A New Message from Mike Greenbaum - Executive Director

Date: 4/16/2021

On June 4th of last year, I shared the message below with our team. Now in the wake of the tragic events in Brooklyn Center and the impending verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial, I felt that it is again important to address our commitment as an organization. We remain intent on being a welcoming and inclusive organization!

Over the past ten months we have taken some steps in that direction. We have worked to educate ourselves as to how we can become a more inclusive organization and have taken the following steps to recruit more broadly: we have worked with community partners like Ramsey County CareerForce, Handshake, and the DHS Diversity and Inclusion Office. We have also worked very hard with numerous community partners to help provide relief for those with food insecurity throughout our entire community.

Additionally, I have volunteered to serve on the City of White Bear Lake’s Welcoming and Inclusive Community Task force to both help provide a voice for those that we serve and maybe more importantly to be able to listen for ways that we can learn to be a more inclusive organization as well.

We continue to welcome ideas and thoughts from anyone on our team as to how we can improve in this area either in person or anonymously. We want to continue to listen, learn, and make changes. I appreciate the work that our team has already done and look forward to continuing to improve!

--June 4, 2020--
In addition to the challenges of Covid-19, Newtrax and our community have been hit hard in the last 10 days by another tragedy which resulted in the needless loss of life of George Floyd and the magnification of an issue that has been part of our community for many, many years. Newtrax is showing support for the hardest hit part of our community by volunteering to provide transportation for those collecting food and supplies to areas hit hard in Minneapolis and St. Paul that currently have limited access to these basic needs. So far we have delivered bus/van loads to five different schools.

As an organization, we will embrace all people and work towards becoming a better example of inclusion for the community and will not tolerate discrimination and hatred. We will work to do a better job of employment recruiting in underrepresented communities and building on our giving culture. I ask that if anyone has ideas and suggestions as to other ways that we can be a more welcoming and better organization to please share those with me. I ask that each and every one of you take some time to listen to others perspectives and reflect personally on how you can help Newtrax be a welcoming environment for all employees and riders and also what you can do as a community member to improve our community overall.

Mike Greenbaum
Newtrax Executive Director