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In Protest
A rally was held on Wednesday, March 26, 2025 outside the VA at E 54th St and Minnehaha Ave. Gov. Walz and Mayor Frey spoke to about 400 protesters about President Trump's threats to VA staff and … more
Todd Barnette, Jordan Nelson, Candace Hanson, and Jane Lansing of the League of Woman Voters Public Safety Committee speak during the League of Women Voters Forum on April 1, 2025. (Photo by Gabe Gordon)
Violence interrupters serve Southside
Following a lengthy and sometime contentious contracting process, in March the Minneapolis City Council approved contracts with five organizations for MinneapolUS violence interrupter services. Two … more
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Aurin Chowdhury
Thompson challenges Chowdhury in Ward 12
As the city prepares for the 2025 election in November, campaigning is picking up across in the city, including in the Southside’s Ward 12 where two candidates, Ward 12 City Council Member … more
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The three women featured in the film, “The People’s Way” – (left to right) Robin Wonsley, Toshira Garraway and Jeanelle Austin – pose after a Q&A with moderator Hennepin County Commissioner Angela Conley (far right) after a screening at The Main during the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival on April 9.
‘The People’s Way’ premieres in Midwest
After two sold out screenings – first at The Main and then at the Capri – “The People’s Way” film was given an encore screening among the “Best of the Fest” … more
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Valerie Fitzgerald
From Europe to Americ
Part 3 in a 4-part series Every 4th of July, Heather Cox Richardson posts about the Declaration of Independence. She describes the world left behind by European immigrants who came to the Americas: … more
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Donald L. Hammen is a longtime south Minneapolis resident, and serves on the All Elders United for Justice steering committee.
Angst, staying vigilant, doing something
It is becoming important for me to ground myself before I write. At the end of the day, Stories and Journeys is me paying attention to my internal knowing, being still and true to myself. With this … more
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A customer at Gigi's Cafe holds her bag of day-old baked goods from the Too Good To Go app. (Photo submitted)
Too Good To Go grows from 40 to 440 restaurants in Minneapolis
With food costs on the rise, a mobile app gaining popularity in Minneapolis offers a way for consumers to get food that might otherwise go to waste at a steep discount. Too Good To Go partners with … more
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Divide perennials to boost health, beauty
Welcome back to a new gardening season, and a new season of City Gardener columns! As our gardens begin to wake up from their winter rest, it's a great time to think about an often-neglected … more
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Park News - Apr 2025
Garden Tool Swaps May 10 Attention, gardeners! From seasoned growers to novice seed-sowers, all are welcome at the 5th Annual Minneapolis Garden Tool Swap. Neighborhood and community organizations … more
At the Nokomis East Business Association (NEBA) annual meeting on April 16, Nokomis East Neighborhood Association (NENA) board chair (center) Christina Meyer gave an update: announcing that Sarah Friedman (right) had just been hired as the new NENA Executive Director. (Photo by Tesha M. Christensen)
NENA hires new executive director
Sarah Friedman has been promoted from communications manager to executive director at the Nokomis East Neighborhood Association. She will step into the new role on May 1. “I’m truly … more
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City Briefs - Apr 2025
3000 Minnehaha design On April 17, the Minneapolis city council unanimously approved a $871,500 contract for LSE Architects Inc. for design and engineering in order to repair, renovate and re-open … more
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Facade improvement grants available
Nokomis East Neighborhood Association (NENA) is proud to announce that we received the Business Façade Improvement Grant from Greater Streets Minneapolis! We have $17,000 that we can give to … more
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Looking south from 26th along Hennepin Ave. during the 2024 construction season.
Year two of Hennepin Ave. reconstruction project begins
Minneapolis is in year two of a two-year reconstruction project along Hennepin Ave. between W. Lake St. and Douglas Ave.
 Phase 1 in 2024 was from Lake St W to 26th St. The new, multimodal design … more
Ads posing as MPLS parking app, stealing data and money
Residents and visitors searching for the MPLS Parking app should look out for a scam posing as the legitimate app. This does not affect people already using the MPLS Parking app. When using a … more
9.3 miles of streets to be resurfaced this summer in Minneapolis
Minneapolis is gearing up for a busy 2025 construction season with more than $225 million in planned infrastructure improvements. These projects will impact everything from travel times to water … more
By Cam Gordon Following a lengthy and sometime contentious contracting process, in March the Minneapolis City Council approved five new contracts for MinneapolUS Violence Interrupter Services. One of them, MAD DADS, will serve part of Southwest. The Minneapolis affiliate of MAD DADS (Men Against Destruction Defending Against Drugs and Social Disorder) has been awarded a contract of $619,394, for a one-year term through March 2026 to provide community outreach violence prevention services in and around Nicollet and Franklin Aves. Starting this month, they will provide teams of violence interrupters and outreach workers to identify risks and mediate conflicts in specific areas based on public safety and emergency response data from the city. They will also work to change behaviors and reduce retaliation cycles through relationship building strategies that help them connect with youth and other community members. The MAD DADS teams in Southwest will work primarily in the Loring Heights-Steven’s Square neighborhood, identified as area 5 by the city. “I’m grateful that the data validated our community experience and will result in violence prevention service to the neighborhood,” said Ward 7 Council Member Katie Cashman. WHAT A TEAM LOOKS LIKE MAD DADS Minneapolis Executive Director Jordan Nelson said that staff are scheduled to work based on local patterns and that they initially will have teams working 40 hours a week Tuesday-Saturday. They will be out in the community Tuesday and Wednesday from 2-8 p.m. and Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 4 p.m. to midnight. The staff teams will consist of five interrupters and two outreach workers, with one site supervisor and one program manager. Nelson said all staff are interviewed and then volunteer for four days to determine if they are “a good fit for the team.” All staff complete background checks and CPR and stop the bleeding first-aid training through the Red Cross, as well as conflict resolution and de-escalation. They can be identified at work by their MAD DADS green sweatshirts, do not wear bullet proof vests, and are not allowed to carry weapons of any kind. A PUBLIC HEALTH APPROACH On April 1, people were able to learn more about MAD DADS at a League of Women Voters’ forum held at the First Unitarian Society (900 Mount Curve). At the forum, called Public Safety Beyond an Armed Police Presence, people heard from Nelson. They also learned about the city’s public health approach to violence reduction from Commissioner of Community Safety Todd Barnette and Candace Hanson, executive director of Canopy Roots, the company that provides emergency behavioral mental health first responders for the city that are now available throughout the city 24 hours a day. “The public health approach is not new,” said Barnette. “Many urban cities do this.” Under the approach, crime and violence are considered a public health problem similar to disease and accidental injuries. The process includes looking at causes in order to support prevention and intervention to limit harm when prevention fails. This approach, for example, has helped reduce death and injuries from a variety of causes and relies on using data to test – and verify – potential interventions. CURE VIOLENCE MODEL Minneapolis is one of many cities throughout the world using the Cure Violence Model (CVM). Barnette said Minneapolis is using it to help develop “an ecosystem of services” to prevent violence from occurring, to respond when it occurs to limit its impact, and to restore and help those who are victims or engage in it to recover. The behavioral crisis response services, as well as the community violence intervention teams, are both part of that. CVM was developed by Cure Violence Global, founded in the 1990s by Gary Slutkin, M.D., former head of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Intervention Development Unit Researchers from John Jay College of Criminal Justice Research and the U.S. Department of Justice have found that it has contributed to violence reductions in many cities, including in killings by 53% in Baltimore, M.D. and homicides by 34% in Indianapolis, Ind. CVM uses interrupter workers to prevent violence by identifying and mediating potentially lethal conflicts in the community. Outreach workers help those at the highest risk to turn away from violence and get services. They also work to engage community leaders, local business owners, residents, faith leaders, and others to promote nonviolence, and to shift expectations and norms around violence for the long term. The model relies on employing workers who share the same background and come from the same neighborhood as those who need to be reached. VIOLENCE PREVENTION DOESN’T MEAN NO POLICE Nelson, who has been executive director of MAD DADS since 2023, was born and raised in South Minneapolis. He engaged in criminal activity when he was younger and served eight years in prison He is pastor of Foundations Church, which he founded in May 2020. MAD DADS is a national organization that was started in 1989. The Minneapolis chapter has been operating since 1998, and currently employs 39 people. They engage in a range of community violence intervention work including youth work, jobs, and mediation. “Just last year alone we had 596 incidents of violence and seven on-the-spot incidents where someone was either brandishing a gun or a knife,” Nelson said. “I know a lot of people get afraid because they think violence prevention means no police,” Nelson said. “Well they’re wrong. The reality is that the police will always be here. “But the truth of the matter is that a lot of black and brown people aren’t always safe with the police. There have to be conversations about how communities feel safe and what safety means to them.” CITY-WIDE EFFORT The city also approved contracts with other organizations for violence intervention teams working in other parts of the city. On the Northside, A Mother’s Love will cover area 1 and Restoration Inc will cover area 4. In the Southside, area 7 will be covered by the Sabathani Community Center and area 8 by TOUCH Outreach. The city estimates that each target geographic area will cost approximately $730,000 for 12 months. Under the terms of the latest contracts, each organization is responsible for reporting using the Cure Violence Database. This includes documenting daily conflict mediations, violent incident, follow-up to previous incidents, outreach events, and other community activities. The city will also be tracking participant and community outcomes including access to support services, job placement, educational achievement and violent crime recidivism for individuals and reduction of violent crime, homicide rate, gun violence incidents, geographic crime patterns and perception of safety at the community level. “This work is extremely important,” said Nelson. “This work has to be invested in and if this work isn’t invested in, I don’t think we will ever fully understand what it is to be safe in community.”
DUAL BENEFIT
Minneapolis will soon be able to produce its own biochar, bringing the city one step closer to its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. This spring, the city will break ground on a new biochar … more
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Clever ideas for tiny yard spaces
Faux hedges If your outdoor patio or side yard is hemmed in by something like a chain-link or cinder block wall or planter box, consider installing a faux green hedge. This is the perfect … more
Framework homeownership partners with Habitat for Humanity
Framework Homeownership is thrilled to announce an exciting new partnership with Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, one of the highest-regarded Habitat affiliates worldwide. This collaboration will … more
Community Visioning Council cco-chair Mileesha Smith said the process of healing should not be rushed and that the community needs more time during a press conference on Feb. 26, 2025. “We, as people, need time and space with the patience of everyone to come together, to be able to say what this space needs to be able to function for everybody,” said Smith. (Photo by Jill Boogren)
Veto override clears path to explore pedestrian mall at GF Square
In February, the Minneapolis City Council overrode Mayor Jacob Frey’s veto of the council’s directive for reconstructing 38th and Chicago. Their action, according to Ward 9 Council Member … more
Get ready for road construction season
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