BACKGROUND
Angela Conley was born and raised in South Minneapolis, the daughter of union workers who worked in the labor industry. She has nearly 20 years of experience working for systems change at the state and county levels. She has been employed at both the county and state, working with people experiencing poverty to access welfare, food support, and other health and human services.
Conley is president of the Bryant Neighborhood Organization. She is a renter in that neighborhood and mother to two sons and two daughters.
Conley received her bachelor’s degree in social work from St. Catherine University and master’s degree in public administration from Hamline University.
ISSUES
When Minneapolis joined National Initiative on Building Community Trust and Justice following death of Jamar Clark and 4th Precinct occupation, Conley said the city needs to do more to gather the thoughts of “regular residents” rather than the leaders brought out to speak at news conferences. “Community leaders are actually residents in the communities, not who you might deem as a community leader,” she said.
Source: Star Tribune, 12/9/15
“We need to stop thinking we constantly have to reinvent the wheel to bring innovative ideas to the table. For the cost of a few meetings and a great facilitator, we could tap into the expertise that already exists in our communities and develop a conflict resolution program that emanates from the community it serves, rather than an authoritarian, top-down model that we know does not serve those most likely to be impacted by police violence.”
Source: Twin Cities Transit Riders Union Candidate Survey
Wants to end cash bail system in Hennepin County.
Source: MinnPost, 8/9/18
On Hennepin County’s need to limit the presence of Immigration Customs Enforcement: “The county has to take immediate steps right now – this is a crisis.”
Source: MinnPost, 9/24/18
“Housing is a top priority for me. I am committed to intergovernmental collaboration to expand Hennepin County’s shelter system and using [federal] HUD resources in addition to county resources through the Office to End Homelessness, we can look at innovative ways to expand shelter beds and build out transitional and supportive housing units existing in our communities. This includes prioritizing the needs of people newly released from incarceration, support for survivors of intimate partner violence, and prioritizing collaborative housing strategies for our youth and LGBTQIA community. This is an issue that does not exist by itself and will not be solved by single interventions.”
Source: Twin Cities Transit Riders Union Candidate Survey
“I believe it is a violation of human rights to take away the dignity of having a home that you can afford to live in, which is a basic human need. Privatizing public housing is not a person-centered approach, nor a trauma-informed solution to our housing crisis … My plan is to bring together communities impacted, MPHA [Minneapolis Public Housing Authority], and county staff to find housing alternatives that do not involve privatization. Such a collective would be guided by the voices of people living in housing that is at risk of privatization.”
Source: Twin Cities Transit Riders Union Candidate Survey
“We need housing that’s designated specifically for families and individuals who are low income. These are the people I work with receiving food and cash benefits who are at least 130 percent below the federal poverty guideline. We need to get people into secure, even union jobs and career tracks where they can produce and bring home a sustainable living wage – and a living wage is based on your [household] size. We want to make sure they can pay the rent. With rising rents, we want people to have positions or jobs with salaries that can increase, too … We have people coming in for emergency assistance who are facing eviction because they could not make that rent payment. We’re trying to prevent that in Hennepin County with a new pilot, which is to prevent evictions before they start. We certainly can do more in that area to help people into stable housing.”
Source: Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, 2/27/18
“One mechanism to support equitable development is through Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs). CBAs are legally binding covenants made between developers or government bodies and community groups that require development on specified lands to meet outlined thresholds for living wage standards, local hiring policies, affordable housing, and sustainable development practices. There are many models for the implementation of CBAs, including a good example of this in Milwaukee County. Once in place, developers must abide by the CBA in order to receive tax breaks and other forms of public assistance. I would like to see Hennepin County establish an ordinance requiring a standard CBA model for all new infrastructure projects. Through these agreements, community input helps to guide how new infrastructure is used and can mitigate the harms of gentrification and displacement.”
Source: Twin Cities Transit Riders Union Candidate Survey
“Because we are building out our regional public transit network, we are attracting developers to build upon these lines. With standard community benefits agreements in place, incentives, subsidies and negotiations centered around housing needs, Hennepin County can play a key role in building out income-based housing (very similar to public housing) along transit lines. This important partnership brings the infrastructure needed to accommodate the overwhelming need for income-based housing in our county.”
Source: Twin Cities Transit Riders Union Candidate Survey
“No commissioner has had to access our services or worked within our services. I’m a current county employee. These perspectives are key, and they’re missing from our leadership and that’s why I think we’re continuing to perpetuate these cycles. And when we lead the nation in [racial] disparities you can look directly at Hennepin County, because we’re the biggest issuer in the state of social services programs.”
Source: Southwest Journal, 7/9/18
“Hennepin County is a very large level of government managing everything from the roads to public health, human services, [and] our corrections departments both juvenile and adult. The work I do, I work with 16 community-based agencies and each one contracts with Hennepin County to find jobs for people on cash and food assistance. I want to see the folks we’re contracting with are meeting outcomes.”
Source: Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, 2/27/18
Names priorities of reducing use of fossil fuels by county vehicles and buses, phasing out the HERC garbage incinerator and banning use of plastics.
Source: Candidate’s website
“We’ve been trying at the county to eliminate racial disparities within the county because we perpetuate them sometimes with the work that we do. The last straw was when I found out that last fall our county board, which has never included a person of color, went on a retreat specifically to talk about reducing racial disparities within the county. I don’t know that there was any input from a person of color in that retreat, and it was at that moment that I was like, ‘No. No. This is not how we’re going to do it.’ We need voices of people who are impacted either on the board or at these retreats when we’re making decisions that affect people’s quality of life, and they need to be at the table for that.”
Source: Southwest Journal, 7/9/18
“Black women are capable and have been in leadership roles in our community for years. For many years, we have been using our power to fight back against social injustices. We have participated in protests; we have done what we could in our workplaces to address inequities. The power we have within our community can be transferred to an elected office. The background Black women bring is imperative, and quite desperately needed.”
Source: Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, 2/27/18
