A whole lot of memories and emotions are flowing through me as I sit down to write my final letter to you as Avenues' Executive Director. 

This will go down as the best "job" I've ever had. I use quotes because my time at Avenues has so rarely felt like work. What started as a short-term consulting gig in late 2007, turned into appointment as Avenues' Interim Executive Director in early 2008 to lead the organization through a transition. 

But the universe intervened and the short-term gig became a ten-year labor of love. Avenues became my family and my home. 

I've had the opportunity to work with and learn from the most remarkable staff and volunteers. I've been allowed to walk alongside extraordinary young people as they find stability and make their way to a brighter future. 

I am so grateful to each and everyone of you for supporting and believing in Avenues and our youth. And for supporting and believing in me. 

Together, we have accomplished a lot. We have expanded Avenues four-fold and deepened our services. Today, we provide truly life-changing shelter and support for more than 300 homeless youth every year. 

And through all that expanding and deepening, Avenues has remained strong and stable. That's because you - our community - supported Avenues. 

So, thank you. 

Big Ron taught us the basics in wall repair, showing us how to fill in the holes, prepare the mud, keep it from getting too dry, and when to add water and how much. All that fun shit - the approach of how you hold the spreader.

We used a multi-direction approach to spread the mud. This means you lather it on one way then hit it in another way until you have less bumps. That was a very cool approach. Myself, Pete, Kev, and Allison all had the pleasure of learning. 

One thing that's good to know is that if you smash the mud mixing to keep is, as Big Ron says, "a consistency of peanut butter, " t hen it will lay in nice and smooth without having to do extra sanding work. 

Big Ron's been volunteering with Avenues for 5 years, and first started with organizing the clothing closet.  So it's cool that the youth stepped up and helped him with the walls, and it's dank that Big Ron has let the youth work with him. He is great with the youth and has gotten to be closer to some of them! 

Nourishing Dreams 

Thank you to those who dined out on Nov. 8 to raise awareness and funds for Avenues! A special thank you to our fabulous Nourishing Dreams restaurants: 

Dr. Brewer led a dozen staff and board members in a dialogue recently about the long history of discriminatory policies and practices that created and perpetuate the racial wealth divide in our country, specifically as they relate to housing and homelessness. The wealth divide started with outright slavery, of course, but continued with practices after slavery technically ended that kept former slaves from owning and farming their own land. More recently, unjust and unfair treatment through the GI Bill, redlining by lenders, restrictive covenants and more made it virtually impossible for most African Americans to become homeowners and build wealth like their White peers. 

The wealth divide continues today as measured by home ownership rates -- in the Twin Cities today, 75% of White (non-Hispanic) households own their home compared to just 24% of Black households. Other households of color fare better, but still lag behind White households at 39% owning their home.

We have a crisis in affordable housing today, tax policies that continue giving preferential treatment to homeowners, and racial disparities in income and access to credit. All this conspires to widen (not shrink!) the wealth divide. 

Dr. Brewer also encouraged us to look into work being done by United for a Fair Economy, an organization based in Boston that "challenges the concentration of wealth and power that corrupts democracy, deepens the racial divide and tears communities apart. We use popular economics education, trainings, and creative communications to support social movements working for a resilient, sustainable and equitable economy."

Thank you Dr. Brewer!