Minneapolis failed to track millions in violence prevention funding. It just approved even more.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Minneapolis City Council signed off on $800,000 in funding for violence intervention contracts with small grassroot groups and organizations last week despite ongoing questions about management, administration, and oversight of the public safety programs. Court and public records obtained by the FOX 9 Investigators over the last year reveal more questions about how the funding was used. 

City of Minneapolis awarding another $800K in violence prevention contracts

The backstory:

The city’s Neighborhood Safety Department and the violence prevention organizations doing the work on the streets of Minneapolis have been under growing scrutiny because of lawsuits, allegations of mismanagement and heated arguments at city hall. Multiple city council members said they have no confidence in the Neighborhood Safety Department to oversee and administer the work.

 "It is about addressing the department that has utterly failed our residents to keep them safe," said Minneapolis City Council Member Jason Chavez during a recent debate.

In an interview with the FOX 9 Investigators, Community Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette acknowledged the ongoing questions about how the funding is being used and tracked. 

But Barnette, who is also serving as the interim director of the Neighborhood Safety Department, applauded the work and said there will be better oversight of the funding and contracts because of a recent legal settlement. 

"I think what we have through the process, we have the right vendors," Barnette said. 

Dig deeper:

Records obtained by the FOX 9 Investigators through a series of data practices requests reveal organizations contracted to provide violence-prevention services that go beyond traditional policing have routinely submitted invoices for tens of thousands of dollars over the past few years without providing detailed timesheets or descriptions of the work.

That information is required as part of the contract.

"I would definitely call it a broken system," said Luana Nelson-Brown, the former head of the Neighborhood Safety Department. Nelson-Brown resigned in January after spending less than two years in that role. During that time, her department was accused of mismanagement, conflicts of interest and improperly withholding funding.

"It was a system that, in the way that it was developed, makes the environment ripe for corruption," said Nelson-Brown.

Emails obtained by the FOX 9 Investigators show Nelson-Brown withheld payments from some vendors after saying expenses were not properly logged and submitted.

"I stopped paying invoices because there was no documentation," explained Nelson-Brown. "And it is not that I stopped paying it, I would not pay them until they gave me documentation, which is literally my job to do."

Many of the invoices obtained by the FOX 9 Investigators listed expenses for "personnel" or "supplies" but failed to include any descriptions or receipts.

W Berry Consulting LLC submitted invoices totaling more than $270,000 during one contract cycle for "Outreach and engagement/program support and supplies." It also listed expenses for accounting, IT, clothing, food support, rent and housing.

The city has not produced a single receipt submitted by the company.

Weston Berry Belton, the director of W Berry Consulting, told the FOX 9 Investigators he has always been in compliance with Minneapolis policies and procedures. 

He declined requests to provide documentation of his expenses.

Concerns about Berry’s organization were first raised in a lawsuit filed against the city of Minneapolis in 2023. 

Berry Belton did not provide "any documentation" when he submitted invoices for more than $50,000, according to court records. 

In that lawsuit, the city was accused of continuing to pay violence prevention contractors after it "intentionally or ineptly failed" to request proper documentation.

Despite those previous concerns, the council approved a new violence prevention contract for W Berry Consulting last week for up to $207,612

Minneapolis auditing previous violence prevention contracts

What we know:

The FOX 9 Investigators confirmed the city is currently auditing previous violence-prevention projects as part of a settlement agreement reached last year.

The city "admitted it did not have a regular practice of requiring violence prevention contractors to provide documentation" for the invoices they submitted, according to court records in that case.

"The city was paying over $70 million of invoices without getting any backup for the invoices -- no canceled checks, no receipts for expenses, just invoices saying, ‘pay me the money.’ And they did pay the money," said Minneapolis attorney Dean Thomson who filed the 35-page lawsuit.

Thomson found a violence prevention group called T.O.U.C.H. regularly submitted timecards for staff members paid $30 an hour without identifying a single individual. 

"We don't even know who the violence interrupters are, whether they are real fictitious or what their backgrounds are," Thomson said.

T.O.U.C.H. founder and executive director Muhammad Abdul-Ahad said his organization previously withheld identifying information to protect the privacy of violence interrupters walking high-crime corridors to provide a visible presence and keep the peace.

He invited the FOX 9 Investigators into the organization’s East Lake Street headquarters to demonstrate how T.O.U.C.H. has updated its accounting and tracking procedures.

His staff members now check in on computers and take iPads out into the field to track their community interactions in real-time.

"Everything is here. It is very savvy," Abdul-Ahad said. "Everything is electronic. So, everybody has bank accounts and different things of that nature. So, that really helps to be able to have this system."

Barnette said that kind of data reporting is now required as part of the legal settlement. 

In the settlement, the City agreed to require receipts or canceled checks of payments before approving reimbursements. 

Violence interrupters will also be required to describe what they are billing for during each calendar month. Additionally, the city promised more rigorous contract bidding procedures to ensure fairer outcomes when selecting organizations to fund.

"I think when you are data-driven, you are transparent about what you want, you let people know what the expectations are… I am hoping that that gets us where we have better outcomes that people can see and understand the work that's being done," Barnette said.

By the numbers:

The city approved just under $800,000 in new contracts last week after heated debates at city hall, allegations of mismanagement and a failed effort to move violence prevention efforts to Hennepin County.

The following groups were awarded contracts:

• Urban Youth Conservation: $207,612
• W Berry Consulting: $207,612
• EMERGE Community Development: $173,010
• Sabathani Community Center, $138,408
• The Man Up Club: $73,356

The funding will target youth and group violence intervention efforts with the providers doing direct outreach to the city’s most at-risk and violence prone individuals.

What's next:

The new contracts approved by the city council will go into effect on April 1, guaranteeing continued violence intervention services in Minneapolis under the oversight of the Neighborhood Safety Department. 

The city is currently going through a similar contract bidding process with Violence Interrupter groups including T.O.U.C.H.

"We are building that trust and being able to bridge those gaps and showing up in the same spaces and community and saying like, ‘hey, we are not going anywhere.’ You know? You know, we are part of the solution. We can't say that we are going to fix the whole problem. But guess what? It does start with us," said Abdul-Ahad.

MinneapolisCrime and Public Safety