Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges and U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison will take Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro on a walking tour of the city’s newly designated Promise Zone.
HUD recently added Minneapolis and other cities to its Promise Zone program, which identifies “economically struggling communities for special government attention as they work together to reduce poverty and crime, increase economic and educational opportunities and attract private investment.”
Today Castro is in town to check out the Minneapolis zone, which has these boundaries:
Queen Avenue North (western), Mississippi River (eastern), Memorial Parkway/45th Avenue North (northern), and Bassett’s Creek (southern).
Today’s walking tour will start at Dupont and West Broadway, and end at the EMERGE Career and Technology Center, 1936 N. Emerson Ave.
City officials say their goals for the Minneapolis Promise Zone (MPZ) are:
- Reduce racial inequities in public services and institutions that contribute to the ongoing economic exclusion of the MPZ residents and meaningfully engage residents in the decisions affecting their community.
- Reduce serious and violent crime by curtailing gun violence, strengthening community-law enforcement relationships, and addressing youth and domestic violence.
- Improve cradle-to-career outcomes for MPZ students, thereby reducing the racial achievement gap.
- Build a more inclusive economy in the MPZ, ensuring dollars are reinvested in the community and that goods, arts, and services are available to MPZ residents and visitors.
- Create jobs for MPZ residents through transit development and business growth incentives and craft specific strategies for youth employment.
- Promote stable housing for all MPZ residents by increasing the availability, affordability, and quality of housing stock and better coordinating support services.
