Urban Ventures, a faith-based south Minneapolis non-profit has been in the news twice lately.
First, their "Colin Powell Center" is slated to receive $4.2 million of taxper funding through Pawlenty's (proposed) budget. The Colin Powell center, named after the Republican politician, has apparently impressed the current Republican state government, anti-glbt rhetoric and all. It's my understanding that this is expected to be part of the city's bonding, which normally happens through a prioritization process at the local level. The Urban Ventures request has not been prioritized at the local level. http://www.budget.state.mn.us/budget/capital/2004/gov_slides040114.pdf Second, Urban Ventures made the news regarding literature that children bring home from school. Here's the article: Minneapolis may ban nonschool leaflets http://www.startribune.com/stories/362/4317674.html Excerpts from the article: Urban Ventures, a south Minneapolis nonprofit group, runs a summer soccer program. Practices include a 10-minute "chalk talk" by coaches. It's aimed at building character but might include a Bible verse, said Mark-Peter Lundquist, Urban Venture's program director. But a complaint from the parent of a soccer player led the district to bar Urban Ventures from distributing leaflets through schools last fall for its traveling basketball team tryouts -- cutting in half the number of kids turning out, Lundquist said. That turned into a temporary prohibition against all outside leaflets while the policy was being revised. Cheri Reese, the district's communication director, said it was growing uncomfortable with its lack of knowledge about some of the groups for which leaflets were going out. Giles said he has grown increasingly uncomfortable with the current selective approval policy. Another issue, he said, is that the district could be exposed to negligence claims for not looking into an after-school activity because parents assume the district approves what leaflets promote. David Piehl Central __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/signingbonus REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
