MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Several crime prevention organizations say they’ve stopped doing outreach on the streets of Minneapolis because the city hasn’t paid them in weeks.
The groups, including We Push for Peace, have been patrolling high crime neighborhoods under the direction of the city’s Office of Violence Prevention. Organizers would talk to gang members and try to ease tensions with rival gangs, among other things.
We Push for Peace founder Trey Pollard says most of the group’s workers rely on a steady paycheck.
“They can’t continuously keep putting their lives in jeopardy out there, and walking around from 9 o’clock at night to 3 o’clock in the morning,” Pollard said. “It’s been a month now, and we have yet to receive a payment - you can’t expect us to keep doing the work.”
Fourth Ward Council Member Phillipe Cunningham blamed the situation on the city’s inefficient process for paying contractors, the Star Tribune reported. He said his office is working to speed up the outreach payments and hopes the matter will be resolved soon.
The community-based groups have been conducting outreach during an especially violent year in Minneapolis, which has seen homicides double from this time in 2019 and shootings increase about 70%.
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