Minneapolis City Council moves the budget for the Youth Group Violence Intervention services forward for approval with a request for more information on Tuesday after deliberation.
The Minneapolis Neighborhood Safety Department requested around $800,000 for five nonprofit groups — EMERGE, Sabathani Community Center, the Man Up Club, W Berry Consulting and Urban Youth Conservation — who specialize in helping underserved youth or residents experiencing barriers in employment or housing.
These groups will target those vulnerable to becoming a “victim of violence” or becoming a “perpetrator of violence,” Community Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette said.
The funding consideration comes shortly after the City Council declined to transfer oversight of two violence intervention programs to Hennepin County in a tense meeting last Thursday.
Barnette said the violence intervention services are a collaboration operation between the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD), Hennepin County, violence intervention nonprofits and the Minneapolis Neighborhood Safety department to help target specific areas of violence.
Barnette said a small percentage of people are affected by a large amount of violence.
“It’s a strategy around violence. It’s a really data-driven strategy,” Barnette said. “Our partners, like MPD, our Hennepin County partners in probation and parole, our staff from Neighborhood Safety, along with our vendors, really sit down and identify those folks in a group that is targeted either to be a victim of violence or be a perpetrator of violence.”
While the City Council voted on its approval, some of the council members, such as City Council President Elliott Payne (Ward 1), had reservations about funding these groups without any data backing up their success.
“I think the challenge we’ve been having this whole time is we don’t have a clear understanding of what we are holding the vendors accountable to deliver on the outcome for safety in our community,” Payne said.
In the Tuesday meeting, the City Council agreed to delay approving the contracts until Thursday so the Neighborhood Safety department could provide more data about the nonprofits.
Council members Robin Wonsley (Ward 2) and Jamal Osman (Ward 6) both plan to abstain Thursday when the City Council votes on whether to approve the contracts.
Osman said he is thankful for the research done by city staff, but he is hesitant to support any of the contracts.
“We were told we were picking and choosing what organizations. I don’t know any of the organizations, and I don’t want to be seen as picking and choosing what organizations we want,” Osman said.
Wonsley said her plan to abstain from the vote Thursday is to signal a vote of no confidence.
“I do not have confidence in any element of the Neighborhood Safety department. I don’t feel comfortable approving them under these conditions,” Wonsley said. “I’m going to continue abstaining from these contracts until there is concrete data and has more full, established staffing.”
Wonsley said she supports violence intervention services, but the Minneapolis Neighborhood Safety department, which oversees those groups, lacks data, staff and leadership. Current and former members of the department have complained about Wonsley playing politics.
Council Member Linea Palmisano (Ward 13), who supports the contracts, said the City Council needs to approve these contracts to prevent the services these current groups are providing from stopping.
“This has been delayed by this council and delayed yet again. From my perspective, we have to move forward now one way or another,” Palmisano said.
Despite the tense meeting, Barnette and other City Council members said the meeting was a step in the right direction to repair trust between the two groups.
“I think you can see that neighborhood safety is definitely moving in the right direction,” Barnette said. “And we plan to continue to do good work and have that department be sustainable.”
