Dear Neighbor,
The third week of the legislative session is just about over. We only have seven weeks left in the shortened 10 week session. There’s a lot going on and I wanted to update you on three things:
Legislative Survey
My legislative survey should be hitting people’s mailboxes this week. I’m encouraging you to fill it out online at:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CGN3JGZ. Your input is important to me. Knowing what issues matter most to you and what will help your family informs the discussions we have at the Capitol.
Highway 94 Construction Open House
There’s a two-year resurfacing and improvement project scheduled to begin this spring on I-94 between St Paul and the Maplewood/Woodbury area. The project will be significant, not just with resurfacing, but extending auxiliary lanes, creating emergency pull-off sites, repairing bridges, and creating trail connections.
The open house will take place from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Sunray Public Library in the 3M Community Room, 2105 Wilson Ave. in St. Paul. You can also find out more about the project at the
project’s website.
Women of Color Opportunities Act
Yesterday I joined many of my DFL colleagues in a press conference to unveil the ‘Women of Color Opportunities Act (WOCOA). WOCOA is a legislative package that aims for the elimination of racial disparities in the educational and economic status of women and girls of color in Minnesota. This issue of racial disparities is long overdue and has needed to be addressed for quite some time. I’m proud to continue working on important legislation like this for our community.
Women and girls of color in Minnesota face significant challenges and disparities. The gender wage gap for women of color in particular has had devastating impacts on poverty in Minnesota communities. Currently Minnesota’s African American women earn $0.62 for every dollar a white male earns and for Hispanic women that figure is even lower at $0.57 for every dollar a white male earns. A Hispanic woman working full-time stands to lose about $854,000 over the course of her career because of the gender wage gap. Over 64% of Minnesota’s African American female-headed households with young children live in poverty, with 53% of Hispanic female-headed households living in poverty.
The Women of Color Opportunities Act features five main components:
- Academic Success (HF 3031/ SF 2885) - Creates replicable model programs—one for the Twin Cities and one for Greater Minnesota—to help girls of color succeed in school. This approach includes decreasing the school suspension rate for girls of color, increasing on-time high school graduation rates, and encouraging girls of color to pursue postsecondary education.
- Financial Literacy (HF 3032/ SF 2865) - Gives women and girls of color the knowledge and understanding to make reasonable and appropriate personal financial decisions to lay the groundwork for an economically secure future.
- STEM Career Training (HF 3033/ SF 2916) - Funds competitive grants to community-based STEM-affiliated organizations experienced in serving girls of color and to elementary and secondary schools that provide STEM instruction, giving girls of color greater access to high tech careers, and jobs of the future.
- Nontraditional Job Training (HF 3098/ SF 3056) - Funds job-skills training and apprenticeships for women of color in high-wage, high-demand, non-traditional occupations—jobs in skilled trades and STEM.
- Small Business Lending (HF 3099/ SF 2931) – Removes barriers to credit for women of color by funding micro-loans for start-up, expansion, and retention of small businesses that are owned by women of color in who have been underserved. Preference is given to lower income women of color.
I am hopeful we will pass these important bills this year. It’s past time that we act to make significant progress on disparities.
As always, feel free to contact me with your thoughts and concerns.
Sincerely,
Sheldon Johnson