This is following up on my post here yesterday (reprinted on Lloydletta):
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com/2005/06/colin-powell-in-town-to-raise-money.html
Neal St Anthony does a puff piece on the Colin Powell Youth Center:
http://www.startribune.com/dynamic/story.php?template=print_a&story=5443076
From the article:
Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Angus Wurtele, John Thompson, Bryson Holliman, Dick
Pettingill and a couple of dozen other supporters and prospects met
privately with Powell. They then joined Urban Ventures staff, volunteers
and about 150 other business and community members for a rousing
presentation in the intimate Urban Ventures auditorium.
John Turnipseed, once a south Minneapolis street criminal and derelict
father, couldn't believe he was introducing one of America's best-known
statesmen and most-admired leaders.
"I don't want my story replicated," said Turnipseed, who now counsels teens
and dads on the virtues of education, work and generational accountability.
"I grew up in a family that created the Bloods street gang around here. We
cost the state a lot of money," he said. "Now we're fixing men here."
Several teenagers and adults said the counseling, tutoring and support they
received at Urban Ventures made the difference in helping them reject
drugs, stay in school or reject criminal life and return to school.
This is something of an ecumenical-business effort that spans all faiths
and reaches a variety of people ranging from Mexican to Somali.
Erickson, a former Methodist youth minister, has spent 38 years working and
living in the Central neighborhood. Erickson, who is paid $55,000 annually
to run an outfit with a $2.5 million budget, is assisted by a couple of
retired business executives, Ralph Bruins and Ed Lucas, whose passion for
making a buck was superseded years ago by a desire to work for a nonprofit
that would target at-risk kids for graduation and success.
And Cristo Rey, a Jesuit-run high school, has inked a deal with Urban
Ventures and several area businesses to open a school at the Powell Center
in which neighborhood kids effectively will finance their four-days-a-week
education with internships paid by participating companies.
Anthony ends with:
Hats off to the sharp investors in the Colin Powell Center. The return on
this investment will be incalculable in saved lives and benefits to
community and country.
Neal St. Anthony can be reached at 612-673-7144 or
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
I called Neal St Anthony - and told him I thought the piece was really just
a puff piece - and didn't address the issues of whether UV's program is
really going to end up doing the good they claim. I'm all in favor of
having programs like this in the inner city, but I don't think UV is a good
organization to run them. Art Erickson, who is President of UV has a long
history of anti-gay activity in the neighborhood. City Pages covered some
of this in 1996:
http://citypages.com/databank/17/833/article3085.asp
While it is clear that Erickson and Bruins are adept fund-raisers,
critics maintain that their roles as supposed leaders in the community is
suspect. Although Erickson maintains he had a successful run at Park Avenue
Methodist, others claim that his leadership style is contentious and
precluded his working with other strong personalities. "We were never able
to develop any leadership under him," says a Park Avenue parishioner. "Any
strong leaders left as he demanded to hold the reins."
A neighbor of the church, John Hustad, says that while he was
not a congregant, he nonetheless butted heads with Erickson on a number of
occasions. According to Hustad, the church held an annual festival called
"Soulebration," and the ensuing crowds and noise wreaked havoc on the
neighborhood. "City ordinances state that these kinds of events can't run
more than three nights, but this event would run for seven. The noise was
unbelievable, there was trash everywhere, and parking was a nightmare," he
says. What was most galling, he contends, were the messages disseminated by
festival speakers. "Some of them were extremely inflammatory. They were
against certain minorities--specifically gays. I resented having religious
messages beamed down my throat night after night," he says.
The Urban Ventures website is here:
http://www.urbanventures.org/
Colin Powell Center website is here:
http://www.colinpowellcenter.org/index2.html
Augsburg, Bethel, Dunwoody, Northwestern and the University of Minnesota
are listed as partners for the Colin Powell Center on the Colin Powell
site. I have not verified that information with these higher ed
institutions yet. In the past, UV and Colin Powell Center have claimed
partnerships that have not existed. One example is when they claimed a
partnership with the Minneapolis Park Board that turned out to be greatly
overstated.
After I broke this story on the Minneapolis Issues list, Art Erickson sent
me an email saying that this was without UV's consent - and a retraction is
forthcoming. More than 2 months later, the promised retraction has yet to
be posted.
More recently, after they were busted about participating in the Midwest
Chaplains Prayer Proclamation for the Bachmann amendment, they denied
giving permission for Midwest Chaplains to use their names on this
proclamation - and said a "retraction is forthcoming".
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com/2005/03/urban-vultures-and-colin-powell-center.html
Image here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/7022461/
Urban Vultures and Colin Powell Center Joining in Prayer for Bachmann Amendment
From a reader tip:
I remember watching you discuss the homophobic nature of the Urban Ventures
and the Colin Powell Center on the Minneapolis Issues list.
Well, I just found this:
They signed on as doing a prayer and fast for marriage. What is the
background on them? Are these government funds?
Good questions.
Here's some of the text:
Whereas:
At this critical point for both our state and nation with many important
issues being debated in the public square and with many difficult decisions
facing our legislators that will impact the future of our great state; and
Whereas:
The definitition of marriage is being challenged, a change that will impact
the moral fabric of our state for future generations, and state legislators
are being called on to make decisions on this issue; and
Whereas
In this hour of history's calling, Minnesotans look to God for
encouragement and strength to make moral decisions especially concerning
the Defense of Marriage; and
Now Therefore:
We, the Minnesota Christian Network, do hereby proclaim Wednesday, March
16, 2005, to be:
A Day of Repentence, Prayer and Fasting for marriage in the State of MN,
and we humbly encourage our citizens to turn to God. May we open our hearts
and our minds to seek wisdom and courage for the decisions before our
leaders and ask God to grant them divine help to make decisions that honor
him.
Endorsing Ministries include: Urban Ventures and the Colin Powell Center
Go to the Midwest Chaplains website and they link to an article by the
"Pro-Family News" - from the Anti-gay Minnesota Family Council - about
their efforts.
Eva Young
Near North
Minneapolis
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com
"You do not have the right to never be offended. This country is based on
freedom, and that means freedom for everyone - not just you! You may leave
the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc., but the
world is full of idiots, and probably always will be." --Article II of the
Bill of Non-Rights.
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