also the foundation of community building block programs that can create healthy neighborhoods for all people.
In 2022, when I was president of the Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association (LHENA), we redefined the block club approach into a restorative solutions model that can improve the quality of life for any community, anywhere.
Through that program, neighbors organize block by block to ensure basic needs are met for everyone in the community. They share information, build connections, resolve conflicts, and create mutual aid networks. Neighbors ask big questions: What do we value? What do we need? How can we help each other? And how can we take action and create positive change?
That’s how we build healthy, safe, and vibrant communities. By working together with all local stakeholders and investing in people. Everyone may not get what they want, but everyone gets what they need. It starts on your block, in your neighborhood, with your voice.
A different kind of development
The plan for the Roof Depot (located at 1860 E 28th St. in Minneapolis) puts community building block programs into action. What EPNI is doing isn’t speculative development. It’s restorative development. Instead of displacing people, it roots them. Instead of extracting value, it circulates it. Instead of deepening inequality, it builds collective power.
This isn’t a dream. It’s already happening.
EPNI has created the vision for an urban farm with the community. They have taught hundreds of neighbors how to grow their own food. They’ve developed plans for aquaponics and solar power, a community kitchen, affordable business spaces, and year-round gathering places. They’ve designed a development timeline, secured grant funding, and built a coalition of partners ready to break ground.
The only thing missing? The land.
The city of Minneapolis bought the Roof Depot site for $6.8 million. Now, it’s asking EPNI to pay $15.9 million, over four times its appraised value of $3.7 million. EPNI has raised $10.2 million. They need the city to work with them, not move the goalposts.
This is where your voice matters.
Act now for East Phillips
We’ve seen what happens when people speak out. In 2023, community pressure stopped the city from demolishing the Roof Depot. This year, we need that same energy. And more.
Tell the city of Minneapolis to do the right thing. Sell the Roof Depot to EPNI for a fair price. Follow through on their Green Zone promises. Honor Indigenous communities such as Little Earth. Don’t let decades of organizing go to waste.
Call and email your city councilmember. Talk to your neighbors. Share the story of East Phillips. Show up at community meetings. Donate or volunteer if you can.
Speak up. For your health, your kids, our community, a just Minneapolis, and the world we want to leave behind.
Here’s a sample message you can use:
“The people of East Phillips and Little Earth deserve a clear path to purchase the Roof Depot building at a fair price, one that reflects the neighborhood’s history and efforts over the past decade. This project brings environmental justice, good-paying jobs, and healing to a historically neglected community. Please support EPNI and help make this vision a reality. It’s the right thing to do.”
Find more information at the EPNI 2024 Growth Report and epnifarm.org/resources.
We all deserve a healthy future
The East Phillips Urban Farm is about more than land or buildings. It’s about a future rooted in love, justice, and community.
East Phillips has fought for this for over a decade. Now it’s our turn to stand with them.
Your voice makes a difference. Act now for East Phillips. Visit epnifarm.org to learn more, get involved, and be part of the solution.
Eric Ortiz lives in the Wedge with his family. He is executive director of the Strong Mind Strong Body Foundation, a national youth and community development nonprofit based in Minneapolis, and associate director of research for The Pivot Fund, a venture philanthropy organization that invests in community newsrooms serving underserved communities.
