Dear Kingfield Neighbor—Â
Please consider a year-end gift to your local nonprofit, the Kingfield Neighborhood Association! KFNA works throughout the year to build connections between all our neighborhood stakeholders (homeowners, renters, property owners, businesses, and nonprofits) with the goal of strengthening a connected and vibrant community that is poised to both tackle neighborhood issues and implement community solutions. We hope you feel our work in the Kingfield neighborhood and advocating for our neighborhood in the larger City is a benefit to your life as a resident of Minneapolis. You can read more about KFNA at our website at www.kingfield.org, and stay up to date on Kingfield happenings by signing up at the site for the weekly e-mail list.
Despite the “sunset†of the Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP) occurring at the end of 2011, KFNA is determined to keep actively working in our community. For over 15 years, Kingfield has benefited from a hardworking, accountable nonprofit organization called the Kingfield Neighborhood Association which has helped neighbors identify issues and develop solutions to our specific and unique community’s problems.  Issues that KFNA has helped both analyze and fund solutions for include the lack of a neighborhood grocery store (KFNA started the Kingfield Farmers Market and is working to create community gardens!); the lack of business connections to each other and the community (KFNA started what is now the Nicollet East Harriet Business Association and also a series of events tied to promote our local businesses like ‘Eating for Art’ and ‘Celebrate 38!’); the condition of our “main streetâ€, Nicollet Avenue, (KFNA invested almost ½ million dollars into businesses along this corridor alone, and has invested almost 1 million more to lighting, and park improvements along the avenue. In fact, KFNA continues to be a driving force for the repaving of the avenue, finally coming in 2013, which will include over $160,000 of arts dollars to supplement the paving project!) Besides these major accomplishments we have also painted over 30 murals in Kingfield, conceptualized and implemented a utility box wrapping program which is being duplicated across the city, supported innovative storm water and solar programs in our neighborhood, helped start and support block clubs on over 50% of our blocks, and more.Â
Without your support KFNA will face a difficult few years. The new City of Minneapolis Community Participation Program provides KFNA with only about half of what it needs to maintain its regular workload and we still have work to do in your community. KFNA will be spending the remainder of the NRP dollars in a manner consistent with the plans adopted by the neighborhood in 1999 and 2006. We hope this will result in a few major large-scale projects benefiting the community still occurring in the coming years, but we need to maintain the infrastructure to make sure this can happen.
If every Kingfield household donates just $10 to KFNA, we can pay for our administrative costs for an entire year. For $20 per household, we can cover our general operating costs too, including rent, insurance and neighborhood communications. And if you are able to donate $50, $100 or $250, you can significantly contribute to the plethora of programs and services that KFNA offers. Anything you can afford is appreciated! Donations to KFNA are tax deductible and every dime you donate is spent on trying to make Kingfield an even better place to call home. Remember, KFNA is you – and with your help, we can continue building a better Kingfield.
Have a Happy New Year!
Scott Bordon, President, & Sarah Linnes-Robinson, Executive Director