We acknowledge and honor the Dakota nation, on whose ancestral land the city of Golden Valley is built, and whose land resources we use. We commit to counteracting the erasure of the cultural practices and presence of the Dakota people through education, and by amplifying a wide range of indigenous voices.

This is the third annual Miss Juneteenth. Uh, Minnesota State pageant and celebration, which will be taking place this Saturday, June 6th. And miss Angel Jones, who is the founder, CEO and director of the pageant, will come up and talk about the event in this year’s theme of rediscovering our Culture and Redefining our Freedom.

I joined miss the Juneteenth parties. Because I wanted to not only encourage women that look like me, but also be, um, a role model in this community. I am not originally from Minnesota, but when I moved here, I didn’t see a lot of African-American women that, uh, could step, step up, or show me how to walk or navigate this city.

The reason why I joined the pageant. Honestly, my mom brought it to my attention. But now that I have won the pageant, I’m setting an example for younger girls that look like me. And to tell them that we can be a part of something bigger and better, and that we can also be just as important as people that aren’t of color, and that we are more than just like to be. What’s the word? I’m sorry. Disposable.

I joined the pageant because the Miss Juneteenth Minnesota state pageant, um, really covered two things that I care deeply about. And that’s my community, the black community and uplifting black women.

This is my third time as well. Um, seeing and just the impact that this event has every year, um, especially as you know, I don’t want to repeat what we have been sex. I think it said very, very poetically. But to uplift and especially in these times were, um, people want to shift away from D-I, quote unquote, where that means. But it’s really about uplifting and it’s about encouraging, empowering. And that’s what this does every year. So I thank you all for the work you do.

With a job, you need housing. We want people to be able to live and work here in Golden Valley. And if you’re working, say, at the grocery store, we want you to be able to live here. If you’re working at General Mills, we want you to live here. So they’re vital that they have to coordinate and play together.

One of the things for me that we can’t do under an HRA is some of the marketing of the city for job creation. Um, we’re very limited under HRA. We can’t do that with an EDA. We have the ability to go out and market the community at events, uh, to host events where we can do that marketing to bring people in, to bring those jobs in.

I had an opportunity to meet with, uh, Council Member Keech this week, and, uh, it gave me a lot of things to think about. And one of the things is the issue of there is no commission that specifically deals with economic development.

I was thinking of and think out of the box committee. It wouldn’t have regular meeting times. It would be called when a new project comes up. So for example, the housing advocacy group that I belong to, when new projects come up, we asked Christine if we could meet with her and give her our ideas on it. And that is very helpful.

In an effort to get more community involvement, I would like to propose, maybe we work with Miss Costello to expand the charter of some of our standing commissions, like planning and potentially Dick to say, add a language that might speak to, um, taking into account the the needs and requirements of the HRA of the business community, because all those meetings are public right now, they already have public input possibilities.

It’s all about connection. Right. And collaborating. And we can’t do that by ourselves. We represent a city, and it’s very important to have city input. And, um, the city are our residents as well as our, our businesses, our constituents. So, um, I’m all supportive of being able to hear that voice. Um, at the table.