2020s

WSCO organized rent assistance and mutual aid for West Siders and local small businesses during the pandemic
Recreation as Resistance 1: West Siders gathered in Lilydale Park– a place with a long history of police violence against Black, Indigenous, and People of Color – to spend time outdoors in community and reclaim a space that has been used for harm through joy and recreation.
WSCO played a central role in the campaign led by the Housing Equity Now! St. Paul Coalition to win S.A.F.E. Tenant Protections preventing housing discrimination; the City Council later reversed itself.
WSCO launched a Men of Color support group led by organizer Michael McDowell
WSCO led the creation of the West Side mural on the Robert Street pedestrian Bridge

WSCO organized a visioning session called My Beloved Community to gather input on how to develop a plot of land owned by WSCO at 76 Baker St. E.
Local artist Marina Castillo painted a mural representing migration and resilience on the old Alamo bar
WSCO submitted a housing report to the Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity Office called Strengths and Vulnerabilities of Rental Housing in St. Paul’s West Side Neighborhood; it revealed that rent is unaffordable for the majority of BIPOC West Siders.
The people of Saint Paul voted YES for rent stabilization! Every single precinct of the West Side voted yes too. That's the power of the people! Led by the Housing Equity Now! St. Paul (HENS) Coalition, community organizations across the city succeeded passing a policy that will keep tenants, especially low-wealth and BIPOC households, from getting priced out of their homes.
WSCO won an important housing justice lawsuit affirming the right to organize renters in the state of Minnesota
First Free Farmstand distributed food grown on the West Side by neighbors to folks at Parque Castillo
WSCO organized the Good Hearts Gathering series: BIPOC leaders shared healing wisdom of movement, music, spirituality, and more weekly in the Garden of Good Hearts on Wabasha

WSCO organized a tenant association, Strykers Unidos, to take collective action to improve living conditions. They were the first group citywide to successfully challenge an illegal rent hike following the passage of rent stabilization. They later organized with other renters across the West Side to form the West Side Tenant Union.
Recreation as Resistance 2: West Siders gathered in Lilydale Park– a place with a long history of police violence against Black, Indigenous, and People of Color – to spend time outdoors in community and reclaim a space that has been used for harm through joy and recreation.
After years of partnering with the West Side Farmer’s Market and Free Seed Library, WSCO launched a coalition called Growing Resilience on the West Side (GROWS) focused on hyperlocal food justice organizing.
West Side renters, organized by WSCO, launched the West Side Tenant Union at WSCO's Annual Meeting in November 2022.
WSCO held a three-part conference, Visions of Our Collective Future, led by Equitable Development Director Kai Andersen

Summer 2023: The West Side Tenant Union organized with their neighbors to gather signatures as part of People’s Action national Homes Guarantee campaign to create federal tenant protections
WSCO launched the West Side Flats redress research project, in partnership with Research in Action
WSCO partnered with the CapitolRiver downtown district council to host the Colibrí Arts and Culture Market showcasing local artists and performers
WSCO’s Community Care action circle organized a series of block parties as part of our Summer of Connection, culminating in the Cempasuchíl: Caring for Community block party with over 200 participants
WSCO joined other community groups and Representative María Isa Pérez-Vega in beginning to envision the first Latino Art Museum in Minnesota, here on the West Side
TAQC partnered with neighborhood businesses to put on the Queer Artist Market, with over 30 LGBTQIAP+ vendors, live music, and art. TAQC also hosted bird watching, hikes, pumpkin carving, art, and board game gatherings during the year.
WSCO housing justice Organizer Mayra Avila led a training of 50 organizers in partnership with the national group People’s Action

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