Community Safety

Our current system of public safety in Minneapolis is not keeping our community safe. It’s clear that a police-only model has not worked to effectively and efficiently keep our most impacted communities safe. It’s imperative that we continue building alternatives across the City to address our most urgent needs and improve our response times. 

East Lake Street, 38th Street, Franklin Ave, our transportation system, and neighborhoods must be safe, clean, and welcoming. 

We must build a community safety system that addresses the root causes of violence and prevents the circumstances that make violence more likely to occur.

What We Did: 

South Minneapolis Community Safety and Outreach Program: Successfully secured funding through a budget amendment for the City’s Community Safety Strategies Program to create a South Minneapolis community-led safety initiative and violence prevention program. This led to the American Indian Movement and Little Earth Protectors receiving funding for safety initiatives in Phillips. 

Comprehensive Safety Funding and Transit Safety: My office hosted a listening session regarding safety in our transit system, which led to a weekly Friday morning meeting with Metro Transit and community partners to discuss and prevent ongoing challenges. I led the effort and secured $1,700,000  in community safety initiatives to address these issues next to transit hubs (Lake Street, East Franklin Ave, and 38th Street were included).

Lake Street Community Safety Center: Passed a $500,000 budget allocation to reestablish this center that will likely be located by the Hi-Lake Shopping Center.. This will provide a place for residents to file police reports, get information, and an opportunity to connect with Public Safety Professionals in the City of Minneapolis. In addition, this location will also provide a space for the development and organizing of community safety alternative work.

Lake Street Public Safety Coordinator: Authored a budget amendment to establish a Lake Street Cultural District Public Safety coordinator for 2 years. This position will help with the implementation of a safety plan to improve the coordination of all public safety responses along Lake Street and connect residents and businesses to services and activation of the corridor to improve crime and livability concerns. 

Collaborative Public Safety Strategies (East Phillips and Midtown Phillips):  Passed a $600,000 budget amendment to create a safety program in Phillips.  These funds will be used for collaborative, community-driven, public-safety strategies and programs where community members will be able to work together to address community safety with their own proposals. 

Cultural District Safety Ambassadors: Authored a $3,000,000 budget amendment to develop and implement public safety pilot programming in the city’s seven Cultural Districts, which includes East Lake Street, Franklin Avenue East, and 38th Street. 

Let Everyone Advance With Dignity Program:  Authored a budget amendment to continue the programs work focused on the East Lake Street corridor. They provide harm reduction-based, intensive case management for individuals who commit law violations due to unmet behavioral health needs, homelessness, and extreme poverty.  Residents, businesses, and visitors of the East Lake Street Corridor will continue to see the LEAD outreach and case managers working with clients and connecting people to services. 

South Minneapolis Crime Prevention Specialist Position: Worked with City Staff to secure financial resources to fill a vacant Crime Prevention Specialist position for Central, Corcoran, and Powderhorn Park. This included a variety of meetings to secure funding and help with the interview and selection process. 

Behavioral Crisis Response Team: Expanded our current unarmed team to create a pathway to 24/7 access. This service provides crisis intervention, counseling, referrals and connection to support services. 

Truth and Reconciliation Process: Passed a Legislative Directive and funding to go over specifics of the process, set forth a work plan, and earmarked $265,00 for this work to begin in 2023. Authored an amendment to add an additional $550,000 for 2024. 

Hate Crime Prevention Program: Minneapolis has seen an increase in hate crimes in the last few years. I authored a $200,000 budget proposal that will provide the funding for an initiative that will include, but not be limited to, technical assistance and site analysis to support Minneapolis in addressing and preventing hate crimes. 

Violence Prevention Funding: Approved $2 million in funding for a community-driven and citywide approach to community safety (Increased street lighting, vacant lot cleanup, neighborhood beautification, community outreach, community building, education, employment, certification, trade opportunities, leadership development, public art, murals and more).

Street Outreach Contracts: Approved $550,000 for the Corcoran Neighborhood Organization and the Central Area Neighborhood Development Organization for coordinated efforts on violence prevention. 

Minneapolis Auto-Theft Prevention Program:  Passed a Budget Amendment to help reduce car theft with prevention and education. My intention is to help mark catalytic converters and place anti-theft screws on license plates to make them more difficult to steal. 

Needle Clean-Up Services: I worked with both the Regulatory Services Department and the Health Department to expand our needle clean-up services. 

Neighborhood Trash Pick-Up Program: Passed an amendment that will explore, design, and develop a neighborhood beautification and employment pathways program for unhoused community members, shelter residents, or those who are housing insecure to have an opportunity to get paid to clean up neighborhoods.

Youth Employment: Supported the Urban Scholars Program, which is a 12-week leadership and professional development summer program administered at various organizations by the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights. The program provides students from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds with a distinctive professional experience focused on gaining essential leadership skills and creating career pathways to positions of influence.

Minneapolis Fire Department: Approved $150,000 to the Minneapolis Fire Department to update computer systems in fire trucks to ensure personnel are quickly alerted of priority calls. 

Intergovernmental Relations: Amended the City’ Legislative Agenda to support the prohibition of people from possessing firearms if they have been found to pose a significant danger to themselves or others by possessing a firearm.

Looking Ahead:

Oversight on the Mayor’s Administration: Despite the City Council approving a variety of public safety budget amendments, Mayor Frey’s staff has publicly stated they are not sure they have the capacity to implement the public safety work approved by the City Council. I will ensure the Council has strong oversight to ensure these programs are on track and implemented. 

Gun Violence Public Health Emergency: I am currently leading this effort on the Council. My hope is to open up funding and program development for communities most impacted, designate areas that are severely impacted, change the environmental design of neighborhoods, and create an advisory group on gun violence prevention.

Improve our city’s traffic calming process: We need more staff and funding to ensure our residents and pedestrians are safe. It’s clear that our current system is broken and we should be prioritizing more projects with a community lens. 

9-1-1 Dispatch System: Revamp our current system  to ensure it is effective, reliable, and responsive. We deserve to call the right person in an emergency and have a reliable response time. 

Housing and Safety: They are interconnected. We must meet the basic needs of housing if we want to reduce crime. 

Restorative Justice: Assist our formerly incarcerated community members by creating job opportunities and pathways to homeownership.

Victim Support: Help community members impacted by gun violence, domestic abuse, and sexual assault through program development, funding initiatives, and ensuring our public safety initiatives center them. Establish a fund to help victims get back on their feet. 

Community Well-Being: Create and Invest in public community spaces that have showers, bathrooms, water fountains, wifi, and spaces to rest.