[Mpls] %th Ward Council Elections

[Dennis Plante]

Greta commentary in this week's Insight News....

dennis plante
lind-bohanon


Below is an editorial published today in Insight News in response to the 
recent political criticism of the PEACE Foundation:

Guest Commentary

By Michelle Martin

PEACE Foundation Director and Co-Founder

Like any movement seeking change, the PEACE Foundation has faced its share 
of obstacles.  Recently, Council Member Natalie Johnson-Lee has leveled 
public criticism against the PEACE Foundation. She is currently running 
against fellow City Council Member Don Samuels for election to the newly 
formed 5th Ward City Council seat. Samuels happens to be one of the PEACE 
Foundation's co-founders. Considering that Johnson Lee was one of the first 
PEACE Foundation supporters  she attended its launch, signed on as a 
partnering policy-maker, and even gave a financial contribution  the level 
of criticism she now wages is political and unfortunate.

Johnson Lee suggests that the PEACE Foundation is redundant, saying: "Our 
role should not be to create organizations that compete with the community; 
our job is to strengthen the organizations that are already in the 
community." This criticism is clearly politically motivated in light of 
statements she has made regarding how hard she fights not to give money to 
the same old agencies in N. Mpls.  Notwithstanding this blatant 
contradiction, she misses the point. The PEACE Foundation was established 
specifically to do something no other organization has yet done--take the 
issue of isolated, local violence to the broader community and invite 
individuals and organizations to support the efforts of hardworking North 
Minneapolis residents.

To this end, we are creating a broader resource base, attracting new funding 
and recruiting new volunteer resources.  Individuals and organizations from 
throughout Minneapolis and beyond have readily answered this call to action, 
and are committing their time, energy and funds to this problem.  Our 
intention has never been to replace the work of existing organizations, but 
to facilitate collaboration between them and share with them our expanding 
resource base.

While these political maneuverings have grabbed the media's attention, the 
good work of the people participating under the PEACE Foundation banner is 
important and should be recognized.

Volunteers from around the community have come together with Northside 
residents to host street parties during the summer at the sites of the worst 
crime and violence in North Minneapolis. Hundreds of neighbors from these 
violence-weary blocks have come out to meet their neighbors
and take first steps toward organizing much-needed block clubs.

Plans are underway to host the first annual, city-wide PEACE Games where 
thousands of youth participants and adult volunteers will hold sporting 
competitions, artistic showcases, youth forums and community festivals on 
the north side.

And most recently, the PEACE Foundation has forged a relationship with Urban 
Youth Conservation, an outreach organization made up of ex-gang members, to 
implement Project Take Back to reach out to youth in the drug trade and 
offer them opportunity to reclaim their lives.

The PEACE Foundation will continue to build this movement of goodwill, and 
will not be distracted or derailed by the political realities of an election 
year. Our work will continue until neighbors in McKinley and Hawthorne can 
expect the same level of public safety as those in Fulton and Linden Hills, 
until children walking to Jordan Community School no longer fear a stray 
bullet, and until youth come to the corner of 26th and Knox to buy candy at 
the corner store and not to sell drugs.