Last year’s death vote of NRP, the city’s Neighborhood Revitalization Program, came with great angst among the dozens of officially recognized neighborhood organizations. Many called it a power grab by City Hall to squelch the very citizen participation that drove the city to insist on its creation in the first place. Conveniently, the special TIF districts funding NRP were due to expire and did this last spring. But the fallout from Council Members who voted in favor of the decision never materialized in an ousting vote this November. Nearly everyone survived the elections.

The future begins anew, with the city finally establishing its own Neighborhood and Community Relations Department and are now opening applications for the Access and Outreach Specialists. New recruits ought to be cautious as they enter this process. Public response is still scathing. The death of NRP mirrors surviving a 2012 apocalypse and resettling humanity.

The Access and Outreach Specialists support broader communication outreach and engagement and must be able to speak, read, write and comprehend one of the following: Hmong, Somali, Spanish, or American Sign Language. If you are interested in applying, please complete the City’s application on the City’s Web site at www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/jobs by Monday, December 14, 2009.