Minnesota Center for Neighborhood Organizing (MCNO)

The Minnesota Center for Neighborhood Organizing (MCNO) is a program within the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs at the University of Minnesota. MCNO has worked with neighborhood based organizations for over 15 years on issues based grassroots organizing by providing training, technical assistance and support. MCNO is effective in its work because it does not dictate to a community, but instead listens to the needs articulated by the community and works toward organic, community based solutions.

The long term goal of MCNO is neighborhoods where people are organized to identify and tackle local issues, building vital communities that value democracy inclusiveness and fairness. We believe effective neighborhood organizations offer a unique contribution to democracy by providing a forum for individuals of disparate backgrounds and beliefs to take collective action, and that neighborhood residents should define their own community agendas. This is only possible when all members of the community are engaged and involved in the decision making process.

Over the last 12 months MCNO provided trainings for over 166 community organizers and volunteers. We developed a summer program placing immigrant youth with neighborhood based organizations to engage in issues based neighborhood organizing within their communities. We worked directly with over 700 volunteers including Latino parents fighting to save a successful ELL program, Native Americans defending their community against environmental hazards due to high voltage powerlines, and Hmong families concerned about the lack of Hmong police officers in North Minneapolis.

Over the past 15 years, hundreds of neighborhood organization staff and thousands of volunteers have participated in MCNO trainings and support. Over half of the staff at Twin Cities neighborhood organizations have gone through MCNO trainings. As a free resource for neighborhoods, community based organizations, organizers, and volunteers, we ensure that our services are available to all people in the community regardless of income.

Although we are a part of the University, we are funded by grants and individual donations. If you believe that grass-roots, place-based, issues organizing is important, please support MCNO.

Check us out on the web at www.mcno.umn.edu.