Minneapolis Forward: Community Action Now Coalition Outlines Recommendations To Help Minneapolis Rebuild

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Entire blocks of Minneapolis remain in ruins after the riots that erupted in the days following George Floyd's death.

"More than 1,025 buildings according to preliminary estimates and more than 1300 businesses," Mayor Jacob Frey said of the damage. "Many of which were owned by Black, Indigenous, People of Color, including our immigrant community."

The Minneapolis Forward: Community Now Coalition, which relies on input from Twin Cities foundations, businesses, and community originations, identified eight areas of action to address to help the City of Minneapolis recover.

Four of them are in the first round of recommendations: business retention, prioritizing black, indigenous, and people of color owned businesses, and supporting entrepreneurs who invest in the community, and supporting real estate owners or tenants whose properties were damaged.

The coalition said it's not just the civil unrest that has caused damage, but also the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are several recommendations for each action area, including ideas like finding temporary spaces for businesses who have displaced along Lake Street, and creating a standardized assessment tool to get feedback from businesses owners on their needs.

Another recommendation was to create customized financial support for businesses.

"I think the recommendations this group has come up with will really create a great opportunity for us to shift the paradigm and change the conversation," Minneapolis City Council Vice President Andrea Jenkins said.

The coalition will continue to meet throughout the month to discuss recommendations for the remaining areas of action.

The coalition said some of the iniitiaves were already underway. The group will continue to meet throughout the month to discuss recommendations for the remaining areas of action. For more information, click here.