ACS Minneapolis: Reconnecting Rondo: Repairing, Restoring and Revitalizing the Rondo Neighborhood

Join us for a conversation with Mayor Melvin Carter - Mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota and resident of the Rondo Neighborhood, Marvin Anderson - Board Chair of Reconnect Rondo, and Sam Clark - Civil Division Director for Ramsey County Attorney's Office about the history of the Rondo neighborhood and the future of the project to reconnect the neighborhood via a "land bridge" over the I-94 Rondo Corridor. This discussion will include an analysis of the process that was utilized to displace 80% of Saint Paul's African American population that once lived in the Rondo neighborhood.

Speaker bios:

Melvin Carter

Mayor of St. Paul

Melvin Carter is the 46th mayor of the City of Saint Paul, Minnesota's Capital City. A fourth-generation Saint Paul resident, he currently resides in Saint Paul's Historic Rondo neighborhood with his wife, Dr. Sakeena Futrell-Carter, and their children, just a few doors down from his childhood home.

Passionate about helping others engage in civic processes, Mayor Carter has trained progressive activists and candidates in over 30 states, and commonly recites his administration's mantra: "Building a city that works for us all means we all must do the work."

Prior to his election in 2017, Mayor Carter has served as a Saint Paul City Council Member; Founding Board Chair of the Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood; Director of the Minnesota Office of Early Learning; and Executive Director of the Minnesota Children's Cabinet.

A proud graduate of the Saint Paul public schools, Mayor Carter holds a Bachelor's Degree in business administration from Florida A&M University and a Master of Public Policy from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.

Marvin Roger Anderson

Chair of the Board of Director, Reconnect Rondo

Marvin Anderson currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors for ReConnectRondo, an organization with the mission to pursue a "land bridge" over I-94 in the Rondo Corridor and as the Project Director of the Rondo Commemorative Plaza. Mr. Anderson is a co-founder and first President of (MABL) the Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers. He was a board member and past chair of the Archie Givens, for African-American Literature, former board member of the Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library, Regions Hospital Board of Directors, Minnesota Humanities Commission Board of Trustees and the US Bank Community Advisory Board.

Sam Clark

Civil Division Director for Ramsey County Attorney's Office

Sam Clark is currently the Civil Division Director for Ramsey County Attorney's Office. Prior to joining the Ramsey County Attorney's Office, Sam worked at Greene Espel after serving as the Saint Paul city attorney (2015-2018), where he led one of the largest public law offices in Minnesota and oversaw a team of more than 70 legal professionals providing comprehensive legal services to the mayor, council, city departments, Housing Redevelopment Authority, Port Authority, and Public Housing Agency. Before his appointment as city attorney, Sam worked in senior staff positions for U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, including in Washington, DC as the senator's counsel on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and then in Minnesota as her state director.

Sam is a 2008 graduate of Yale Law School. He earned his undergraduate in Government from Harvard College in 2005. After law school, Sam clerked for the Honorable Michael J. Davis, who at the time was the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. After clerking, Sam joined Greene Espel in 2009.