Share this pageFor discussion
Burnsville at a glance:
A community in transition checks itself, charts new course
Compass talks with Mary Ajax, Community Action Council
Mary Ajax is president and CEO of Community Action Council (CAC). Mary serves on the Fairview Minnesota Valley Care System Board of Trustees, is a past president of the Burnsville Rotary Club, and a past chair of the United Way Council of Agency Executives.
Last winter, Community Action Council approached Twin Cities Compass to look at Compass key measures in the City of Burnsville, to see where improvement is most needed. Armed with knowledge of the trends – some good, some not – concerned residents and community leaders are working toward turning each negative into a positive.
What is Community Action Council (CAC), and why did you decide to take on this project?
Community Action Council is an independent nonprofit founded by local communities in 1970. Our mission is to provide support to people and communities to prevent violence, ensure school success and promote long-term self-sufficiency. We serve Dakota and Scott Counties, and have staff in eight school districts, two safe houses, six food shelves, and a huge network with police, chambers of commerce, hospitals, local government and civic organizations. We work with more than 2,000 volunteers and serve more than 14,000 people per year.
Our roots are in community-building, and we feel we are the right entity to coordinate this effort because we are not a government or for-profit organization, but we work with government, business, and community groups. We believe in that whole “It takes a village” concept.
Why did you want to work with Compass, and what do you hope to accomplish with the Burnsville project?
As we think about our mission and what difference we really need to make, ultimately we need to be looking at trends. We need to know what is happening – where we are now, and how do we know we are being successful? In our work at CAC we are good at working with individuals, but how do we help the whole boat rise? We want to impact the entire community.
We recognize it is important to measure results. How do we know the work we are doing together is getting the desired results? Rather than us just saying we think this is what we should be doing, this project makes our work data-driven. Then we can genuinely celebrate our successes, or know what did not work and shift direction. Measurement is the key.
What issues are you focusing on?
We are looking at trends. How is Burnsville doing compared to the nation, to the region, and to our neighbors? After looking at the data, education became our front-burner issue. We are really going to focus on young kids. More than 40 percent of our kindergarteners are eligible for free or reduced lunch. Education is our top issue.
Another major focus is on economy and workforce. Per-capita and median income are trending downward in Burnsville, compared to the region and to our neighbors. We need to figure out what is causing this trend and get it moving in a positive direction.
A third area is civic engagement. We have identified the way we will do the work and the values around it. We will try to touch the life of every citizen in Burnsville. Ultimately, the whole community has to solve these problems together.
For example, we want to develop community capacity to promote and develop literacy. But we know that a significant number of households in Burnsville do not have children in the schools anymore. How are we really going to help people get involved and own our future together? How are we going to ensure our own success? It will take broad-based engagement.
Won’t this be costly?
Actually, a time of scarce resources is the perfect time to do it, and this is the perfect tool. We have to think different, act different and be different. So often, people worry about the cost of doing something, but what is the cost of doing nothing? If we are leaders, we had better be setting the course, bringing people to the table and doing something about the trends we need to turn around. In three years, we should be seeing the trend moving in a strong, measurable and positive way. I look ahead ten years – do we want to see the trends moving in a strong, positive direction, or do we want to be sitting at the table asking each other what happened?
Will you be looking at doing similar projects in other cities in the Community Action Council service area?
We are absolutely going to replicate this project. We are starting in Eagan now, and others are wanting to do it as well. We know this is doable, people are saying just point the way.
Read more about it
Don't live in Burnsville, but want to see how your county ranks? See Craig Helmstetter's county rankings in this month's Ask a Researcher.
Continue the discussion on Facebook
Opinions in the For Discussion columns are the authors' alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Minnesota Compass. Compass welcomes a range of views about issues pertaining to quality of life in Minnesota.
