Summit held to discuss future of Rochester

(ABC 6 News) – Today, ISAIAH and the Muslim Coalition held a meeting to discuss how they can make Rochester a better place.

By clearly stating the immediate issues to address, ISAIAH hopes this is a step in the right direction.

The summit drew over 200 people to Rochester Math & Science Academy.

There, ISAIAH and the Muslim Coalition presented their agenda of how they plan to address certain issues in Rochester.

Some of the issues in the agenda include housing, education, healthcare, and climate sustainability.

The rapid growth in Rochester has made affordable housing an ever-going issue.

“We’re looking to how do we change the conditions so that we have that opportunity that we know having your own home, home ownership leads to generational wealth, stability for your family,” Olmsted County Commissioner Sheila Kiscaden said.

They then talked about climate sustainability which was brought up in a recent city council meeting.

They addressed the need to providing more funding through the inflation reduction act and to create another position on the sustainability staff.

The city says they’re working on it.

“We are well aware of the Inflation Reduction Act and what it can do to transform our community,” Mayor Kim Norton said.

Mayor Norton said the city has been applying for IRA grants to help cover costs.

Speaking of costs, affordable healthcare was another issue that was on the agenda.

Elected leaders are looking at ways to create a public healthcare system that covers every type of care while making it available for everyone.

“One of the main things that we did this year for the very first time we are studying, actually studying universal healthcare,” Minnesota House Representative Tina Liebling said.

With a few elected officials in attendance, the goal for ISAIAH is for this agenda to reach more officials that represent Olmsted County so they can get to work to make change.

It’ll take time, but now they have a vision for what Rochester could become in the future.

“This agenda, it’s a piece of paper, it’s words on a page, and this agenda will not just happen by waiting for other people to act, we must decide to act and make it real,” ISAIAH Rochester organizer Olivia Bergen said.

Right now, ISAIAH and the Muslim Coalition are working to tackle sustainability.

They’ve been meeting with city council to take advantage of the inflation reduction act to lower climate pollution and energy costs.