Putting the ‘Up’ back in Uptown

Organizers of the new Uptown Community Coalition want to push negative vibes out of Uptown and bring in resources to help local businesses make it cool again.

“We really want to make Uptown a destination. We really believe that it has the potential to be what it once was,” Damla Erten, a co-founder of the Uptown Community Coalition (U.C.C.), said.

According to its flyer, the U.C.C. wants to “foster connections among residents, businesses, and community organizations to address shared challenges and create a vibrant, inclusive community.” 

Erten and co-founder Maren Findlay manage the Sencha Tea Bar on the southeast corner of 26th Street and Hennepin Avenue and have direct experience dealing with neighborhood challenges, especially drug use and safety concerns. They created the coalition after a man nearly died from a Fentanyl overdose on the shop’s back steps, Findlay said.

A mix of neighbors, business owners, and politicians, including Ward 7 and Ward 10 council members, filled Sencha during its first organizational meeting on April 29, suggesting the U.C.C. can serve in a capacity that local government, neighborhood associations, and business owners have been unable to do.

 “So, U.C.C. aims to bridge that gap between the neighborhood and act as a liaison to city and government offices in order to direct the funding that we know exists but that we just haven’t had direct accessible means of reaching,” Erten said. 

That money would assist new, local and diverse businesses that sell “cool stuff we don’t have” fill empty store fronts along Hennepin Avenue and in Uptown, Findlay said.

“Overall, I want people to see Uptown as a very high potential area. It is a nice place to be, and it was and can be,” she said.

Specifically, the U.C.C. would 1) direct aid from existing grant programs such as the Minnesota Promise Act Grant Program that help businesses affected by the Hennepin Avenue’s reconstruction work , 2) coalesce independent work done by business and neighborhood associations, and 3) fill in any remaining gaps with any other potential resources.

The emphasis on local and diverse is critical because Uptown has seen big companies come and go, especially after the pandemic and social unrest cut into their profits.

“But who stayed? Local businesses, small businesses, businesses owned by marginalized groups of people,” Erten said. “We are owners serving people in our establishments. So, there’s no way that we don’t have this personal and emotional connection to it, so we are less likely to leave because of that, too.”

The first phase of street reconstruction along Hennepin Avenue, currently closing it from 26th Street to Lake Street, is an obvious concern for Uptown’s businesses, but Erten said this should not consume everyone’s attention.

 “It doesn’t matter if you’re like a business that makes a million dollars or a $100,000 a year you are going to see the impact financially with road reconstruction,” she said, criticizing news media’s constant focus on commerce being negatively affected. “At this point, it’s like redundant. It’s almost like feeding off this drama of it, you know.”

“I will say that positivity coupled with productivity will yield much, much better results,” Erten said.

Findlay shares that feeling, adding, “I don’t need to move out of Uptown. I just need to make it what I want it to be. There are so many things that I can do to do that especially through the coalition,” she said.

If the U.C.C. succeeds in Uptown, it could serve as a city-wide model for other neighborhoods with commercial hubs, like Lyn-Lake, affected by construction or other disruptions, Findlay and Erten said.

Anyone interested in joining or learning more about the U.C.C. can send an email to  uptowncommunitycoalition@gmail.com or find it on Instagram at @UCCMPLS.