Together, Our Whole is Greater Than the Sum of Our Parts!

MICAH certainly brought the truth of that saying forward when we held our MICAH Metrowide Policy Breakfast on March 21st!

With over 60 people in the room and 40 online, we built and rebuilt connections to increase our power to achieve housing justice! Powerful speeches from House DFL Tax Committee Chair Aisha Gomez, Senate Assistant Majority Leader Liz Boldon, and newly elected Ramsey County Commissioner Garrison McMurtry riveted the crowd with their strong support of affordable housing and shelter.

This was the first time that we brought together all of our metro chapters since before the COVID pandemic, and the cross fertilization and connections were energetic and evident.  (And Shobi’s Table, the caterer, did a great breakfast!)

We also highlighted the saying – when God gives you lemons, make lemonade! This meeting only happened because the gridlock at the House of Representatives led us to cancel our traditional chapter-by-chapter policy breakfasts. (It’s hard to talk to a State Representative when the House isn’t functioning at all!) But when a deal was reached, we pivoted, and took the St. Paul chapter’s plan (to meet in person at Christ Lutheran on Capitol Hill) pushed it a couple of weeks, and invited everyone in MICAH!

Not to say that everything was silky-smooth – running 5 different Zoom breakouts in a single church basement worked in some cases more than others – and the scheduling of Capitol activities meant some of our speakers had to change their times, which led to our schedule having to flex. But we persevered and kept our connections going!

As any good success deserves to be revisited, we are planning to hold another of these policy breakfasts next year (with longer breakout time and better Zoom preparation!)

Great thanks to all who were able to attend and who were able to make it happen!

~ John Slade, Senior Congregational Organizer