Petition – Establish $2 billion ALANA Trust Fund from Budget Surplus

We invite community members to sign on to the petition below and contact your elected representatives as well as candidates seeking your vote.

Dear Governor Walz, Lt. Governor Flanagan, Speaker Hortman and Senator Miller – thanks for all you do for Minnesota.

We request you to allocated $2 billion from the surplus, an amount proportionate to the ALANA/BIPOC population in Minnesota, in a special trust fund that will invest in long term wealth building tools and resources that will help close the racial disparity gaps in Minnesota and unleash a new source of entrepreneurial energy in Minnesota.

The research below by Dr. Bruce Corrie an economist at Concordia University documents the powerful role the ALANA communities play in the Minnesotan economy:

The ALANA economy is a $1.4 trillion dollar economy bigger than the economy of Mexico and generates an estimated $3 billion in taxes annually.

ALANA businesses contribute over $7 billion in goods and services in Minnesota, employ more than 60,000 Minnesotans and pay $1.5 billion in payroll. Even though these businesses are a small fraction of the size of the average business in Minnesota.

ALANA workers generate an estimated $200 billion in output of goods and services in Minnesota, a million jobs and $ 24 billion in taxes. Especially significant is the high percentage of Minnesota workers 55+ years old and the growing need for ALANA workers in critical sectors of the economy.

ALANA youth in higher education pay at least $1 billion annually for their educational expenses.

It is time to make long term investments in the ALANA economy to build wealth and help make Minnesota globally competitive.

We are waiting for your leadership this week. Please establish the $2 billion ALANA wealth building trust fund.

Because of the timely nature of this request all supporters of this resolution are not listed. There is wider support across the ALANA communities in Minnesota. We are asking the ALANA communities to ask their representatives and candidates for elected office to support this initiative.

Three of us are plaintiffs in the intervention before the Special Redistricting panel and whose input is documented in the Final Order of the judges. There the judges ask legislators to pay attention to the voices of the ALANA communities while acknowledging our efforts in shaping the new political districts.
We welcome the opportunity to visit with you to discuss this petition.

Thank you.

Dr. Bruce Corrie, ALANA Brain Trust

Linda Sloan – Council for Minnesotans of African Heritage

Rosa Tock – Minnesota Council on Latino Affairs

Leiataua Dr. Robert Jon Peterson, TE2 Consulting

Brett Buckner, OneMN.org and ALANA Brain Trust

Jane Leonard, Growth and Justice and ALANA Brain Trust

John B Yang, Hmong Chamber of Commerce

Annastacia Belladonna-Carrera, Common Cause, MN

Carolyn Brown, Community Stabilization Project

Nerita Hughes

Barbara Hall