blind okie looking to move to the twin cites (Minneapolis: fit in, section 8)

[jfrebel]

Howdy!

I am visually impaired. I can see but not well. I am legally blind and from what I hear the twin cites have excellent public transit, and lots of fun stuff to do, and would certainly put tulsa oklahoma to shame.

I hear mixed messages on the openness of natives but I can always meet fellow transplants of the natives are too reserved.

I also don't mind the weather. I look forward to snow. actually honest to goodness snow. and less tornadoes.

questions I have.

how do I find a good cheap studio apartment that is in a safe friendly neighborhood and make sure its not a slum, roach infested or crime ridden?

also how good are social services there? housing, food assistance, economic assistance, health care, social safety nets, and assistance finding a good job?

do they offer assistance if I wanted to pursue a masters degree to increase my chances of landing a good career? (I have a bachelors in sociology)

is it easy for blind folks to get a good job there?

how easy is it to get temp work to help make ends meet until a better job comes along?

how tolerant will they be toward okies. I do have an accent. will I be looked down on for being southern?

if it helps I am generally a liberal and non-theistic, so I don't fit the bush loving bible thumping southern stereotype.

I plan to move up there between october and January.

[golfgal]

We don't really have roaches here so that is a good thing

Simple answer to your question, yes, you will be able to find what you need here fairly easily. There are many temp jobs, many social services places for assistance, etc. In your situation finding a job and an apartment in downtown Minneapolis would be ideal because of the skyway system. You could walk from your apartment to your job without having to go outside in the winter if necessary. Otherwise finding a place to live along the lightrail and working somewhere along the lightrail would be good as well.

Further out, most of the suburbs have buses into the cities but there are plenty of jobs in the suburbs so it would be possible for you to live and work there as well.

Camden Northsider will probably pop on and give you more specific information as this is his line of work.

[jfrebel]

thanks for the info. no raoches? wow. well do yu have mice?

also I wonder where Camden Northsider is? I'd love to see what he/she has to add.

[Camden Northsider]

Wow - boy do I feel under the gun, here's hoping that I'm able to somewhat deliver here....

Originally Posted by jfrebel

Howdy!

I am visually impaired. I can see but not well. I am legally blind and from what I hear the twin cites have excellent public transit, and lots of fun stuff to do, and would certainly put tulsa oklahoma to shame.

The transit system is sometimes criticized, but it's pretty decent: Metro Transit. And not sure if you would need it or not, but Metropolitan Council also offers ADA paratransit: Metro Mobility and other ADA paratransit service providers - Metropolitan Council.

Originally Posted by jfrebel

questions I have.

how do I find a good cheap studio apartment that is in a safe friendly neighborhood and make sure its not a slum, roach infested or crime ridden?.

This is a good question - a lot of nice studios can be found in the Uptown area of Minneapolis, there are some apts that are low-income only that are fairly nice around downtown and other areas, I guess it depends on what you want in a neighborhood. I would advise staying away from cheap studios in the elliot park neighborhood off downtown (not really because of the neighborhood, more because of the condition). I can't really talk knowledgably about St. Paul but there might be some good options for neighborhoods and housing there, and there are a lot of service providers in St. Paul. I'm not too up on the studio market, however, so others might be able to pipe in - good website where you can search for affordable housing by preference/ needs is: HousingLink - Affordable Rental Housing Information - Section 8

Originally Posted by jfrebel

also how good are social services there? housing, food assistance, economic assistance, health care, social safety nets, and assistance finding a good job?

do they offer assistance if I wanted to pursue a masters degree to increase my chances of landing a good career? (I have a bachelors in sociology)

Minneapolis/ St. Paul metro area are generally lauded for their quality and diversity of social/ human services, and in a number of industries are considered "the model" for the rest of the country. Although it's not my area of expertise, there does seem to be a substantial amount of resources for persons with disabilities here in the Metro (regarding assistance getting a job, housing, etc.) - I think it would be worth your while to utilize/ take advantage of these programs if you can qualify as staff generally have much smaller caseloads and access to more resources for things like training than you may find at some of the other employment services providers that do not focus on persons with disabilities (although there is overlap and you can find great services being provided at both types of agencies). I think that you will find that with most training or employment service programs, there is almost always a focus on providing assistance with "short-term" training as opposed to long term degree-earning programs - there are several reasons for this: (1) short term is cheaper and (2) the government entities that provide funding really like the 'short term' as it, again, is cheaper, and it means that the person being funded for training might be on govt assistance for a shorter period of time than a longer-term degree earning program. But, this could mean a certification program of some sort, and you will still occassionally find places that help fund 2 year degree programs here and there.

Anyways, here are some resources worth checking out if you haven't already, there are a lot of services specific to persons with vision loss/ impairment:
DEED - Rehabilitation, Blind and Veteran's Services

DEAFBLIND SERVICES MINNESOTA -- About Us

New Site -- Welcome to Our New Web Site - Vision Loss Resources

www.courage.org

Minnesota Resource Center - A Division of RESOURCE Inc.

AccessAbility | Programs & Services - Extended Employment Program.

And actually, just about all of the above and then some are listed on this directory of vocational service providers for persons with disabilities: Access Press | BLIND Inc. | Community Connections Partnership | Goodwill Easter Seals | Kaposia | Merrick | Metro Work Center | Midway Training Services | Midwest Special Services | MN Work Incentives | TSE | Vocational Service Organization.

This is a little overkill, 77 page or so PDF disability resource guide: http://www.deed.state.mn.us/rehab/vr/resource_guide.pdf

Originally Posted by jfrebel

is it easy for blind folks to get a good job there?

how easy is it to get temp work to help make ends meet until a better job comes along?

I don't think it's very easy for just about anyone to get a job right now, but I think you will be able to find something here - employers are generally pretty open-minded, you're in a protected class, and if you're having a hard time finding a good job some of the service providers will be valuable resources for you in being a reference for you with employers or finding temp jobs or otherwise.

Originally Posted by jfrebel

how tolerant will they be toward okies. I do have an accent. will I be looked down on for being southern?

if it helps I am generally a liberal and non-theistic, so I don't fit the bush loving bible thumping southern stereotype.

LOL - that's good and will help out the cause! (although you'll run into some of that in the MSP metro as well, but in general Mpls/ St. Paul are pretty liberal) - and I think people will get a "kick" out of your okie accent, you'll be the tropical fruit, and I doubt you will be looked down on for something like that - keep in mind that we all have MN accents that we've been made aware of through being made fun of in such films as Fargo and many others. It sounds like you have a great attitude and sense of humor so I'm thinking you'll fit in well in Minne-SOOO-ta.

And I'm realizing that I didn't touch on things like food stamps, food shelves, etc. but there are food shelves in most urban neighborhoods that you can go to that generally are for that neighborhood's residents only, and food stamps/ emergency assistance are all done through county applications which can be tedious and not the best experience for people, but would just need to devote half a day to it - for food stamps, if you have had food stamps in the past three years in any state, I believe it's 3 years anyways- maybe 2, you are ineligible. And if you are eligible, it will only last you for 3 months - however, don't quote me on this as come to think of it, I think it's very different for persons with disabilities so you might be exempt from the above guidelines - my bad. And if you're not currently receiving it, you could apply for SSI benefits, another long, tedious process - if going this route I would suggest getting an advocate to help you out with the application, but it sounds like you would rather work which is great so I assume this is not the route you want to take; however if you are receiving SSI and want to work part time there's a good organization here that will help you figure out the impact on benefits - Welcome to Minnesota Work Incentives Connection | Minnesota Work Incentives Connection).

Good luck, hope this helped a little bit and feel free to Direct Message me if I was grossly inadequate/ didn't live up to the reputation that preceded me, or if you think there's anything else I might be able to help out with! Take care-

P.S. - yes, we have mice.

[jfrebel]

wow! tons of info.



I'll be trying to move there in about six months to a year. I'm looking forward to it!

.

[jfrebel]

hows the public transit in hopkins?