West Side Community Organization
celebrates historic milestone

Jake Spitzack
Staff Writer

Five decades ago, residents of St. Paul’s West Side neighborhood rallied together to keep Humboldt High School from permanently closing its doors. This activism spurred the founding of the West Side Community Organization (WSCO), a nonprofit and the planning council for District 3 that is now celebrating its 50th anniversary. A celebration event will be held 1-4 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 5, at Humboldt High School, 30 Baker St. E. It’s free and open to the public.

“We’re the first district council ever implemented in the city [of St. Paul] so celebrating 50 years is significant,” said WSCO Director Monica Bravo. “We’re for the community but also by the community. All the board members live here, and the majority of the staff live here…. We thought it’d be great to have our 50th honoring that big win – that we still have the high school in our neighborhood today.”

WSCO is partnering with Humboldt to host an open house from 1-2 p.m., giving people the chance to see improvements made at the school in the last few years. It will feature tours, booths from more than a dozen West Side organizations, and WSCO’s Stories from the Flats oral history photo exhibit. WSCO’s annual meeting kicks off at 2 p.m. in the auditorium. It will include the election of its 2024 board of directors, the announcement of the 2023 West Sider of the Year award, and special guest speakers, including Javier Morillo-Alicea and Rep. María Isa Pérez-Vega. Community members interested in running for one of the three open spots on the 13-member board will each have the chance to speak for two minutes about why they’re running. The meeting will be followed by social time in the cafeteria with complimentary appetizers and refreshments. To RSVP or learn more, visit wsco.org/50th.

Looking ahead, WSCO’s West Side Tenant Union will go to Washington D.C. in November to participate in the Homes Guarantee Campaign managed by People’s Action, a national housing justice cohort. The group was established at last year’s annual meeting and works to educate renters about their rights, help renters address issues in their buildings and improve housing affordability and stability in the neighborhood. The organization’s equitable development program has also achieved national recognition in the past year because of its creation and implementation of an equitable development scorecard, which helps ensure that all development in the neighborhood benefits the people living there.

By December, WSCO plans to unveil its completed report about displacement that occurred when the West Side Flats neighborhood was razed.

“Our hope is to garner investments that this neighborhood has sorely needed for decades through these findings,” said Bravo. “There was disruption and displacement that happened here so it’s looking at how that affected this neighborhood, and if there’s repair that can happen, what is it. We hope to be able to use this report in a lot of different ways so it’s really exciting.”

Work planned for next year includes hiring a new director for the equitable development program, developing WSCO’s new 10-year strategic plan and creating several design options for what could be made at WSCO’s land at 76 Baker St. Community feedback to date has suggested a variety of development ideas including park space and a center for youth. WSCO also has public art planned for three new apartment buildings opening on the West Side next year. Work planned for next year includes hiring a new director for the equitable development program, developing WSCO’s new 10-year strategic plan and creating several design options for what could be made at WSCO’s land at 76 Baker St. Community feedback to date has suggested a variety of development ideas including park space and a center for youth. WSCO also has public art planned for three new apartment buildings opening on the West Side next year.

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