Kare11
St. David’s Center to buy Minneapolis YWCA
The closing of the YWCA in downtown Minneapolis was a disappointment to many people, but the new buyer is bringing hope on many levels to many more people.
MINNEAPOLIS — The closing of the YWCA in downtown Minneapolis came as a shock and disappointment to many people. What would go in there next? Would the building sit vacant? What about the children that were being served there? All those questions have been answered and, by all accounts, it turned out good for everyone involved.
The building’s new owner will be St. David’s Center. The organization is currently based out of Minnetonka. They provide inclusive early childhood education, mental health services, pediatric occupational and speech therapies, disability support services and autism day programs. They help some 5,000 children and families every year, but the need is great.
“Our waiting list has only grown in the last few years,” says CEO Julie Sjordal.
St. David’s Center has hit its capacity at its Minnetonka location. They are also in schools and homes and even have an East African Autism Day program in Minneapolis that is also full and some 2,000 kids are on waiting list.
“Two thousand kids and families who are desperate for services, whose children are presenting with complex and acute mental health needs and developmental needs,” Sjordal says.
“We really want to be an answer to addressing those alarming statistics and not have families wait 12 to 18 months for services when their children are in this critical time of brain development,” she adds.
And now they can be an answer to more families. Families like mom Cara and her daughter Eva.
“When she was learning how to talk, we had a whole bunch of little words that you would expect and then I think it was around 18 months there was a regression, and those words we had were gone,” says Cara.
After an autism diagnosis, Cara was not just mom, but care manager, shuttle driver and Eva advocate.
“Before my life was on pause because I couldn’t really work when I was trying to figure out all these things and get her to therapy appointments. I think people don’t realize until you lived it how consuming it can be to try to navigate that,” she says.
In fact, Cara moved her family back to Minnesota, mainly to be at St. David’s Center. Eva is now in the inclusive early education program, autism day program, food therapy and music therapy. It has changed their lives.
“Her being able to ask for help, to be able to say when she is sick, that she wants a glass of water. Those are the milestones when you’re an autism parent, or parent of a kid who is not able to communicate in the same way as others, those are the ones that feel huge,” Cara says.
And families are the only winners here. Last year when the YWCA announced it would be selling its Downtown Minneapolis location, many families were going to be left without the child care and programs the Y offers and the potential was very real for the building to be left vacant.
“When a prop like this comes up for sale, and it’s a question of who might buy it, and what might go in there next, we’re really excited to have them as partners,” says Adam Duininck, President, and CEO of the Minneapolis Downtown Council.
The building will be home to roughly 150 headquarters and staff jobs and will continue to serve children and families.
“It’s a big deal for our city, and a lot of what we talk about is the future of downtown will hopefully revolve around families and children, and so having a service down here is another reason to come to downtown, or be located close, so it’s a really exciting time for that,” he says.
St. David’s will renovate the building and eventually be able to serve another 1,500 to 2,000 families each year. Suddenly that wait list shrinks. And a third win here? the YWCA’s early childhood program will remain on site.
“They have a great reputation in the community, and this is an opportunity for the YWCA and St. David’s Center to bring our missions together,” says Sjordal.
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities and across Minnesota in our YouTube playlist:
The chief was discussing the shooting of Davis Maturi, who for months had been contact with the MPD about escalating harassment from his neighbor, John Sawchak.
MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said his department “failed” after a man was shot, allegedly by his neighbor in the city.
“We failed this victim. 100%, because that should not have happened to him,” said O’Hara in a Sunday evening press conference.
The chief was discussing the shooting of Davis Moturi, who for months had been contact with the MPD about escalating harassment from his neighbor, John Sawchak.
Sawchak was charged with shooting Moturi as he was pruning a tree on his front yard on Oct. 23.
Moturi remains hospitalized with a fractured spine, two broken ribs, and a concussion.
O’Hara and the MPD came under a heavy attack from the Minneapolis City Council after it was revealed that the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office had charged Sawchak, but the MPD had not arrested him.
“MPD still has not arrested the suspect despite charges from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office for Attempted Murder, 1st Degree Assault, Stalking, and Harassment and a request from the HCAO for a warrant with $1 million bail. MPD told the HCAO they do not intend to execute the warrant ‘for reasons of officer safety,’” said the letter from the Minneapolis City Council.
“We failed to act urgently enough,” said O’Hara, before citing staffing concerns as a contributing factor.
It was a stark difference from the tone the chief initially took on Friday, then saying “If we wound up in a deadly situation, the headlines would read ‘MPD shot mentally ill person’.”
On Sunday, O’Hara said his previous comments were meant as a response to accusations that the MPD “didn’t care,” about the case.
“This is the result of over-politicizing policing in Minneapolis,” said O’Hara.
O’Hara stated that the MPD will, for the moment, continue waiting for Sawchak to exit his home to arrest him, but the chief added “We are running out of options before we have to escalate the matter.”
The heated back-and-forth between the city council and the chief continued earlier Sunday when Minneapolis City Council member Emily Koski released a statement questioning O’Hara and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey actions in the matter.
“Our Chief of Police is hiding behind excuses, and our Mayor…is just hiding.” said Koski in the statement.
Cities across Minnesota expanded voting hours and locations for the upcoming presidential election.
MINNEAPOLIS — Expanded early voting hours and locations are giving Minnesotans more opportunities to cast their ballots before the general election.
Over 1,000 people visited Minneapolis Elections & Voter Services over the weekend to make their voice heard.
“We have always voted as a family. We have this right as Americans to vote, and we wanted him to know right from the get-go that you’ve got to vote in every single election because this is our voice, this is our opportunity to really pick the future that we want based on the candidate that we vote for,” said Kelly Wallander.
Kelly and her husband, Claude, picked up their son Harrison from college, so they could all vote in the general election for the first time as a family.
“It’s interesting. It’s cool to see elections on TV, basically as long as I can remember, and now know that I’m a part of it and being able to vote with my parents is cool,” Harrison said.
“I like voting early just because exactly you miss the line and you get it in there,” Claude said.
Director of Elections and Voter Services for the City of Minneapolis Katie Smith said the past two days have been busy.
“We’ve had really solid turnout. We’ve had about 42,000 people who have already voted in this election,” she said.
She anticipates next weekend will be even busier.
“Every year we kind of looking at how many people we’re planning for and how many people are coming through. We try to always expand our service hours as we get closer and closer to the election,” she said.
Smith said they’ve also started using pop-up voting locations to reach more people.
“In 2023, there was a legislative change that allows for us to have sites around the city that are open for different lengths of time as well as different dates form our main site. We’ve really taken the opportunity to host some one-day early vote pop-ups… in some unique and really great spaces throughout the city,” Smith said.
Sunday’s pop-up was at the Capri Theater. Paige Gayle voted here along with her sister.
“I like early voting because it’s convenient, it’s fast and it’s quick,” she said. “I work on actual election day, so for me it was important to get out beforehand.”
Smith said offering more voting opportunities for people in Minneapolis is crucial to their work.
“It’s so important to be able to offer all of these voting methods so that people can find something that works really well for them and make their voting plan,” Smith said.
Voters tell KARE 11 one of the perks to early voting is little to no wait. Voting early also gives them peace of mind and is one less thing to do on election day.
“It’s so much more convenient. This way I don’t have to worry about it. I’ll still be working on election day, so I would have had to go in before or after work. Now, I don’t have to worry about it. I know my vote will be counted,” Macy Bauers said.
Bauers said she votes in every election and hopes more people take advantage of early voting in the coming days.
The two adults who were killed were both male, according to the department, which is investigating the shooting.
MINNEAPOLIS — Three people were shot, two of them fatally in a Minneapolis encampment on Sunday afternoon, according to the Minneapolis Police Department.
The shooting occurred on the 4400 block of Snelling Avenue shortly after 3 p.m., said the MPD.
The two adults who were killed were both male, according to the department, which is investigating the shooting.
A woman was also taken to the hospital after the shooting and is in critical condition, said the MPD.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
