Marnie Christensen
Avrora Moussorlieva

 to learn about the organizations
in the neighborhood
 to learn about the types of
programs and services they
offer
 to identify opportunities for
collaboration
 to reach out to residents of the
neighborhood

 by the American Swedish Institute’s interns Avrora
Moussorlieva and Marnie Christensen
 in the summer of 2012
 boundaries:
I-94, I-35W, Lake St., Bloomington Ave.

 Bounded by I-94, Lake Street East, I-35 and Hiawatha Avenue
 In 2005 it was divided into 4 new neighborhoods; Ventura Village,
Phillips West, Midtown Phillips and East Phillips.
 Population in 2000 was 19,805

 ASI’s resources
 existing Phillips West
mailing lists
 internet research
 walking around the
neighborhood
 Phone interviews
The Survey – sources and methods

170 organizations surveyed
153 included in the final report
61 interviews conducted
29 determined as new prospective
ASI partners
The Survey - results

The information we gathered

Cold-calling so many organizations had
its challenges
• changed information or incorrect phone
numbers
• closed organizations or not responding
• schools – not in session
• difficult to find people
• some did not know what ASI is
• a couple did not want to participate in
the survey or thought that ASI had
nothing to offer their constituents
Most, however, knew of ASI and
were friendly and open to the
possibility of collaboration.
The interviews

o wide range of activities and programs.
o serve people of different ages and with different needs and interests
o the organizations are difficult to label with one word
o many of the organizations have limited constituencies in terms of
ethnicity
o Schools and neighborhood organizations are notable exceptions
A snapshot of the neighborhood
organizations

Next we identified
29 organizations as
new prospective ASI partners
This led us to feel that Phillips West is a particularly
rich setting for projects in which people of different
cultural backgrounds can and do get together to
pursue a common goal, thus helping to build a
stronger community.
Collaboration

The map
CURA
(Center for Urban and
Regional Affairs at U of M)
created a map of the
organizations in our
neighborhood, based on
our survey.

We decided to create
a streamlined version of the spreadsheet with keywords:
Arts and crafts
Immigration
Literacy, ESL
Music
Native issues
Swedish
Sustainability
Volunteer opportunities
Youth programs
This makes it easier to search the spreadsheet and
determine potential partners for specific projects.
Sharing

Acknowledgments and Thanks
We'd like to thank the ASI’s
staff for their support,
Nina Clark for the leadership supervising the
project, and Peggy Korsmo-Kennon, Ingrid
Nyholm-Lange, Karin Krull, and Jenn
Stromberg for sharing their ideas and
expertise with us.
We would also like to thank Crystal
Windschitl for sharing her contacts and her
knowledge of the neighborhood with us.

@ Peggy Korsmo-Kennon, Chief Operating Officer
peggykk@americanswedishinst.org
@ Nina Clark, Director of Programs & Exhibits
ninac@americanswedishinst.org
@ Avrora Moussorlieva, intern
mouss016@umn.edu
@ Marnie Christensen, intern
chri1756@umn.edu
Contact us