Dear Neighbors,
I’ve kept busy since I sent my last update! Here’s a brief recap of what I’ve done at the Capitol and in community in the past week:
On Friday, I had the honor of attending the grand opening of Ever-Care Orthotics & Prosthetics in Richfield. Ever-Care is the first and only O&P clinic in Minnesota that is owned and operated by a person of color or a woman. With diverse and multilingual practitioners and staff who speak Somali, Oromo, Amharic, Spanish, Swahili, and Arabic, the clinic will help provide high-quality and culturally informed care to Minnesotans. It was great to celebrate this new business in Richfield with state, city, and community leaders!
Every Minnesotan deserves to be safe at work and earn a living wage. On Monday, I joined high-rise window cleaners at the airport to support their fight for a contract that delivers good, safe jobs. These workers bravely scale buildings in order to clean them, and they are asking for an apprenticeship safety program to ensure all workers have the proper training to come home safe at the end of their work day. I was proud to support them and their strike for safety this week.
I joined the Treaty People Walk for Water yesterday for the last stretch of their 256 mile walk from the Mississippi River crossing in White Earth to the State Capitol. They embarked on this journey to call attention to the costs of expanding the Line 3 pipeline. This Enbridge project imperils our state’s clean water, violates the treaty rights of Indigenous nations, endangers workers and surrounding communities, and moves us backward in the fight against climate change. Hundreds of people marched to urge President Biden to uphold the treaties, tribal sovereignty, and environmental regulations that are threatened by the Line 3 expansion.
As a member of the House Redistricting Committee, I participated in two listening sessions yesterday. The committee is holding hearings for residents of each of Minnesota’s eight congressional districts over the next few weeks. I was happy to kick off the series with people from our own 5th Congressional District! If you weren’t able to tune in, you can watch the listening session here. Feel free to share your thoughts with me throughout this process!
If you have questions or if I can be of assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out. You can email me at rep.emma.greenman@house.mn or call (651) 296-4200.
Sincerely,
Emma