Star Tribune
Microgrants help Somali sambusa maker Hoyo and other food startups scale up
“Hoyo” is the Somali word for mother.
When sisters Mariam, Halima and Asha Mohamed launched Hoyo in 2015, their goal was to employ Somali women making a much-loved Somali snack: the deep-fried, beef-filled pastries known as sambusas.
Since that time, Hoyo has grown into a local food success story, serving 200,000 sambusas a year at schools across Minnesota. Hoyo sambusas are also sold in co-ops and supermarkets.
The business is one of 12 local food producers that recently received microgrants from the Market Entry Fund (TMEF), a St. Paul nonprofit that works with food and beverage producers from underrepresented communities.
TMEF’s micro grants program provides $5,000 to $20,000 grants to food startups. The goal is to help small businesses overcome barriers in the packaged food industry.
This year’s recipients included a range of food producers, including Taiwanese sausage maker Linko Food and Junita’s Jar, which sells cookies at Target.
“The only reason that we are still here and survived is really the support of these people who are still with us, helping us as we speak,” Hoyo co-founder Mariam Mohamed said. “Any ethnic group or any person who’s starting a food [business] you have to have support, people who know the food, who are in the food industry, people who can guide you.”
Kayla Yang-Best, TMEF president, said the grant program started in 2019 and was born of necessity.
In suburban Milwaukee last week, the Washington County Board of Supervisors voted to allocate $3,000 for video surveillance of drop boxes, should municipal clerks need the funds to tighten security.
Some officials went even further.
“Every citizen should have access to livestream of the camera and instructions for how to proceed if they see something suspicious,” said one supervisor, Linda Gurath.
Another supervisor, Tina Pridemore, wondered if someone could shove 20 ballots into a box at once, and said that she knew people who were willing to volunteer to stand near the drop boxes “to make sure that we’re not having this illegal voting,” she said.
A red drop box for ballots outside City Hall in Racine, Wis., on Oct. 11, 2024. (JAMIE KELTER DAVIS/The New York Times)
Beleaguered city clerks, nonpartisan officials who are responsible for deciding whether their municipalities should have drop boxes, have tried to reassure the public that the boxes are perfectly secure.
Around the state, some drop boxes are free-standing, bolted to the ground like mailboxes outside City Hall or on street corners. Others are built into the walls of municipal buildings, allowing voters to drop absentee ballots through a slot and directly inside, where they are then collected by workers and locked in a vault until Election Day. As of Wednesday, at least 78 boxes were in use, election officials said.
A man is dead and police are searching for suspects following a shooting early Saturday in north Minneapolis.
According to police, officers responded to a ShotSpotter activation just before 6 a.m. in the 1700 block of 26th Avenue N. They found a man with life-threatening wounds and gave him aid until emergency personnel arrived to help.
Despite those efforts, the man died at the scene. His name and the cause of death will be released by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner in coming days.
Investigators believe the shooting happened when a fight at a nearby party escalated, spilling onto the street before gunfire rang out.
“Today, tragically, another family has been ripped apart by gun violence,” Police Chief Brian O’Hara said in a statement. “Our investigators are committed to solving this crime and giving a voice to those who can no longer speak for themselves.”
One man was arrested at the scene for disorderly conduct, but investigators were still looking into whether he played a role in the shooting.
Anyone with information about the incident was asked to contact Minneapolis police.
The U is asking the Legislature for $200 million for repairs as the number of crumbling, outdated buildings reaches a crisis point.
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