Minneapolis Urban League lays off more critical employees – the campaign continues…Donny Allen for President/CEO of the Minneapolis Urban League
“Cheryl Morgan-Spencer and I never saw eye-to-eye. But Ms. Spencer had her own way of doing things. She was a critical and important part of the Minneapolis Urban Leagues governmental engagement piece. Ms. Morgan-Spencer has established a releationship with the folks at the State Capitial that R.Scott Gray and the current board will never achieve.”
By Donald W. R. Allen,II – Editor in Chief/IBNN and USA Radical Black
Minneapolis, MN (IBNNNEWS)…On Friday, December 11, 2009 it was reported that the Minneapolis Urban League had laid off 3 more employees. IBNN wishes them the best and asks them to hold on to their dreams. Let’s do the math. The MUL Board of Directors cannot hold on to the real estate at the corner of Penn and Plymouth Avenue North with a “skeleton crew” inside the building.
Earlier this year, the Minneapolis Urban League hosted a community forum with the two finalists for the position of President/CEO of the Minneapolis Urban League. R. Scott Gray and Pamela Coaxum (Tucker) were seated at the long table in front of community members.
Insight News editor in chief and MUL board member Al McFarlane moderated the forum, asking participants to write questions on an index card to be read by Mr. McFarlane to the candidates. A funny thing happened to the cards on the way to the podium – “they didn’t get read.”
What I’m trying to say, if some of the questions that were written down were asked, it wouldn’t have mattered, R. Scott Gray and the usual suspects in north Minneapolis had already decided that Gray would be the new President of the Minneapolis Urban League.
Former Minneapolis Urban League board member Roxanne Givens, who was removed from the MUL board of directors in a banana republic process, consistently asked the MUL board to follow bylaws, which for the most part fell on deaf ears. Read about Ms. Givens in the stories: “Minneapolis Urban League Klan removes Roxanne Givens from Board” -June 17, 2009 and “National Urban League maintains silence in governance”-June 18, 2009.
R. Scott Gray was already tainted from his dealings with the Stairstep Foundation and Alfred Babington-Johnson. Johnson, who was invited by Gray to the Madison Urban League for a groundbreaking ceremony where he was tapped as the “keynote speaker” raised eyes of community stakeholders and finalist Pamela Coaxum.
Coaxum, saw the writing on the wall and on April 27, 2009, withdrew her name from consideration. Read the full story here.
While R.Scott Gray talked about “Leveraging the MUL property for funding,” it was apparent that this dude had no clue about business, real estate or the Helmsley Rule-Harry B. Helmsley (March 4, 1909 – January 4, 1997) was a real estate mogul who built a company that became one of the biggest property holders in the United States who always kept one property free and clear of debt.
My point is, the Minneapolis Urban League employees and the community have suffered enough at the hand of the organizations management and board of directors.
While the community suffers, the board sits passively, doing nothing rather than undertaking a fundamental re-structuring and getting down to business, which would allow it to fulfill its mission.
My vision for the Minneapolis Urban League is fueled by my passion and enthusiasm for the organization and the community it was established to serve. In addition to developing new funding streams, we need to look to community engagement, partnering with other established, successful organizations, and focusing on a host of other issues that I discuss in my 3-year plan to reorganize and revitalize the MUL.
Donny Allen for President/CEO of the Minneapolis Urban League (MUL)-My solution is the best solution!
I have been one of the most outspoken critics of the Minneapolis Urban League since 2007 . Unfortunately, my predictions about the fledgling social service agency have come to pass. Rather than watching this vital agency go under, this is my solution. My goals are simple: Re-hiring of all laid off staff; a re-structuring of departments and community engagement; raising $200 Million for the agency in 2010-2011. The Minneapolis Urban League must develop community benefits agreements with organizations that come into Minneapolis to build and create business entities.
Written by Donald W.R. Allen, II – Editor in Chief/IBNN
I have no business ties to the usual suspects in North Minneapolis – but what I do have is unlimited knowledge about non-profits, how they work and over 30 years of experience in marketing and public relations. In other words, I am the best chance that the Minneapolis Urban League has to rise above mediocrity.
Under my leadership, in two years the Minneapolis Urban League will have its own Credit Union; Employment Agency; and a Foundation to assist individuals in “true” business ventures, with professionals overseeing the MUL’s investments. NO MORE MONEY CRISIS.
The MUL will never again have to depend on one major funding source. I promise this to the community.
The Minneapolis Urban League has become a shell of an agency, providing fewer services and lacking direction. Without immediate restructuring, the MUL will be doomed to catastrophic failure.
As a member in good standing of the MUL, I offer a plan of action to bring the agency back to the days when it was a force to be reckoned with.
My plan consists of a one-year phased marketing plan, which will bring in $1 million dollars in cash donation in the first three months after I am hired.
This is about the process of business.
I believe, “Sound business principals can be applied to the Minneapolis Urban League while hiring staff that was cut due to less-than-professional budgeting and fund-raising planning and/or execution.” I will work closely with the development staff and existing programs by providing leadership and direction never before attained by the Minneapolis Urban League. If the St. Louis Urban League can capture $15 million dollars in Stimulus money, the MUL can do the same thing. It’s all about relationships.
I was asked, “What about the all articles you posted on IBNN about the Minneapolis Urban League? How is it that you now want to lead the organization you have so harshly criticized?
My reply is simple, “I have kept my eye on the Minneapolis Urban League because of my belief in the importance of its mission. I remember when the MUL was a staunch advocate for civil rights and economic development. I have watched the Urban League falter with dismay, knowing that this agency can do much better, and the citizens of the community desperately need it to do better.”
I offer a way forward.
This can only be a win-win situation for the Minneapolis Urban League.
Congressman Ellison – “Where are you?” National Urban League Writes National Leaders on Behalf of 27 Million Underemployed Americans!
Today at 11:35 a.m. on Facebook, the National Urban League delivered the following message:
The below letter outlining National Urban League’s plan for putting Americans back to work was sent to the following National Leaders:
Mr. Lawrence Summers, Director, National Economic Council
Honorable Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, U.S. Senate
Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives
Honorable Barbara Lee, Chair, Congressional Black Caucus, U.S. House of Representatives
November 24, 2009
Dear National Leaders,
I am writing to you on behalf of the over 27 million underemployed Americans in desperate need of full-time employment. This includes not only the 
unemployed, but also the marginally attached and those working part-time for economic reasons, all of whom are struggling to make ends meet during these difficult economic times. As you are well aware, the news that in October, the national unemployment rate exceeded ten percent for the first time since the early 1980s was a sobering wake-up for the leadership of this country even to the point of soliciting a call for a Jobs Summit to be held after the Thanksgiving holiday. While I applaud the Administration for publicly acknowledging the gravity of our nation’s employment situation, I would add that double-digit unemployment has been a reality for communities of color since last summer –for African Americans since August, 2008 and for Latinos since February, 2009.
As President and CEO of the National Urban League, the nation’s oldest and largest community-based movement devoted to empowering African Americans to enter the economic and social mainstream, I have firsthand knowledge of the tremendous obstacles these families have been facing, not just since national unemployment reached 10.2% in October, but for over a year now. In fact, demand for workforce development, business development and housing counseling services through the Urban League’s more than 100 affiliates located in 35 cities and the District of Columbia increased by 74 percent between 2006 and 2008. Our local affiliates are on the front lines of this jobs crisis and witness the devastating impact it is having on the individuals and families that walk through their doors. In response, the National Urban League went on record last fall drawing attention to the deepening unemployment crisis in urban America and calling for a second stimulus plan that would invest directly in job creation and training for the very communities we interact with and serve every day.
It is now a year later, and I am again calling on our nation’s leaders to invest in a long overdue plan for putting urban America back to work that is targeted, temporary and timely. The National Urban League’s Plan for Putting Americans Back to Work meets these criteria. Targeted because it provides solutions for communities with the highest rates of unemployment and the long-term unemployed who often face the greatest barriers to getting a job the longer they are without one. Temporary in that the recommended investments require less than a three year commitment. Timely because the bulk of the plan involves direct job creation as a means of bringing recovery to those most in need more quickly.
Most economists agree that the pace of recovery will be slow. Yet, the individuals to which this plan is targeted are often the last to experience the effects of even a more rapid economic recovery. Therefore, the National Urban League’s Plan for Putting Americans Back to Work is a comprehensive six-point plan to make a direct investment of $168 billion over 2 years to address the most urgent needs of American families in economic crisis by investing in direct job creation, job training for the chronically unemployed, greater access to credit for small businesses and additional counseling relief for those caught in the backlog of the foreclosure process. The plan also proposes tax incentives for clean energy equipment manufacturers who employ individuals in the targeted communities. The plan proposes to do these things in the following ways:
1. Fund Direct Job Creation by offering financial support to cities, counties, states, universities, community colleges and non-profit community based organizations to hire the personnel necessary to provide critical services in communities across the nation. Eligibility for support will be based on local unemployment rates with a focus on the long-term unemployed. At least twice in American history, the government has responded to high rates of unemployment with investments in direct job creation – the 1935 Works Progress Administration, when nearly one-fourth of the labor force was out of work, and the Emergency Jobs and Unemployment Assistance Act of 1974, which established Title VI of CETA as a temporary countercyclical employment program at a time when unemployment was quickly approaching 9 percent. We propose an investment of $150 billion to create 3 million jobs, a number that represents only half of the current unemployed with a high school diploma or less.
2. Expand and Expedite the Small Business Administration’s Community Express Loan Program through a reduction of the interest rate to 1 percent targeted for those businesses located in areas where the local unemployment rate exceeds the state average. A ten-fold expansion of the program (from $1 billion to $10 billion) should make credit available to an additional 50,000 small businesses nationwide.
3. Create Green Empowerment Zones in areas where at least 50 percent of the population has an unemployment rate that is higher than the state average. Manufacturers of solar panels and wind turbines that open plants in high unemployment areas will, for a period of three years, be eligible for a zero federal income tax rate and a zero capital gains tax under the condition that they hire and retain, for a minimum of three years, at least half of their workforce from the local area.
4. Expand the Hiring of Housing Counselors Nationwide by investing $500 million to fund housing counseling agencies nationwide to help delinquent borrowers work with their loan servicers to secure more affordable mortgages. Over the past 18 months more than $400 million in federal funds have been invested by the Administration to help mitigate the mortgage crisis through housing counseling and, according to a recent report by the Urban Institute, borrowers facing foreclosure are 60% more likely to hold onto their homes if they receive counseling and receive loan modifications with average monthly payments $454 lower than those who did not see counselors.
5. Expand the Youth Summer Jobs Program for 2010 by investing $5-7 billion to employ 5 million teens. While the unemployment rate for African-American youth is over 40 percent, the employment population ratio makes clearer the desperate situation faced by many urban youth. Since the late 1990s, this number has declined from a high of 33 percent down to 15 percent, and labor force participation for this group is now at a record low of 26 percent. A critical factor in eliminating racial and socio-economic disparities in unemployment is providing a solid foundation upon which African American youth can build positive future labor market expectations and experiences.
6. Create 100 Urban Jobs Academies to Implement an Expansion of the Urban Youth Empowerment Program (UYEP) to employ and train the chronically unemployed. UYEP, a four year demonstration project created in partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor in 2004, is a youth career preparation initiative designed for at-risk, out-of-school, and adjudicated youth and young adults between the ages of 18 and 24. With 27 Urban League affiliate sites and a total of $29.3 million, the program served 3,900 youth, 65 percent of whom either had job placements (paying an average wage of $9.32/hour) or completed their high school diploma or GED. Two hundred participants were placed in postsecondary schools or college upon completion of their secondary education. Scaling this program up to 100 sites would more than triple the program at a cost of $108.5 million.
At a time of the year when we traditionally give thanks and prepare to share generously with those around us, the American people are both frustrated and disappointed. When the financial industry was hemorrhaging, there was great urgency in devising the TARP plan for its rescue. Despite the ambivalence of most Americans with regards to spending billions of dollars to bail out the very businesses they felt had previously taken advantage of them, they understood the need to take swift and deliberate action to avoid a major national, or even global, financial crisis. We ask that the same urgency be given to the people experiencing a personal financial crisis in cities throughout this country. Recognizing the tremendous amount of work that is required to implement a plan of this magnitude in the most efficient and beneficial manner, I make myself available to meet with you to discuss the ideas proposed herein.
Sincerely,
Marc H. Morial
President and Chief Executive Officer
National Urban League
Time to Declare “Peace” on Youth Violence. The National Urban League makes a statement?
It’s interesting that the National Urban League is starting to address disparities among the Black youth of America. The St. Louis Urban League in cue to receive over $15 million in Stimulus dollars – what has happened to the Minneapolis Urban League, who reported at Wednesdays Board meeting that the Greater Twin Cities United Way will drastically cut funding to the fledgling social service agency. The Minneapolis Urban League will be cutting several jobs today(10/30). To those hard working staff members who lost their jobs at a once thriving flagship social service agency, we wish you the best and hope “change” will come in the form of “process with solutions” at the Minneapolis Urban League.
“With a commitment to solutions and no ears to listen, the Minneapolis Urban League continues to troll in deep water with a boat to big to keep float.”
The message falling on deaf ears from Marc H. Morial – President and CEO, National Urban League
If you’re reading this in your local urban newspaper, you probably encountered at least one story about youth violence in your community before finding your way to this column. But wading through reports of violence in the news pales beside the daily real life experiences of many young people across this nation. According to a recently released Justice Department report, “More than 60 percent of the nation’s youth have been exposed to violence within the last year. Nearly 1 in 2 was physically assaulted at least once, with more than 1 in 10 injured in an assault.”
While incidents like the 1999 Columbine massacre which caused the deaths of 13 people or the 2007 Virginia Tech rampage which took the lives of 32 make international headlines, we are in the grips of a largely silent epidemic of youth violence that is endangering the lives of hundreds of thousands of children across this country every year.
A few weeks ago, the nation was riveted by a YouTube video of the senseless beating death of Derrion Albert, a Chicago high school honor student. Derrion was attacked on his way home from school as he innocently walked through a crowd of rival gang members. According to the New York Times, “Close to 70 students have been murdered [in Chicago] since the beginning of the 2007 school year.”
This level of violence is exceptional by any standard, but sadly, it is replicated at equally unacceptable levels in many of our major cities. As Attorney General Holder said during his recent visit to Chicago to address this issue, “Youth violence is not a Chicago problem any more than it is a black problem, a white problem or a Hispanic problem. It is an American problem.”
A problem this big calls all of us to action. In recent years, we declared “war” on drugs and “war” on terrorism. Today, I think it’s time we declare “peace” on youth violence. I was pleased that Holder and Education Secretary, Arne Duncan went to Chicago to begin what they called “a sustained national conversation” about youth violence in response to the Derrion Albert murder. Holder also announced a request for $24 million in next year’s budget for community-based prevention programs such as Ceasefire and Project Safe Neighborhoods. But stopping and preventing youth violence will take more than money. And it is about more than violence.
While young people who commit violent acts must ultimately be held accountable for their crimes, we cannot ignore the role that poverty, parenting, poor schools, guns, drugs, gangs and the lack of opportunity play in this on-going tragedy. We must invest both more money and more of ourselves in solving these problems if we want to dig out the roots of youth violence. As someone said to me recently, if we can find the votes and the money for a $700 billion bailout of Wall Street, we ought to be able to summon the will and the resources to save our kids.’
The Minneapolis Urban League in trouble…layoff’s and program doors shut next?
IBNN Editors Note: Residents of Minneapolis should read closely the messages sent out in the local Black press that attempt to position this organization as one on the move up, when in fact troubles continue to linger. IBNN has written favorable stories and not-so favorable stories about the Minneapolis Urban League (MUL). Since the Minneapolis Urban League is a membership organization, under the color of law, how will the MUL handle the possible over-throw of the current board to protect “the membership’s $16 million dollar investment on the corner of Penn and Plymouth Avenue North?” If you recall – it was the Minneapolis Urban League management who decided to release great employees in favor of routing dollars to ACORN home foreclosure counseling, among other things. So far the National Urban League has not returned one call to IBNN in over a year…
Under the Minnesota Law – “We” (members in good standing) have the sole responsibility to seek out competent board members and management to continue the organizations ongoing commitment to the community.
Originally posted in The Minneapolis Story
At 5:15 p.m., today, Thursday, 9-17-09, Minneapolis Urban League Branch President Scott Gray announced, in closed session, the new austerity: 10% salary reduction across the board; termination of ten employees within 30 days; and an indication that the staff of the Urban League Street Academy would go on part time employee status (thus losing their benefits).
Ever since the sell-outs kicked Nellie Stone Johnson and me (Ron Edwards) out 20 years ago, when I was the President of the Urban League with 118 employees, they have cannibalized the organization, reducing it from the 118 employees then to what will be less than 20 employees now.
We show how this got started in Chapter 14 of The Minneapolis Story. (The Book)
Unconscious Incompetence “It will never have the same meaning anymore”
Okay, I know everyone is sick of hearing about the Minneapolis Urban League and the miss-steps the organization has made as relates to among other things, their annual “membership” meeting.
But wait!
It gets funnier. Today I received something that gave me a chuckle: the first-ever email addressed to all MUL members asking if we wanted to attend the PGA Golf tournament.
The unedited email, sent by MUL-president R. Scott Gray’s executive assistant read:
MUL MEMBERS!
Do YOU like the sport of GOLF?
Would you be interested in the opportunity of attending the 91st PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday (Aug. 10-12) of next week?
If so, be one of the first 10 lucky members to respond to tickets@mul.org with the day of your choice (one day only), and we will leave two grounds passes for you at the Front Desk of the MUL’s Headquarters Office, located at 2100 Plymouth Avenue No.
# # #
In the format of a hip-hop radio station give-away, members were asked to respond to this fine opportunity to see “Tiger, Tiger, Tiger Woods y’all.”
Of course, not being able to resist the opportunity to reply to ALL of the members whose addresses were in plain view (someone needs to teach the MUL about email etiquette), I promptly replied as follows: Read more
The Minneapolis Urban League continues an unknown “process” to many
The Independent Business News Network (IBNN) editor in chief Don Allen has been covering the “process” of the Minneapolis Urban League for over two years. Repeated requests for board minutes and a list of current board members have not been answered. Last night (7/27), the Minneapolis Urban League held their annual meeting, without the glitz of a traditional annual meeting; this meeting was strategic meeting that left some community members wondering about the process for board nominations. Will the United Way or other MUL granting agencies be interested in a process that leaves the community “out of the loop?”
Minneapolis, MN…On Monday, July 27, 2009 the Minneapolis Urban League held their annual meeting. IBNN’s editor and chief Don Allen questioned MUL board chair person Cathy Wassberg on what was the process to alert MUL members about the meeting and if the MUL has sent out notices to members about the board meeting. Wassberg answered, “We adhered to the bylaws and notified members that our annual meeting was today.”
- Year-to-date, the Minneapolis Urban League has not provided a list of current board members or copies of bylaws.
What comes in to question is who was notified and why the Minneapolis Urban League did not send out any information about the process for the community to be actively involved in the board selection process. Wassberg went on to say, “The procedure for nominating a potential board person was to submit a request in writing for review.” No information was provided on how members or the community was notified about the annual meeting or the “process” to elect board candidates from the floor.
- IBNN attests that information was distributed to select members of the MUL and no information to the community about the process of how to elect or submit for consideration a new MUL board candidate. Allen, being a member of the MUL did not receive any notification. Also sources tell IBNN that community members that have not paid their dues to the MUL received notice of this meeting, some for the first time in years.
This process by the Minneapolis Urban League has been validated in a story last week published in the Minnesota Spokesman-Record titled, “Swirl of controversy envelops Minneapolis Urban League board” by Charles Hallman Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, originally posted 7/22/2009. Read it here: (http://www.spokesman-recorder.com/news/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=97914&sID=4&ItemSource=L).
The Minneapolis Urban League must be held accountable if not by the National Urban League, the Minnesota Secretary of State.
IBNN’s editor in chief said, “After attending the MUL annual meeting as a member of the MUL and watching the process become even more complex, I wonder will there ever be a chance to introduce solutions to the problems that have troubled the north Minneapolis social service agency?”
Sources say that MUL president R. Scott Gray announced to the board that the MUL needed $10,000 for Family Day activities. Not one board member came forward to offer even a dollar towards the event at the time of the meeting.
Allen says, “An agency like the Minneapolis Urban League should have board members that can contribute to community events like the MUL Family Day to assist the MUL in these hard economic times. The MUL continues to pay for “no direction” advertising in a local north Minneapolis newspaper whose editor and chief is on the MUL board…can we say conflict of interest?”
Allen has been a vocal critic of the Minneapolis Urban League but has also written favorable articles about the Minneapolis flagship social service agency in Twin City Business and ArticlesBase.com.
Comments are welcomed at info@ibnn.org.
NAACP Celebrates 100…Continue to R.I.P., there’s a lot of Crap going on out here…where you guys at?”
In Minnesota the NAACP is virtually invisible. While trying to build capacity, the local chapter has been plagued by mismanagement of people, places and things to include funds. The video below is a prime example of how the NAACP is viewed and the level of disrespect directed towards the organization and Black people as a whole. Sometimes you wonder who is responsible for the catastrophic failure of Black organizations (locally and nationally) – sometimes all you have to do is look at the brothers or sisters sitting at the table…
The following story about the NAACP was sent to IBNN. Sound familiar? We didn’t think so…
NAACP Celebrates 100 Years…
Founded on February 12, 1909 – the NAACP is the nation’s oldest, largest and most widely recognized grassroots-based civil rights organization. It’s more than half-million members and supporters throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors. Read more
National Urban League maintains silence in governance
Like the Republican Party of the United States, the National Urban League and a large number of its affiliates have become antiquated, old and process-less. The needs of the community are replaced by heinous business practices that leave the community wondering, “Who do I go to for real help.”
by Donald W.R. Allen,II Editor in Chief – IBNN
On yesterday, (Wednesday, June 17, 2009) – IBNN reported the Minneapolis Urban League (MUL), its management and Board 
of Directors has “removed” Minneapolis business icon and member of Minneapolis’ first family, the Givens family, Roxanne Givens from the MUL board.
Sources within the Minneapolis Urban League’s have stated in public that, Ms. Givens was not a part of the “click” and used sound business practices in board meetings which threatened the “livelihood” of particular board members who have personal agendas and claim to some “false since of power.” Ms. Givens “business strength” was a threat to board members that could never accomplish the things Roxanne has in such a short time. In the streets, those folks are called “haters.”
The move is very unusual do to the fact that just 30 days ago, the Minneapolis Urban League could not provide you with a list of board members and when they did, current board members didn’t know who was active and inactive. Why was Ms. Givens focused on when other board members were non-existent?
In a returned phone call from the National Urban League on yesterday, (the first returned call ever, not only IBNN but to local community members too), a lower level manager, who was upset that IBNN was recording and documenting every word, grew impatient and provided no details on the League’s policies, procedures and couldn’t tell me the name of the Minneapolis Urban League Board Chairman.
The Minneapolis Urban League continues to operate on a shoestring budget pointing out the cuts in program funding, the economy and other excuses that seem far from the truth.
Fact 1: The Minneapolis Urban League has not had a major capital fund raising campaign since Jackie Cherryhomes jumped in to assist then MUL president Clarence Hightower to build capacity for the $16 million dollar property on the corner of Penn and Plymouth. (An estimated 10-12 years ago.)
Fact 2: The Minneapolis Urban League board continues to move covertly as it pertains to board meetings; information to paid members (MUL membership dropped over 80% from 2007 to 2009 estimated members in 2007 were 250 and in 2009 estimated 45 members). Current MUL paid members have never received letters or membership cards welcoming or acknowledging new members with a list of scheduled meeting or a monthly newsletter updating paid members and the general public about events at the social service agency.
This is something that the United Way should be very concerned about.
Without distribution of successful measurable outcomes, how can the agency truly serve and advocate for the community in accordance with its mission? No attempts by MUL outreach have gained local or national attention other than the departure of former President Clarence Hightower and last week’s television interview with the MUL’s “procedure-less” outreach coordinator about Digital Television?
Give the community a break, people are dying in the streets and all you can get coverage on is Digital Television? There’s a huge problem with “process” at the agency.
This morning, new MUL president R. Scott Gray is in route to meet with the City of Minneapolis’ CPED (Community Planning and Economic Development) in hopes to save the $600,000 in foreclosure funds that were tagged for 25 foreclosed homes.
My question to the National Urban League would be, “When did the League become foreclosure re-hab specialists?”
Secondly, in north Minneapolis the average home is 1500 square feet. The re-hab cost at a bare bottom price is roughly $80 per square foot. Sources say the project with the MUL would put them in charge of actively remodeling 25 homes in Minneapolis.
Let’s do the math: 1500 sq. ft. x $80 = $120,000 per home x 25= $3 million?
My question would then be, “what short-sighted nitwit accepted $600,000 from the City without factoring in administrative costs, cost per square foot, call for bid costs and other derivatives included in the process?”
The Minneapolis Urban League powered by its current Board of Directors and new President who lacks the competence or skills for particular tasks have become the laughing stock of the non-profit, business and educational community.
Unfortunately, the people who lose in this game are the employees that work very hard while being pimped by the Board and management.
Minneapolis Urban League “Klan” removes Roxanne Givens from Board
In a Banana Republic move, today (Wednesday, June 17, 2009) the Minneapolis Urban League board has removed Ms. Roxanne Givens from the MUL Board of Directors.
Ms. Givens comes from one Minneapolis’ most prestigious Black families, the Givens Family who has been instrumental in forming KMOJ-FM Radio, and other interests.
In a call to the National Urban League this morning, Mark Morial and Herman Lessard were not available for comment (as usual).
In January 2009, Roxanne’s daughter was brutally murdered and Ms. Givens took some time off to grieve and to take care of the child her daughter left behind. She (Ms. Givens) missed a few board meetings. The current MUL board decided to remove her in a power play not realizing that she alone has more pull than any other board member currently seated – that becomes a threat for some of the currently seated “poverty pimps.”
My question to the Minneapolis Urban League is, “Where are your other board members?” Secondly, what will be your corrective actions in the heinous matter? Last, “What the hell were you thinking?
Community members are in outrage including former MUL board members who say, “This organization has gone too far.”
More to come.
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