The City Council approved five MinneapolUS safety contracts on Tuesday after a week of deliberation and scrutiny from council members and the public.

The five safety contracts will go to nonprofit violence intervention groups that have previous experience in the community and violence prevention, Deputy Director of the City’s Neighborhood Safety Department Lea Lakes said. 

MinneapolUs is a city-led safety program meant to prevent violence escalation and help people who may be at risk of committing or being victims of violence through de-escalation. 

Lakes said the five groups will split time between Ward 4, Ward 5 and Ward 9. Volunteers with these groups will be taught de-escalation techniques as well as CPR and first aid.

Minneapolis City Council Member Robin Wonsley (Ward 2), who has been critical of the Neighborhood Safety Department in the past, said she felt confident about the contracts now that there was more information.

“I am excited to approve these contracts and what will happen. But I want to see what the data will look like,” Wonsley said. 

A sixth group, run by Rev. Jerry McAfee, Salem Inc., was considered for a contract before it was pulled by the Neighborhood Safety Department after two people involved with the group were arrested for a shootout.

Although most city council members were happy to support the violence intervention contracts, several members were upset about the lack of attention the groups would be showing their wards.

While the group’s name was not spoken outright, city council members LaTrisha Vetaw (Ward 4) and Jeremiah Ellison (Ward 5) said the removal of Salem Inc. could cause North Minneapolis to lose its progress. 

“My concern is that we are putting it at risk again. What people are concerned about on the Northside is the loss of jobs and the loss of services and the jobs,” Vetaw said. “Regardless of who the group is, this is still taking away resources from the Northside.”

Council Member Jamal Osman (Ward 6) said focusing on violence intervention areas in three wards has left Cedar-Riverside without the important service. 

“The way I understand it, services continue and they help the community and taking that away will be a huge loss for the community,” Osman said.

Cedar-Riverside previously had the Metro Youth Intervention program, but the city will not renew the contract for this year.

In response to the plan, Osman raised a separate legislative directive to allocate around $643,000 from the Neighborhood Safety Department to fund safety services for Cedar-Riverside and Elliot Park. 

This brought more debate from council members about the nature of the money and how it would impact the Neighborhood Safety Department program. 

Council Member Michael Rainville (Ward 3) successfully encouraged Osman to wait until the council had more information.

Executive Director of Elliot Park Neighborhood, Inc. Abdulrahman Wako said he felt the Neighborhood Safety Department did listen to the people’s concerns, but that he was still worried about Elliot Park losing services. 

“I think they did improve their services. I like the fact that it’s a lot more professional now and there’s an evaluation process,” Wako said. “But one thing that I am a little disappointed in is the way they choose neighborhoods or hotspots.”

Wako hopes the Neighborhood Safety Department will extend the violence interruption to all neighborhoods. 

“I think the (Neighborhood Safety Department) needs to consider and have interrupters in all of those neighborhoods because if you have it in some neighborhoods and you don’t put it in others because of some arbitrary criteria, then you kind of just move the violence around, so it’s kind of like a whack-a-mole in which one neighborhood gets it, the other neighborhood doesn’t,” Wako said.

Cedar-Riverside residents and business owners are raising the alarm after the city announced it would not renew the contract for violence interrupters in the neighborhood.

Metro Youth Diversion, a violence interrupter group that helps de-escalate potentially violent situations and engages with community members, left Cedar-Riverside after four years of patrolling the neighborhood. The contract expires March 31, according to Neighborhood Safety Department officials.

This comes after weeks of scrutiny from the Minneapolis City Council over issuing contracts to certain violence interrupter programs from the city’s Neighborhood Safety Program. 

A city official from the Neighborhood Safety Department said in a city council meeting on March 17 that the Metro Youth contract was not renewed because the neighborhood is no longer in the top eight areas of violence in Minneapolis. 

When the Metro Youth was initially given the contract in 2020, the hope was that the group could counter rising crime rates in the neighborhood, City Council Member Jamal Osman (Ward 6) said.

Osman said taking away the youth interruption group is a flawed approach once there is progress. 

“They say, ‘Oh, because that area of the city, it’s safe.’ The data doesn’t support it. We don’t have a lot of crimes. And I say that’s the point,” Osman said. “Because we invested in that part of the community. We bought those services and those services have worked. So we shouldn’t be taking away something that’s working.” 

In response to the program not getting renewed, the West Bank Business Association, North Central University and Elliott Park Incorporation, Inc. all sent letters to city officials voicing their concerns. 

Russom Solomon, co-owner of The Red Sea Ethiopian Restaurant on Cedar Avenue, praised Metro Youth Diversion for understanding the cultural background of Cedar-Riverside in their work. He said ending the Metro Youth Diversion contract risks undoing the progress that was made.

“Over the years, we have made improvements in our relationship with them. They understood our needs and made relationships. So the sudden cut or not renewal of their contract is a very sad and disturbing thing for us,” Solomon said. “If the perception of safety is not good, people are not going to come support our businesses.”

KJ Starr, the executive director of the West Bank Association, said she is worried that without the group in the neighborhood, the opioid drug use in the area will worsen. 

“I think our neighborhood gets a worse reputation than it deserves. We’re a pretty safe neighborhood, but we are ground zero for the opiate epidemic,” Starr said. “We have a lot of drug use happening in the neighborhood that really affects how safe people feel in the neighborhood and can also affect safety if it’s left completely unchecked.”

The effort to return Metro Youth to Cedar-Riverside is already underway, as Osman introduced an amendment to allocate funds for the program at Tuesday’s city council meeting.

Even though the amendment passed in the City Council, Starr and Solomon said they were upset about the lack of communication from Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s administration on maintaining programs like this. 

“We just need to get all on the same page about how we’re going to address safety and what’s continual response and who’s responsible for what,” Starr said.

Along with the amendment, the Neighborhood Safety Department officials said they will implement a combination of safety services to Cedar-Riverside as soon as resources are available.

Correction: This article has been updated to include the information that the contract expires March 31 and that a combination of safety services will be implemented as soon as resources are available. 

Minneapolis City Council unanimously agreed to renew a $400,000 contract with Cornerstone to improve the associations’ shelters on March 17.

Cornerstone is a nonprofit organization that gives financial and legal assistance to sexual assault survivors, provides emotional support to victims and works with the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) to support victims.

Jude Foster, the director of community services at Cornerstone, said the $400,000 would go to improving Cornerstone’s shelters and helping with the domestic violence support programs.

The partnership between Cornerstone and the MPD started in 2021 when the MPD put out a request for more advocates in the department.

Currently, the MPD has two advocates from Cornerstone in their department, one at the domestic violence unit and the other at the sexual assault unit. 

According to Emily Olson, the deputy chief of investigations, advocates help sexual assault survivors by helping victims understand legal terminology, help them find housing and stay with them during the Sexual Assault Nurse Examination Process (SANE). 

Sexual assault advocates like Olson said support for victims is crucial. According to the National Sexual Violence Center, around 63% of sexual crimes are not reported to the police. Olson said the advocates help during the often cumbersome and unkind police investigation process.

“There is a certain amount of shame and embarrassment that victims sometimes carry that is unwarranted,” Olson said. “So, you try to be really sensitive about those things, and I think that they need extra care.”

Foster, who worked as an advocate with Cornerstone for about 30 years, said having an advocate with victims also gives them a sense of safety the police are not able to provide.

“It’s important to have somebody that has the capacity to stay in contact with that victim survivor,” Foster said. “So giving that victim survivor updates, this is where your investigation is going. Those kinds of things also just provide that emotional support for victim-survivors.”

Advocates also support survivors by being avenues for survivors to share information about the assault without having to report it to the police. Under state law, sexual assault advocates can not be made to testify.

Ashley Taylor-Gougé, the associate director of the Sexual Violence Center, said the privacy from advocates helps survivors feel supported when they may not be ready to report it to the police.

“Many survivors don’t feel comfortable engaging with the criminal justice system, and having an advocate they can trust — who is not a representative of the police department — helps to build trust and ensures they feel safe opening up,” Taylor-Gougé said in a statement. “When survivors know their advocate is someone who is solely there to support them, not to represent law enforcement, it creates a sense of security and empowerment.”

Going forward, Foster wants to expand the advocacy program at the MPD by adding more advocates to the sexual assault division.

Olson said she wants the partnership to show people in Minneapolis that the police and government are a united front in preventing more trauma for survivors of sexual assault. 

“When we have survivors or victims of any crime, I think they need to feel supported by everyone, and I think that we all need to be one front,” Olson said. “We need to be all on the same page, and we all need them to feel like the system is working with them and for them, and the only way that we can do that is if we all are publicly putting forth the same message, that you are supported, that we are here to help you, and that the system is here to fairly and equitably give you support and services.”

Minneapolis is expanding its use of community safety ambassadors in May to south Minneapolis near the Powderhorn Park neighborhood to improve safety and build trust in the community.

The Community Safety Ambassador is a pilot program in which ambassadors walk the streets and escort people between places to make them feel safer. They also help local businesses when asked and inform people of available social services. The ambassadors will be dispatched from the Lake Street Safety Center and the South Minneapolis Community Safety Center.

The ambassadors will also use de-escalation techniques, give Narcan during drug overdoses and apply CPR during medical emergencies, Amanda Harrington, the director of community safety design and implementation, said.  

Council Member Jason Chavez (Ward 9) said he and Minneapolis City Council President Elliott Payne (Ward 1) were inspired by the community safety ambassadors in downtown Minneapolis.

“This program already exists in downtown Minneapolis and we know that it is an effective program that keeps communities safe, it keeps our area clean and it helps people get around,” Chavez said. “We thought that if downtown could have access to these services, the rest of our cultural districts could too.” 

Chavez said the program is part of a larger push for a comprehensive approach to safety in the city. He added that increasing safety ambassadors throughout the city will ease the burden placed on local police.

“There are many staffing challenges within the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD), and I don’t believe every response requires the police department’s response,” Chavez said. “I believe in a comprehensive approach to safety, and I believe this program will help address some of those concerns.”

Minneapolis lists the East Lake Street and Franklin Avenue East areas, where these ambassadors will patrol, as cultural districts with large minority and immigrant communities. 

Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Urban Office Director Wahbon Spears, the chair of the Public Safety Committee for the Metropolitan Urban Indian Directors, said the program will make the community safer while helping out the MPD. 

“This effort is not just about improving relationships with law enforcement — it’s about ensuring that everyone in our community feels safe and secure in their daily lives,” Spears said in a statement. “We are hopeful that the safety ambassadors can help deter violence, reducing the need for police intervention in the first place. The success of this program will depend on choosing people from the community — individuals who are recognizable, trustworthy and who inspire residents to live life in a good way.”

Once the program starts in May, the neighborhood safety department will measure the effectiveness of the program by checking crime data and feedback from residents, Harrington said.

The nonprofit group Metro Youth Diversion Center was selected to run the ambassador program in the area. The group declined to comment about their plans as their contract with the city is still being finalized.

Chavez said he is confident growing the ambassador program will bring residents in his ward a sense of community and safety. 

“I think that with these programs in place, we are gonna have a more comprehensive approach to safety and that is gonna be a big benefit to residents in our city,” Chavez said.

Minneapolis is expanding its use of community safety ambassadors in May to south Minneapolis near the Powderhorn Park neighborhood to improve safety and build trust in the community.

The Community Safety Ambassador is a pilot program in which ambassadors walk the streets and escort people between places to make them feel safer. They also help local businesses when asked and inform people of available social services. The ambassadors will be dispatched from the Lake Street Safety Center and the South Minneapolis Community Safety Center.

The ambassadors will also use de-escalation techniques, give Narcan during drug overdoses and apply CPR during medical emergencies, Amanda Harrington, the director of community safety design and implementation, said.  

Council Member Jason Chavez (Ward 9) said he and Minneapolis City Council President Elliott Payne (Ward 1) were inspired by the community safety ambassadors in downtown Minneapolis.

“This program already exists in downtown Minneapolis and we know that it is an effective program that keeps communities safe, it keeps our area clean and it helps people get around,” Chavez said. “We thought that if downtown could have access to these services, the rest of our cultural districts could too.” 

Chavez said the program is part of a larger push for a comprehensive approach to safety in the city. He added that increasing safety ambassadors throughout the city will ease the burden placed on local police.

“There are many staffing challenges within the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD), and I don’t believe every response requires the police department’s response,” Chavez said. “I believe in a comprehensive approach to safety, and I believe this program will help address some of those concerns.”

Minneapolis lists the East Lake Street and Franklin Avenue East areas, where these ambassadors will patrol, as cultural districts with large minority and immigrant communities. 

Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Urban Office Director Wahbon Spears, the chair of the Public Safety Committee for the Metropolitan Urban Indian Directors, said the program will make the community safer while helping out the MPD. 

“This effort is not just about improving relationships with law enforcement — it’s about ensuring that everyone in our community feels safe and secure in their daily lives,” Spears said in a statement. “We are hopeful that the safety ambassadors can help deter violence, reducing the need for police intervention in the first place. The success of this program will depend on choosing people from the community — individuals who are recognizable, trustworthy and who inspire residents to live life in a good way.”

Once the program starts in May, the neighborhood safety department will measure the effectiveness of the program by checking crime data and feedback from residents, Harrington said.

The nonprofit group Metro Youth Diversion Center was selected to run the ambassador program in the area. The group declined to comment about their plans as their contract with the city is still being finalized.

Chavez said he is confident growing the ambassador program will bring residents in his ward a sense of community and safety. 

“I think that with these programs in place, we are gonna have a more comprehensive approach to safety and that is gonna be a big benefit to residents in our city,” Chavez said.

As the new Trump administration cracks down on sanctuary states like Minnesota, the state’s Attorney General Keith Ellison pledged to defend Minnesota’s law. 

Minnesota’s so-called sanctuary status comes from its efforts to limit the influence of the federal government by doing things like refusing to share information with federal immigration officers, according to advocacy groups.  

From transgender inclusion in women’s sports to immigration policies, the back-and-forth between the presidential administration and Ellison has put Minnesota’s status as a sanctuary state into question. 

Ellison said in a statement that he is committed to standing against “authoritative bullying” from the president.

“As Attorney General of Minnesota, it is my job to protect the civil rights and freedoms of all Minnesotans, and to defend our state laws and the Constitution,” Ellison said in a statement. “I also believe that all Minnesotans deserve to be treated with dignity, safety, and respect. If the Trump Administration seeks to harm the people of Minnesota in violation of our laws or the Constitution, I am prepared to stand up to them.”

The statement is one of many legal battles that Ellison has brought to court. On Feb. 28, Ellison and other state attorneys general filed a lawsuit to block President Donald Trump’s executive order to block federal funding for gender-affirming care. 

Title IX protections, transgender student-athletes

One of the main issues regarding sanctuary laws in Minnesota is LGBTQ+ rights, specifically transgender rights.

U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi threatened a lawsuit against Minnesota for not complying with the Feb. 25 executive order to ban transgender women from women’s sports. Bondi said in a press release that allowing transgender women to play on K-12 women’s sports teams violates Title IX protections against discrimination based on sex in education programs.

In a lettered response to Bondi, Ellison said adhering to the executive order would violate discrimination protections in the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

Kat Rohn, executive director of LGBTQ+ advocacy group OutFront Minnesota, said with the new presidential administration, Minnesota’s transgender refugee status is up for debate.

“We don’t expect that Minnesota is going to suddenly repeal or remove existing protections here in the State. I think the real question is how those will endure in the face of different federal attacks,” Rohn said. “If the federal government sees those as challenges to Title IX as they like. They can bring that to the courts and the courts will have to decide whether or not our laws violate federal law.”

Minnesota became a transgender refugee state after Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill in 2024 that guaranteed privacy to any person receiving gender-affirming care by giving protections to medical providers from out-of-state subpoenas. Those subpoenas could have opened up anyone who traveled to Minnesota to receive gender-affirming care from prosecution in their home state.  

Rohn said the continued scrutiny on LGBTQ+ people during Trump’s first months back in office is causing marginalized people to be worried about their safety. 

“One of the things we saw immediately post-election, there was an uptick in calls from local schools here in Minnesota, where students were experiencing bullying. Where bullies were explicitly using the words of the president or the actions of the president,” Rohn said. 

Immigration challenges 

It is not just Minnesota’s transgender protections that give the state its sanctuary status but also its increased protections of immigrants in the wake of Trump’s second term. 

Trump has stepped up deportation efforts across the country, which includes empowering Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to enter “sensitive” areas like churches, hospitals and schools.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Minneapolis police will not ask residents about their immigration status unless it is related to crimes like human trafficking or smuggling.  

In addition, Minneapolis has the Sanctuary City Task Force, a multi-department team to support immigration programs and policies to prevent unfair deportations.  

Ian Bratlie, a staff attorney at American Civil Liberties Union Minnesota, said Trump’s threat to withhold funding is motivated by Minnesota’s liberal policies on immigration.

“I think part of it is Walz was the vice president candidate. I think part of it is we have some good case law here in Minnesota that limits ICE, and the other reason is we are a pretty heavy immigrant state for a lot of different groups,” Bratlie said.  

While other counties in Minnesota have different procedures for asking about immigration status, University of Minnesota political science professor Larry Jacobs said the possibility of holding funds could be painful for Minnesota.

“The other part, which will be maybe more directly painful, is that the Trump administration is promising to withhold federal dollars, hundreds of millions of dollars. They’re basically saying,  ‘If you don’t cooperate and support ICE, then we’re going to put a block on federal money,’” Jacobs said. 

Minnesota, Trump fight is not over

While times are uncertain now, Rohn said she is confident Minnesota will still keep its current law regarding transgender rights. 

“We’re confident that we have good grounding and good justification. For why these laws here in Minnesota have endured so far,” Rohn said.

Jacobs said the several lawsuits, legal challenges and news releases from Minnesota to the Trump administration and vice versa are just the start. 

“We’re in the early days here. Trump is only six weeks into his presidency. I think we’re looking at a sustained partisan battle between Washington and Minnesota,” Jacobs said. “It’s going to be across a whole number of issues, including immigration and gender. It could affect other policy areas as well.”

As the new Trump administration cracks down on sanctuary states like Minnesota, the state’s Attorney General Keith Ellison pledged to defend Minnesota’s law. 

Minnesota’s so-called sanctuary status comes from its efforts to limit the influence of the federal government by doing things like refusing to share information with federal immigration officers, according to advocacy groups.  

From transgender inclusion in women’s sports to immigration policies, the back-and-forth between the presidential administration and Ellison has put Minnesota’s status as a sanctuary state into question. 

Ellison said in a statement that he is committed to standing against “authoritative bullying” from the president.

“As Attorney General of Minnesota, it is my job to protect the civil rights and freedoms of all Minnesotans, and to defend our state laws and the Constitution,” Ellison said in a statement. “I also believe that all Minnesotans deserve to be treated with dignity, safety, and respect. If the Trump Administration seeks to harm the people of Minnesota in violation of our laws or the Constitution, I am prepared to stand up to them.”

The statement is one of many legal battles that Ellison has brought to court. On Feb. 28, Ellison and other state attorneys general filed a lawsuit to block President Donald Trump’s executive order to block federal funding for gender-affirming care. 

Title IX protections, transgender student-athletes

One of the main issues regarding sanctuary laws in Minnesota is LGBTQ+ rights, specifically transgender rights.

U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi threatened a lawsuit against Minnesota for not complying with the Feb. 25 executive order to ban transgender women from women’s sports. Bondi said in a press release that allowing transgender women to play on K-12 women’s sports teams violates Title IX protections against discrimination based on sex in education programs.

In a lettered response to Bondi, Ellison said adhering to the executive order would violate discrimination protections in the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

Kat Rohn, executive director of LGBTQ+ advocacy group OutFront Minnesota, said with the new presidential administration, Minnesota’s transgender refugee status is up for debate.

“We don’t expect that Minnesota is going to suddenly repeal or remove existing protections here in the State. I think the real question is how those will endure in the face of different federal attacks,” Rohn said. “If the federal government sees those as challenges to Title IX as they like. They can bring that to the courts and the courts will have to decide whether or not our laws violate federal law.”

Minnesota became a transgender refugee state after Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill in 2024 that guaranteed privacy to any person receiving gender-affirming care by giving protections to medical providers from out-of-state subpoenas. Those subpoenas could have opened up anyone who traveled to Minnesota to receive gender-affirming care from prosecution in their home state.  

Rohn said the continued scrutiny on LGBTQ+ people during Trump’s first months back in office is causing marginalized people to be worried about their safety. 

“One of the things we saw immediately post-election, there was an uptick in calls from local schools here in Minnesota, where students were experiencing bullying. Where bullies were explicitly using the words of the president or the actions of the president,” Rohn said. 

Immigration challenges 

It is not just Minnesota’s transgender protections that give the state its sanctuary status but also its increased protections of immigrants in the wake of Trump’s second term. 

Trump has stepped up deportation efforts across the country, which includes empowering Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to enter “sensitive” areas like churches, hospitals and schools.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Minneapolis police will not ask residents about their immigration status unless it is related to crimes like human trafficking or smuggling.  

In addition, Minneapolis has the Sanctuary City Task Force, a multi-department team to support immigration programs and policies to prevent unfair deportations.  

Ian Bratlie, a staff attorney at American Civil Liberties Union Minnesota, said Trump’s threat to withhold funding is motivated by Minnesota’s liberal policies on immigration.

“I think part of it is Walz was the vice president candidate. I think part of it is we have some good case law here in Minnesota that limits ICE, and the other reason is we are a pretty heavy immigrant state for a lot of different groups,” Bratlie said.  

While other counties in Minnesota have different procedures for asking about immigration status, University of Minnesota political science professor Larry Jacobs said the possibility of holding funds could be painful for Minnesota.

“The other part, which will be maybe more directly painful, is that the Trump administration is promising to withhold federal dollars, hundreds of millions of dollars. They’re basically saying,  ‘If you don’t cooperate and support ICE, then we’re going to put a block on federal money,’” Jacobs said. 

Minnesota, Trump fight is not over

While times are uncertain now, Rohn said she is confident Minnesota will still keep its current law regarding transgender rights. 

“We’re confident that we have good grounding and good justification. For why these laws here in Minnesota have endured so far,” Rohn said.

Jacobs said the several lawsuits, legal challenges and news releases from Minnesota to the Trump administration and vice versa are just the start. 

“We’re in the early days here. Trump is only six weeks into his presidency. I think we’re looking at a sustained partisan battle between Washington and Minnesota,” Jacobs said. “It’s going to be across a whole number of issues, including immigration and gender. It could affect other policy areas as well.”

In south Minneapolis lives the oldest Black newspaper in Minnesota. Ninety years after its founding, the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder continues its legacy of telling stories of the Black community in Minneapolis.

A major player in the Twin Cities media scene in the early 19th century, Cecil Newman founded multiple African American newspapers. Newman, who originally worked as a waiter on train cars, co-founded the Twin-City Herald in 1927 before he left the Herald to start the Spokesman-Recorder and the St. Paul Recorder in 1934, according to the Minnesota Historical Society.

The Spokesman-Recorder helped fill the gaps in reporting on the local African American community, University of Minnesota Journalism Professor Sid Bedingfield said.

“He always made the joke that, ‘I didn’t have enough money to begin one newspaper, so I began two of them.’ Nobody quite knows how he pulled that off,” Bedingfield said.

These two papers played a significant role in uplifting the Black community and reporting on issues when major media publications would not cover Black social events, community businesses and social issues in the neighborhood.

Newman was the publisher of the Spokesman and the Recorder until he died in 1976. Even after his death, his legacy lives on.

Tracey Williams-Dillard, the CEO of the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, said newspapers like the Spokesman-Recorder are more important than ever.

“I think it’s going to be more important now than ever because now everybody’s scrambling to figure out how to reach the Black community. ‘How do I reach the communities of color?’” Williams-Dillard said. “Because they realized the communities of color are looking towards them for truth because they’re being targeted. So who cares about us? Who’s really telling our story?”

Williams-Dillard, Newman’s granddaughter, started working at the Spokesman at 8 years old helping her grandmother at the addressograph machine, which was used to quickly label addresses for the company.

“I got a chance to see my grandpa and grandma, you know, be around them and the work wasn’t strenuous. I knew what I was doing, so it was just fun,” Williams-Dillard said.

Williams-Dillard said the newspaper has maintained its historic legacy through its connection to the community.

“We write news and information that, again, inspires, informs and educates people,” Williams-Dillard said. “We’re not here to tell people what to do. We’re just here to present the facts, and we’re here to present them in an honest and fair way.”

Abdi Mohamed, who started at the Spokesman-Recorder in 2019 as a freelance writer before becoming the associate editor in 2024, said the Spokesman-Recorder helped him report on his local community. Working for the company helped him feel its historic impact.

“There’s a lot of history there. You feel the history when you walk into the building,” Mohamed said. “So you definitely are aware of the legacy that you’re around, the history that you’re around.”

Mohamed, who now is the program director at the Minneapolis St. Paul Film Society, said his time at the newspaper helped him give a voice to people in his community when mainstream media failed to. 

“In the community, people know to come to me to tell a story. I’ve definitely become a figure in that sense of things, which has been great,” Mohamed said. “For marginalized communities such as the African diaspora, African immigrants, Somalis in Minnesota, we have so much coming at us in terms of negative reporting or things people are saying about the community at the national or state level that we really do have to tell the positive stories.”

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.”

In the basement of Washburn Library, Kristie Lazenberry raised her voice in triumph to tell the story of a magical tailor as about a dozen Minneapolis residents and kids gathered around to hear stories from Africa. 

Washburn Library hosted the Stories for Black History Month event on Saturday with the Black Storytellers Alliance, a non-profit group that trains people to tell legends and mythology from the African diaspora.

While the Stories for Black History Month event has been ongoing for decades, this is the first in-person one since COVID-19, According to Washburn Library librarian Ann Zettervall.

Zettervall said telling these stories helps the library feel like a more inclusive space for people in Minneapolis.

“Libraries historically have had a place in the systemic repression of people outside of the majority group, and one of the most important aspects that I see for libraries now is making sure that it’s a space that everyone feels welcome in,” Zettervall said. “Part of that is having programs that highlight communities that are historically ignored or underrepresented to make those groups feel more welcome here.”

Lazenberry, who is also a director of Equity and Strategy at the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, said storytelling was something she was always born with. 

“I have always been into arts kinds of things, whether it’s dance or acting, singing, those various things,” Lazenberry said. “So this, to me, was kind of an extension of that, because I also like to do things with children as well.”

For each story, Lazenberry wants to add her voice. At the event, she uses her booming voice to tell the story of a character tricking a tiger into becoming a riding horse. 

Lazenberry was introduced to the Black Storytellers Alliance through a friend. After she joined the program, she trained every Saturday morning for twelve weeks in telling stories from Africa. 

According to University of Minnesota African American & African Studies professor Bula Wayessa, learning stories from the diaspora can help people unlearn negative biases about Africa.

“African legends by Africans have been produced and reproduced by Africans, and unlike most sources that perpetuate negative perceptions about the continent and its people, the legends empower and motivate kids,” Wayessa said. 

For Lazenberry, telling these stories helps give young Black children a better understanding of the African oral storytelling history. 

“The most important thing to me for children especially is to grow up knowing your history and knowing where your ancestors came from, and stories that get passed down from generation to generation always have some little something in there that keeps you connected to your ancestry, but also teaches you something,” Lazenberry said. 

Parents Keenan Marshall and Katie Byom said their 16-month-old daughter Addy Marshall-Byom was hyper-focused on Lazenberry’s storytelling. 

“The physical nature of the way that she was telling stories really grabbed Addy’s attention and really kept her focused for the most part, as much as you can with a 16-month-old,” Marshall said. “That was pretty cool to see.”