Lake Street Lift invests in community-focused public safety services
Our new Lake Street Lift initiative has been busy boosting Lake Street businesses, arts, and places with exciting new events, activations, and business resource opportunities – all to support the economic health and vitality of the corridor. One key element to cultivating a more vibrant and thriving Lake Street is ensuring the safety of everyone who lives, works, and visits the community.
Over the past five months, and with the guidance of the Lake Street Council’s community committee, Lake Street Lift has made $250,000 in direct investments in the following organizations to provide neighborhood public safety services, including:
T.O.U.C.H. Outreach for the expansion of violence interruption work.
Pillsbury United Communities’ LEAD program, supporting case management capacity.
The Family Partnership for case management capacity and sex trafficking-focused street outreach.
GMCC for support with safety-related events and case management capacity.
Fortune Relief and Youth Empowerment Organization (FRAYEO) for violence prevention work and mental health efforts focused on East African youth.
Ayo’s Somatics for a four-part workshop series about de-escalation and healing.
We will keep you informed about our continued community-focused public safety work with partners across the Lake Street corridor. This funding was made possible by the State of Minnesota and the City of Minneapolis as part of Lake Street Lift.
ICYMI: Meet Jon, our new community safety navigator
We were excited to add Jon Edwards, our new community safety navigator, to the Lake Street Council team in February!
In this new role, Jon will work together with Lake Street's businesses and nonprofits, in addition to helping community members respond to security and livability challenges, connecting people to resources like our new graffiti mitigation program, managing the Community Safety Services program, and all while advocating for our community. He has deep roots in South Minneapolis and is excited to work with members of this community to make Lake Street the best it can be. You can find Jon at the Lake Street Community Safety Center located at 2228 East Lake Street on Mondays and Thursdays.
Thank you to the City of Minneapolis for providing funding for the Community Safety Navigator position.
