Star Tribune
Minnesota Legislature approves $4 million in grants to small, cultural nonprofits
Small culturally specific nonprofits across Minnesota will soon be able to apply for funding from a $4 million grant program approved with bipartisan support last month by the Legislature.
The Nonprofit Infrastructure Grant Program has given out 70 grants since launching in 2017, totaling $3.5 million to small organizations led by people of color who work with underserved communities. Lawmakers this session not only approved program funding for the next two years, they doubled the annual allocation to $2 million.
Dozens of nonprofits statewide will use the grants to hire staffers or consultants, invest in technology or expand initiatives. Kate Barr, CEO of Propel Nonprofits in Minneapolis, which administers the grants with funding from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), said many more organizations will be served.
“It’s a proven program,” she said. “Some organizational leaders have said it’s a game changer for them.”
Nonprofits led by and serving communities of color, with annual budgets of less than $1 million, will be able to start applying for the new grants as early as August. Nearly 20% of past grants have gone to nonprofits outside the Twin Cities.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Minnesotans turned to nonprofits more than ever for services such as food assistance and housing aid. As a result, Barr said, investing in small nonprofits pays off, helping Minnesotans — especially people of color.
The program drew scrutiny from legislators in light of a Legislative Auditor’s report this year that showed lax oversight of grants to nonprofits by state agencies. The massive Feeding Our Future fraud scandal — which involved federal funding, not state aid — also cast skepticism on the nonprofit sector.
“It was really heavy on legislators’ minds,” said ThaoMee Xiong, executive and network director of the Coalition of Asian American Leaders, a St. Paul nonprofit that proposed the Nonprofit Infrastructure Grant Program in 2017 and supported it this year. “It’s understandable, but also unfair to paint a broad brush of scrutinizing all nonprofits.”
Propel employees work with applicants and grantees throughout the process to ensure they provide the proper paperwork and are good stewards of state money.
“Funding small cultural nonprofits is really important because they usually have access and trust of the communities most distrustful of government,” Xiong said, referring to immigrants and refugees. “It’s about building our nonprofit infrastructure to be able to serve the growing diversity within our community and across the state.”
The program lowers the barriers that small nonprofits face in applying for state grants, she added, and addresses disparities in philanthropy. Foundations often underfund small, grassroots cultural organizations, she said, citing a report by Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy that found that, for every $100 that Twin Cities foundations give to nonprofits, only 42 cents goes to support Asian American/Pacific Islander communities.
Advocates had sought $6 million for the program. Demand typically outstrips funding, Barr said, with about 20% of past applicants getting grants averaging $40,000 each.
The St. Cloud-based Jugaad Leadership Program received $22,000 last year from the program, which paid for a fundraising consultant and weekly training to help bolster fundraising. It was the first state grant Jugaad has received since it was formed three years ago to train and mentor leaders of color.
“It brought us to the next step in growing our programs, services and even our staff,” said Eunice Adjei, Jugaad’s executive director. “It’s been a gift.”
In St. Paul, Foster Advocates received $40,000 last year to fund operations at the organization, which works with people in the foster care system and advocates for policy changes.
“Folks talk about support for small businesses, but they often don’t recognize that there are also small nonprofits that are just as important in our employment landscape,” said Hoang Murphy co-executive director of Foster Advocates. “This is a way to scale [up] really great organizations doing really important work.”
A 20-year-old St. Paul man is now facing three murder charges in separate killings in Minneapolis in recent years.
Albert Jerome Lucas was charged Wednesday in Hennepin County District Court in connection with the killing of 20-year-old Antonio Vernon Harper, of Minneapolis, on Nov. 6, 2023, in Minneapolis in the 3300 block of Dupont Avenue N.
Lucas, who has been jailed since May and remains held in lieu of $2 million bail, is scheduled to appear in court early Thursday afternoon. He does not yet have an attorney listed in court records for this latest charge.
According to Wednesday’s criminal complaint, which charges Lucas with one count of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder:
Officers arrived to the scene and saw Harper on the ground suffering from a fatal gunshot wound to the chest.
A witness told police that she saw three males “hugging” the side of home and looking toward Harper and two of his friends. Gunfire from Lucas erupted, hitting Harper, and the suspects fled in a car. One of Harper’s friends shared with officers that the shooting was gang-related.
Officers saw the vehicle two days later and determined it had been stolen in St. Paul. The driver fled police, but officers soon found the vehicle. DNA on a cigar wrapper inside the vehicle was tested and came back as a match for Lucas.
Star Tribune
Palestinian officials say an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in northern Gaza killed 15
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli strike on a school sheltering the displaced in northern Gaza on Thursday killed at least 15 people, including five children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The Israeli military said the strike targeted dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants who had gathered at the Abu Hussein school in Jabaliya, an urban refugee camp in northern Gaza where Israel has been waging a major air and ground operation for more than a week.
Fares Abu Hamza, head of the ministry’s emergency unit in northern Gaza, confirmed the toll and said dozens of people were wounded. He said the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital was struggling to treat the casualties.
“Many women and children are in critical condition,” he said.
The Israeli military said it targeted a command center run by both militant groups inside the school. It provided a list of around a dozen names of people it identified as militants who were present when the strike was called in. It was not immediately possible to verify the names.
Israel has repeatedly struck tent camps and schools sheltering displaced people in Gaza. The Israeli military says it carries out precise strikes on militants and tries to avoid harming civilians, but its strikes often kill women and children.
Hamas-led militants triggered the war when they stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 others. Some 100 captives are still inside Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It does not differentiate between civilians and combatants but says women and children make up a little more than half of the fatalities.
Twin Amur tigers born at Como Zoo in August now have names — Marisa and Maks.
Two long-time volunteers who have worked with zookeepers to care for and teach the public about the zoo’s big cats came up with the names, the first to be born at the St. Paul zoo in more than 40 years.
Marisa, a name that the volunteers found to mean “spirited and tenacious,” call that a perfect reflection of her personality. The name also carries special significance for the Como Zoo community, as it honors a retired zookeeper of the same name who was instrumental in the care of large cats during her 43 years at the zoo, Como Zoo and Conservatory Director Michelle Furrer said.
The male cub has been named Maks, which is associated with meanings like “the greatest” or “strength and leadership.” The volunteers felt this was an apt description of the male cub’s confident demeanor and growing sense of leadership, Furrer said.
“Marisa and Maks aren’t just names; they’re a fun reminder of the passion and care that keep us committed to protecting wildlife every day,” Furrer said.
The newborns and their first-time mother, 7-year-old Bernadette, remain off view to allow for more bonding time, zoo officials said. The cubs’ father, 11-year-old Tsar, has been a Como resident since February 2019 and remains on view.
Fewer than 500 Amur tigers — also known as Siberian tigers — remain in the wild as they face critical threats from habitat loss, poaching and human-wildlife conflict, the zoo said.
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