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Minneapolis moving forward with violence prevention contracts after tumultuous week

Published  February 14, 2025 7:44pm CST
Minneapolis
FOX 9

Minneapolis violence prevention funding

Minneapolis leaders are moving forward with new contracts for violence prevention work after council members previously proposed shifting the funding to Hennepin County instead. FOX 9’s Paul Blume has the latest.

The Brief

    • Minneapolis officially released the names of intended recipients of violence intervention funding for the next contract cycle.
    • Nearly $800,000 is set to be paid to five different organizations for community outreach and violence intervention work.
    • The contracts still require sign off by a city council that has been arguing over how this money should be allocated.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The city of Minneapolis is ready to move forward with five separate organizations as part of its violence prevention efforts that go beyond traditional policing.

By the numbers:

Minneapolis City Council

The selected groups were publicly identified on Friday after a newly enhanced bidding process following the settlement of a lawsuit challenging the city on its lax practices of handing out violence prevention contracts and failures to verify how the taxpayer money was actually used to reduce violence.

The contracts and their values were released on Friday:

  • Urban Youth Conservation: $207,612
  • W Berry Consulting: $207,612
  • EMERGE Community Development: $173,010
  • Sabathani Community Center, $138,408
  • The Man Up Club: $73,356

Dig deeper:

The city’s Neighborhood Safety Department and the violence prevention organizations have been under growing scrutiny because of lawsuits, allegations of mismanagement and heated arguments at city hall.

This week, several key city council members proposed moving $1.1 million dollars in funding and violence prevention programming to Hennepin County’s control. The plan was ultimately shelved.

What they're saying:

"I have a 24-hour phone. I've had it for the last eight years getting together with guys that might need support," Ferome Brown said of his outreach work to reduce violence in Minneapolis.

Brown’s Urban Youth Conservation Group is in line for more than $207,000 in funding following a more scrutinized bidding process this time around.

Urban Youth Conservation previously received more than $500,000 in taxpayer funding despite questions raised in a lawsuit about how the city evaluated a prior proposal of his.

"A lot of people might say those dollars are being spent the wrong way or these dollars should not be allocated to these people. But if they weren't, go back to when it was ‘Murderapolis’. And just think about ‘Murderapolis’ and look how it was then to how it is now," Brown said.

Last year, Minneapolis settled the lawsuit that challenged the city on its lax practices of handing out violence prevention contracts and failures to verify how the taxpayer money was actually spent. An agreement Community Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette believes has led to greater accountability and oversight of the city’s violence prevention initiatives.

"Things are improving," Commissioner Barnette told FOX9 during a city hall interview this week. "We are being responsible. We are being transparent. We are being accountable. We are making that department sustainable."

What's next:

The contracts head to the Minneapolis city council to begin the formal approval process next week.

MinneapolisInvestigatorsCrime and Public Safety