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Minnesota Legislature approves $4 million in grants to small, cultural nonprofits

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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.”



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Downtown St. Paul’s Lowry Apartments condemned, displacing tenants

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After months of maintenance problems and safety concerns in downtown St. Paul’s Lowry Apartments, city officials condemned the building, forcing dozens of tenants to abruptly relocate to hotels this week.

On Monday afternoon, city staff responded to a plumbing leak in the 11-story building at 345 Wabasha St. N. Officials reported significant damage and signs of vandalism, including copper wire theft that left electrical systems exposed. The leak also raised concerns about mold.

To make repairs, the building’s water must be shut off — a move that would leave tenants without boiler heat and fire sprinklers, Deputy Mayor Jaime Tincher said in a Tuesday email to state Rep. Maria Isa Pérez-Vega and City Council Member Rebecca Noecker, who represent the area.

After determining heat and water could not be restored quickly, Tincher wrote: “There was no other option than to conclude the building was not safe for residents to stay.”

Property manager Halverson and Blaiser Group (HBG) agreed to provide alternative housing for tenants for up to 30 days, Tincher said. City staff worked with Ramsey County’s Housing Stability team and Metro Transit to help 71 residents pack and move.

Before then, the building belonged to downtown St. Paul’s largest property owner, Madison Equities. After the January death of the company’s founder and longtime principal, Jim Crockarell, the dire state of the group’s real estate portfolio became apparent.

The Lowry Apartments, the sole property with a high concentration of low-income housing, quickly became the most troubled. Residents reported frequent break-ins, pest infestations, inoperable elevators and more, to no avail.



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Metro Transit allocated $12 million to boost security, cleanliness on Twin Cities light rail and buses

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They will be soon. With more money to spend, Metro Transit plans to bring on 40 more this year. With their ranks growing, TRIP agents, clad in blue, have recently started covering the Metro C and D rapid transit lines between Brooklyn Center and downtown Minneapolis.

The big investment in public safety initiatives comes as Metro Transit is seeing an uptick in ridership that plunged dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic and has been slow to recover. This year ridership has been a bright spot, the agency said.

Through October, the agency has provided 40.1 million rides, up 7% compared with the first 10 months of 2023. In September, the agency saw its highest monthly ridership in four years, averaging nearly 157,000 rides on weekdays, agency data shows.

At the same time, crime is down 8.4% during the first three quarters of 2024 compared to the same time period last year, according to Metro Transit Interim Police Chief Joe Dotseth. However, problems still persist.

On Nov. 29, Sharif Darryl Walker-El, Jr., 33, was fatally shot on a Green Line train in St. Paul. Just a week earlier, a woman was shot in the leg while on the train and taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Earlier this year, a robbery attempt on the Green Line in St. Paul left a passenger shot and wounded.

“Our officers are spending time on the system and sending a clear message to everyone: Crime will not be tolerated on transit,” Dotseth said. “And we will work to ensure those commit those crimes are held accountable.”



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ACLU sues Otter Tail County sheriff, jail for inmate’s treatment

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The ACLU of Minnesota has sued Otter Tail County, its sheriff and correctional officers at its jail, alleging unlawful punishment of a man known to them who has serious mental health issues.

Ramsey Kettle, 33, a member of White Earth Nation and lifelong Otter Tail County resident, was jailed in February on charges that were dropped two months later. The ACLU says that the sheriff’s office attempted to cover up the mistreatment, but a whistleblower working at the jail reported the abuse to the state. A 46-page lawsuit was filed this week in U.S. District Court of Minnesota.

“Mr. Kettle was subjected to extreme, punitive treatment in violation of his constitutional rights and standards for basic human dignity,” the ACLU said in a statement. “Otter Tail County officers, with approval of the acting jail administrator, kept Mr. Kettle locked up in solitary confinement for days without food, water, or appropriate medical and mental health care.”

Otter Tail County spokesperson Shannon Terry said in an email to the Minnesota Star Tribune that “Due to the impending litigation, Otter Tail County has no comment or statement at this time.” Terry did confirm that Kettle was released from custody April 24, when the charges were dropped.

Kettle was immediately placed in solitary confinement after he arrived at the jail Feb. 9, the lawsuit says. Jail staff didn’t assess Kettle’s poor mental health, which the ACLU says was well-documented and known to officers. The ACLU says Kettle “exhibited increasing signs of physical and mental distress” and officers allegedly “laughed at him, mocked him, and left him to suffer.”

Kettle had been booked at the jail multiple times before. In March 2022, he was convicted of making terroristic threats and sentenced to two years. On the day he was scheduled to be released from Rush City Correctional Facility after serving his full sentence, he was charged in Otter Tail with four counts of aggravated witness tampering stemming from the conviction.

“Rather than going home on February 9, 2024, as he had anticipated for nearly two years, he was transferred to Otter Tail County Jail to await trial on these new charges. The new charges were unfounded and intended solely to keep Mr. Kettle incarcerated,” the lawsuit states.

District Judge Johnathan Judd dismissed the charges as lacking foundation.



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