The Funders Collaborative creates and promotes opportunities for learning so decisions affecting the Central Corridor are well informed and far-sighted. In addition to supporting learning by Central Corridor community partnerships, we also share what we learn here with partners in other regions.

Here are the four primary ways we promote learning opportunities, with examples of each.

Shared Learning Experiences

Strategic Land Acquisition in the Corridor: Preserving Our Vision Through an Uncertain Market
In a June 2011 session sponsored by the Funders Collaborative, representatives of government and non-profit groups met to learn more about national initiatives to preserve affordable housing and reserve land for future mixed-use, mixed-income development. The attendees also learned about the capital sources and collaborations already under way in the Twin Cities and considered how local efforts might have more strategic influence on large-scale development in the Central Corridor. Learn more.

Commissioning and Sharing Research

Private Development Feasibility Study
The national Center for Transit-Oriented Development and the City of Saint Paul recently completed a development feasibility study on the potential nature and timing of private market investment in different transit-oriented development types called for in the City's Central Corridor Development Strategy. The study used four University Avenue sites as examples: the Case Warehouse site, Midway Chevrolet site, Bus Barn site, and League of Minnesota Cities block.

Learning from other Communities

Workforce Diversity Session
The Funders Collaborative hosted Bruce Watts, Senior Director of Diversity and Transit Equity at Tri-Met, the transit authority for Portland, Oregon, and Wanda Kirkpatrick, Director, Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity, at the Metropolitan Council to describe their agency’s approaches to increasing DBE participation and workforce diversity on transit construction projects. Read key learnings or review presentations from the session by visiting our Resources page.

Sharing with other Funders

The Funders Collaborative director Jonathan Sage-Martinson presented the Central Corridor Tracker to a national conference – Leveraging Transportation to Drive Equitable Growth and Livable Communities. The Tracker focuses on 13 indicators of progress toward the Funders Collaborative vision for the Corridor. It is considered a new model for how funders can measure the effects of their efforts in emerging rail corridors.