Looking for story ideas? See our Call for freelance pitches page.
Want to contribute to streets.mn? Contact our Editor-in-Chief at [email protected] to set up a contributor’s account, get more information about our policies, or ask a question.
The mission of Streets.mn is to foster positive connections and inclusive conversations about better places in Minnesota, and we ask for your voice to carry out this mission. Better places include those that are people-centered, future-oriented, justice-driven, and delight-cultivating.
If you’ve ever thought about making your street safer, about the impacts of climate change on our cities, about how to empower vulnerable or marginalized communities, or about things that bring you joy: you could contribute to streets.mn. You could report an article, write a poem, or share a photo gallery, a video, or an audio description.
General submission guidelines:
- Posts can be short or long, word-heavy or visual-heavy, on a wide range of topics
- Visual components can help make your point clearly and concisely (tips from Wolfie Browender: Painless practices for presentable photos)
- All images, videos, graphs, charts, etc. must be properly sourced and attributed
- Submissions are reviewed and copy-edited by the volunteer editorial group prior to publication
- Contributors must follow our common-sense Editorial Policy
- Additional guidance is available from our Editorial Committee, including content editing, troubleshooting, Search Engine Optimization best practices, and WordPress training
Ideas for writing:
- Posts responding to, extending, or challenging what’s been published recently
- Maps, charts, or infographics with a short blurb about the source or impact
- A photo-essay about your walk, bike ride, bus ride, road trip, a local street, or regional highway
- Interview your neighbors, your grandma, elected officials, or people you meet along the way
- Explain and/or critique a project, a process, or a political issue
- Dream a little about a place, infrastructure, or adventure
- Tell your bike ride (crash) story or how a party made your place better
- Share your car-free joys and challenges
- Cover what’s in the news with humor or celebrate a holiday
Want to contribute to streets.mn? Contact our Editor-in-Chief at [email protected] to set up a contributor’s account, get more information about our policies, or ask a question.
More writing ideas and examples
People-centered transportation and public spaces (land use and infrastructure)
- Getting to the Green Line: Seen through the Lens of a Wheelchair User
- Book Club: How to Walk
- Hennepin Avenue: A Street for All Ages
- The People that Died Crossing Saint Paul Streets in 2019
- Ten Reasons to Love the Summit Avenue Draft Plan
- Moving a Ladder… with a Furniture Dolly??
- Pandemic for Good: How I Was Able to Sell My Car
- How You, and All of Us, Can Escape Car Dependency
- Grieving the Life We Trade Away for Driving
- Green Art for the Green Line
Future-oriented built environments
- The City That Eats Together: A Climate Committee Tree Planting Event
- Imagining Climate Superheroes
- What It Takes to Have Nice Things
- From Smoky Sunsets to Utility Cycling: One Man’s Solution to Climate Despair
- Some Mental Health Cartoons
- Zoning Matters: Chickens, Canines, Cafés and Commerce
Justice-driven cities, towns, and streets
- Streets.mn’s Crosswalks series, covering how transportation and land use issues impact communities of color in Minnesota, written by people with lived experience in those communities
- Black Garnet Books Builds Inclusion into Its St. Paul Bookstore
- Barbed Wire and Barricades
- Prose Poem: Biking Under Helicopters
- Want Equitable Cities? We’ll Need More Women in Transportation Planning
- ‘Read in Color’ Program Mirrors the Lives of Children from Underrepresented Communities
Delight-cultivating places and experiences
- Dogs by Bike
- How a Family of Ducks Unites Strangers
- How A Cherry Tree Can Make a Better Street
- Food and Permanence
- Eat Your Greens and Shoots: But Find Them First
- What If Your Morning Commute Was Designed for Joy?l
- Urbanist Grades for Books for Babies
- Play Streets and Block Parties: Reimagining Residential Streets as Neighborhood Resources
- Living with the Coyotes Among Us
- “Saint Paul By Bike” series
- “All of Minneapolis” walking series
- A Bicycle Tour of Twin Cities Lift and Swing Bridges
- Celebrating 31 Days of Winter Bicycling
- Skating the Riverbend Trail in Warroad, Minnesota
- Transit-Oriented Dating: Snelling-Midway
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