Battle Creek Park (Photo by Tony Webster)

The Southeast Community Organization (SECO) was established in 1977 as a 501(c)3 tax-deductible non-profit organization; it is the official neighborhood organization for District 1 - which includes four southeast neighborhoods in St. Paul, MN -- Eastview, Conway, Battle Creek, and Highwood. These neighborhoods are predominantly residential communities that vary widely economically, geographically, and culturally.

It is the site of both single-family homes and high density apartment complexes. Beautiful parks overlook the Mississippi River and Pig's Eye Lake, and nestle into 1960s-era neighborhoods. The area's riverfront is part of Saint Paul's working river. 

100% of our services benefit these residents, as well as other eastside and citywide St. Paul residents. Our work includes community decision-making around land use and the environment to housing justice, transportation, youth education and safety. This occurs through a community board of directors, Land Use committee, Environmental committee, Housing Committee, events, relationship building and leadership development. Our programs focus on civic involvement related to land use, economic development, and the environment, and also on youth development. The Council expects its board to reflect the varied backgrounds and interests of its constituents.

Primary functions of St. Paul District Councils include:

• Providing advisory recommendations to city officials on physical, economic, and social development issues
• Identifying neighborhood needs, initiating community programs, and recruiting volunteers
• Serving as the neighborhood’s primary information and referral source for city programs, policies, and issues

Our mission is to share power and knowledge, to organize and to advocate for the people who live and work in our neighborhoods. We build leadership to seize opportunities and work for social and racial justice. We are founded on values of equity so that – together – we may build civic leadership to influence decisions about the social and physical infrastructure supporting community in all its complexity.

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Curious about the district council system and it's history?

District Council System

District Council History

Our Location

​Southeast Community Organization represents District 1. We are one of 17 neighborhood organizations in St. Paul, MN. We represent the neighborhoods of Eastview,  Conway, Battle Creek and Highwood. ​[curious about the others? see below]

​The borders of our district are McKnight Road on the East, Minnehaha on the North, the Mississippi River on the south and southwest up to Warner Road, then along Birmingham to Minnehaha Avenue. 

Our Neighborhoods

Diverse Neighborhoods!  Beautiful Parks!   Many Opportunities!  SECO has it all!

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Eastview

Eastview is in the northwest corner of the district and includes Harding High School, Nokomis Montessori School site, and St. Pascal's School. Eastview Park is in this neighborhood, and a partner organization St. Paul Urban Tennis, runs programming out of the center.

Conway

Conway is in the northeast corner of the district and is the home of our public library and Eastern Heights Elementary School, Conway Park and Rec Center* and the Garden of Feed’em Community Garden. *Conway Rec Center is managed and programmed by the Sanneh Foundation.  

Battle Creek

Battle Creek is immediately south of Interstate 94 and extends to Lower Afton Road. It includes Battle Creek (BC) Middle School, BC Elementary, BC Park and BC Rec Center. The west part of Battle Creek Regional Park is here and  has amazing off road biking, popular cross country ski trails (with machine made snow), and a fabulous sledding hill.

Highwood

Highwood  extends south from Lower Afton Road and is home to Highwood Hills Elementary School, former Boys Totem Town site, Totem Town Community Gardens, and Henry Park.  It's here that you can still find dirt roads and septic systems.

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Note:  Click on a map to see an expanded view.

Our Important Documents

​Southeast Community Organization represents District 1.   To that end we have some documents that are important to our ongoing functioning, documents that direct our mission and documents that are part of our past.  As we find those documents they will be posted here.

SECO / D1CC 2016 Community Plan -  this plan is updated every 10 years. Click on the cover to read the whole plan.  We have started to update the plan and need input from community members!  Please fill out our survey HERE.