Creating a Charity that Makes a difference. Ace-In-The-City's Tim Anderson

On today's program we have Tim Anderson:  author, speaker and executive director of Ace-In- the City, a community development organization cultivating belonging in the neighborhoods of South Minneapolis.  Tim's passion center around reimagining and repurposing underutilized church space for the flourishing of us all.  Ace in the City's first project,  the "center of belonging,"  is a collaborative effort of 8 cross- section nonprofit and for-profit organizations that acts as a blueprint for church innovation. 

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Transcript

And on today's program we have Tim Anderson Tim is an author speaker and executive director of a in the city a community development organization cultivating belonging in the neighborhoods of South Minneapolis and bola and beyond with over a decade of work collaborating across diverse neighborhood stakeholders. Tim's passion center around reimagining and repurposing underutilized church space for the flourishing of us all Ace in the city's first project the center of belonging is a collaborative effort of 8 cross-s sectionction nonprofit and for-profit organizations and acts as a blueprint for church innovation. Timbersides in Minneapolis with his wife and family is kept busy and on his feet with his four sons daughter in law and 2 grandkids Tim Anderson welcome to the program you you look way too young to have grandkids but you have grandkids on.

00:46.55
Tim Anderson
Um, hey thanks for having me on Kelly delighted to be with you.

00:57.64
Tim Anderson
That that's a story for the next podcast. Kelly yes I do I have two two grandkids. Ah they keep me keep me super busy.

01:00.82
kelly99
Um.

01:07.51
kelly99
Well like I say you look well too young for for that. But I think everybody looks young because because I'm not so um, you know something? That's always I've wondered about is the name. What how? how did you come up with the name Ace in the city.

01:11.48
Tim Anderson
Have.

01:20.34
Tim Anderson
Yeah, yeah, good Question. So ah, the kind of the the genesis of Ace in the city actually actually brings us back to my my high school years I was dealing with some some mental health um in my junior. Ah, sophomore Junior year of high school to the point where my family my mom and my dad um decided my home wasn't the best place for me that I should move schools move locations kind of get out of the the difficult place I was in so I moved in with good family friends. Um that I'd met in the cities.

01:49.96
kelly99
Are.

01:57.62
Tim Anderson
Before I moved down to rural minnesota and lived with the weirsma family and one of my best friends Andy his nickname was ace we were we became like brothers we bunked together in the same room and and just really became the closest of friends and.

01:58.00
kelly99
Oh.

02:14.10
Tim Anderson
Ah, he was always one of those guys his nickname was ace because he was better at everybody at everything. He's one of those guys that would frustrate you because he would he would jump into a game first time playing it and he'd be better at you within 10 minutes and on 1 hand that's super frustrating but the thing about ace. That was so powerful to me and to everybody around him as he always made you feel like the more important one he always made you feel like the winner even though everybody knew he was he was gifted. Um, so gifted so talented and ace. Ah, he died in a car accident actually right when I was transitioning or or looking for a job. Um, kind of 2 years out of college I was teaching and didn't make the budget cuts of the 2008 recession and so really was looking for new work.

03:02.86
kelly99
Um.

03:05.10
Tim Anderson
Knew I loved kids knew I loved basketball and it was in this season where I was finding a new gig teaching wasn't the thing my my buddy ace passed away in a car accident and that legacy that impact that he had on my life and so many others kind of carried forward into this new. At the time 2009 nonprofit that I started ace in the city of really trying to to listen and love in a way that cultivates belonging which is kind of 1 of our keywords that we say over and over something that Ace did really well in his life.

03:39.00
kelly99
Well, that's ah, that's a tragic story but you were able to put some some goodness forward out of that. So very, very interesting and and glad I know that you know where where it all comes from now and so you you have this very. Giving and successful nonprofit that's operating out of out of Minneapolis st paul tell me about the community you serve there tell tell me about the people and and why it's important.

04:04.31
Tim Anderson
Yep.

04:08.33
Tim Anderson
Um, yeah, yeah, you know I mean Minneapolis and and really the Minneapolis is so diverse right? So um, neighborhood by neighborhood can can change um, drastically socioeconomically ethnically racially really any way you want to. Um, look at it right? Everything is is very diverse neighborhood by neighborhood and and ace in the city and where I live where we work is kind of in the powderhorn park neighborhood. Obviously the world now knows powderhorn park in in a new way because of George Floyd and and the aftermath there that. That kind of that happened in my neighborhood. That's 3 blocks from where I live right in the neighborhood of where ace in the city has been working for for over a decade now and it's very diverse. Ah very socioeconomically diverse racially diverse and very transient right? So that that. Ace in city has always wanted to adapt and listen well to our community which is which is great and and a good thing I think for all of us to aspire to and be committed to it makes it challenging though when neighborhoods are always changing um rental rates are. Very high and so you always have ah an influx of of people coming in an influx of people coming out but very diverse and and that's a beautiful thing. What that does though is that creates a lot of opportunities to to ensure that we're working well together right? I think it's easier for.

05:42.15
Tim Anderson
Any group whether professionally or or relationally it's easier to work together. Well when when it's homogenous when you're working across people who look like you act like you talk like you think like you do the same work as you it becomes a little bit more challenging. The more diverse you get and so I think ace in the city. We're stepping into a neighborhood. Um that thinks and and believes and behaves in a lot of different beautiful ways and so we see our work of how do we cut through all of that in a way that says hey it doesn't matter who you are where you come from what language you speak. You still matter you still belong. You're still loved. You're still, you're still worthy as as just being a human being in this pocket of South Minneapolis that we call home.

06:29.54
kelly99
Yeah, you know I'm I'm from my family is from out state areas and I had interesting conversations I remember you and I were talking I don't know within the first week maybe or two weeks after the George Flor ah George Floyd incident and um.

06:31.34
Tim Anderson
Um, okay.

06:41.61
Tim Anderson
Yeah.

06:46.58
kelly99
You know and everybody that was asking you know talking to me for my outside extended family was talking about how the city was burning down and it wasn't safe. Don't go near you know Minneapolis St Paul but you had said to me, you know people are coming together and they're helping each other and so I got very different.

06:53.70
Tim Anderson
Yeah.

07:05.18
kelly99
Pictures of what was going on at the time I mean I think clearly things you know their buildings were burning and there was a lot of and unrest, but but you you made it sound not nearly as dangerous for people it is and when you're in the neighborhood.

07:11.50
Tim Anderson
Totally yeah.

07:23.76
kelly99
Were you able to go outside after you know when it was light or at night or how bad was it.

07:26.00
Tim Anderson
Totally yeah, you know it's always and this is true for anything right? like ah, be careful what you see on the news because there's going to be some truth in there and and obviously a lot that's. Whether intentionally or otherwise not shared and and that's true also post George Floyd I think um language that I try to use with folks when they ask because a lot of people do ask and and they're good questions is you know the the post George Floyd kind of the aftermath of that. We were able to see both the ugliest and the most beautiful parts of our community all at the same time and I don't know if that really makes sense but on 1 hand yeah, we saw the really hard ugly parts of what happens when we when we don't work. Well together when the systems don't seem to go our way when yeah to your point when lake street corridor which is 4 blocks the other direction of where I live when it literally is burning in front of your very eyes when there are tanks going through your neighborhood at ten o'clock at night post-curfew like that that is very hard.

08:15.34
kelly99
Um.

08:33.13
Tim Anderson
And very real flipside is I've never seen our community rally together in such beautiful intimate ways and I did post George Floyd I know my neighbors better now than you know over three short months of that summer I got to know my neighbors in a way that i. Didn't the previous 10 years living there and there can be a little bit of like ownership on mind of how I could have been ah a better neighbor the first ten years of living there but that's beside the point hardship oftentimes brings people together. Of course we see that with Hurricane Ian we see that with different things that happen. Um, kind of on the local and national stage is that hardship and crises can bring people together and certainly George Floyd was true and and felt on a very intimate and personal level and so yeah I mean we there were times where you know going outside we we weren't allowed to right? So you know most. There were many of us that still did just to kind of um, be present in the community but it was generally still still safe. Um and like any place else you you go and you you know you use the sermon with wherever you go.

09:41.30
kelly99
Are.

09:46.69
Tim Anderson
Right? And that's always been the case for us and and certainly after after George Floyd in that summer of 2020

09:53.64
kelly99
You know I was I was watching my beloved Green Bay Packers yesterday and um, they are beloved. Yeah, yes, oh it is a plot twist. Yeah, my dad is from Minnesota and my mouses from Wisconsin but my ah my minnesota grandfather.

09:57.17
Tim Anderson
Um, oh beloved Interesting Plot twist.

10:06.82
Tim Anderson
Skull bikes.

10:08.13
kelly99
Yeah, my my minnesota grandfather was stationed in the navy in Green Bay and um and he was a drinker and so he hung out with fuzzy thirston and all the packers of of the super bowl there and so yeah, so my that side that direct. Um.

10:11.70
Tim Anderson
Okay.

10:19.70
Tim Anderson
A fun.

10:25.72
kelly99
Corner of my dad's Minnesota family a big packer big pay all Backer Packer fans are mostly packer fans. Um, but the reason I bring it up is because on that Packer Ah Tv cast they were saying 1 in 6 children in the US I think that was the number. Ah.

10:27.20
Tim Anderson
Um, yeah, yeah, yeah.

10:41.33
kelly99
Has a food issue. They're dealing with food shortage. You're not getting enough food and to me that was a startling number in my world of course that's just so far from a reality in the United States but I'm wondering in your world. Do you see that and if you do what who who is that is that single like a single mom I mean.

10:43.38
Tim Anderson
Um, yeah.

10:59.35
Tim Anderson
Yeah, yeah.

11:01.30
kelly99
Like in my mind that would be the only option for a child not having you know food in the United States but tell me what you see there.

11:07.71
Tim Anderson
Yeah, you know I think that I don't know the exact stat sir Kelly but that sounds pretty that sounds pretty accurate from what I know I think um and probably in our neighborhood. Um, where there tends to be more folks. Statistically living at or below poverty line. Ah that probably number is is even pretty low I think yeah, what you're seeing and and obviously now even as we see inflation impacting impacting everybody right I think statistics like this unfortunately are only going up. Um. Because now you're seeing not just the single mom like you mentioned, but you know powderhorn park and and this is true to Minneapolis st paul we we are home to a lot of first -generational immigrants and statistically um, oftentimes these families are living close to. Um, poverty range and so now you have poverty um income which is limited and inflation which is going up that just puts a further strain on family households and so I think you're seeing more and more not just single families which is true. But even more hardworking families who are just working not working jobs that aren't paying well um, kind of dealing with food insecurity and and I think on the ace in the city end what we're seeing not only is and is kind of food insecurity. But also the types of food that that.

12:40.50
Tim Anderson
Are accessible. So obviously folks in our neighborhood can access food if they have the resources the question then becomes what types of food are they able to access and it's at this point and this you know I don't know if we're going to go here today but brings us to one of the things. Ace and the city is doing in partnership with a few others of of our flourish food market but is really trying to say what what we're hoping to see in our neighborhood and in our world isn't just accessibility to food but it's accessibility to good food food that promotes health and wellness and flourishing and strength. And longevity of life and quality of life and that's something that oftentimes in our urban cores. We call them food marshes where there's there's marshes have water but the water there isn't good for anybody to drink and that's very true in a lot of urban core areas underresourced. Ah, cause burden neighborhoods like powderhorn park where a lot of the access to food is food. That's not necessarily promoting the type of wellness that our that our body needs and so how do we? How we both look at food insecurity and also what types of food. We are promoting when we're able to increase the accessibility of those.

13:55.85
kelly99
Yeah, well it doesn't matter in my experience that the side of the political spectrum you come from none of us want to see children. Go hungry. You know we want our children in the Us to be well fed. We want them to have energy and brain power to go on and become the next.

14:06.10
Tim Anderson
Um, yes, correct.

14:13.50
Tim Anderson
Yes.

14:15.60
kelly99
Engineers or plumbers or you know whatever it is they want to do so tell me what else you guys are doing. You're creating safe spaces after school and making sure they have back. The kids have backpacks so they can get to school and prioritize their education. So tell me about.

14:20.50
Tim Anderson
Yep.

14:25.70
Tim Anderson
Um, yeah.

14:33.55
kelly99
That part of what you do.

14:35.40
Tim Anderson
Yeah, so we historically you know the the work of Ace in the city has been largely direct services with youth and families and so that has to your point you use some of our keywords doing a lot of ah before and after school programming work with. Kids especially early readers k three literacy support. Um, and then even you know an extension of obviously the student is the family. So how do we just intangible small ways. Ah cultivate belonging in ways of like how do we make? Um. Back to school a less burdensome process for families as they gear up for their kids with school supplies and backpads that's been something that you've partnered with us over the years we're super grateful for that and now even at the center belonging which is kind of our first. A physical renovation project that we've done here in south also stepping into the the food security space and and healthy food. Security space of of working to really provide the best. Produce healthiest foods for our families and and obviously again by extension the kids that are part of those households. So that's been historically a lot of the work that we've been doing has been kids and families and and now as we've been doing that work for a while and as we've been listening I think we've seen some more opportunities in front of us.

16:02.21
Tim Anderson
Um, in this work of of placemaking.

16:06.53
kelly99
You know in today's world and I don't know if it's gotten better or worse or the same. But there's people work so hard. Um, and they see they hear stories about people who don't have enough food or their kids don't have enough.

16:14.58
Tim Anderson
And.

16:23.64
kelly99
Um, something and they think well those people that person's not working harder. They're lazy or they're you know they they don't have that you know they don't have that empathy necessarily How how do you get through to people so they understand um.

16:26.92
Tim Anderson
You sure.

16:34.90
Tim Anderson
Yeah.

16:41.87
kelly99
The stories that are beyond the statistics.

16:45.40
Tim Anderson
yeah well yeah I mean you you said it right there I mean I am a big I am a big storyteller and I think that that's um, that's what cuts through statistics is story and so I think trying to um. Yeah, regardless, right? this and this goes back to the we see this right now. Especially um at the political level of just like the inability. It seems for people to see each other across the aisle and and and yet it's true. You know. Ah, politically, but it's true really in every way that if we can just find the space to get to know each other to hear our stories. We will be amazed at what we hear what we learn what we see and because of that. And because I'm a byproduct of this we we will change. It's inevitable when you hear the story when you really lean into it when you ask good questions and have a posture of humility that that stories have the power to transform people, families communities and so I think it's that type of work. That is really for all of us Ace in the city included. But I think that that's the broader work at the kind of relational communal levels. How do we tell good stories because um, those have the power to unlock the things that I believe are neighborhoods.

18:11.59
Tim Anderson
Ah, need more of so.

18:15.30
kelly99
Tim Anderson I could talk to you a long time you you get? you're doing a lot of great things. Um, you're certainly someone I admire and thank you for doing everything you're doing for the community. Yeah, and um.

18:16.10