From MPR:
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/headlines/#3
<<Powell raises money for Minneapolis youth center
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell was in Minneapolis Monday to ask for
donations for an inner city youth center named for him.
The Colin Powell Youth Leadership Center in Minneapolis is intended to
teach inner city children strong moral values and give them extra tutoring
so they can graduate from high school and go to college. Powell said it's
important that inner city children have a positive place to learn and play.
"I couldn't have been more proud to have something like this named after
me. I have received lots of medals and awards in my life, that's all nuts.
This is what's serious, this is what counts. This is what's vital. This is
what's important. So I am proud to have this effort named after me," he said.
Organizers for the center say they have raised about $8 million but need to
raise a total of $19 million for the project. They want to break ground for
the building this fall. >>
Moral? How is a group like this moral? Does Colin Powell know about this?
http://www.mnforum.org/pipermail/mpls/2005-March/039792.html
Back in the late 90s Eileen Smith from the Central Neighborhood started a
non-profit program for area kids that she named "Young Entrepreneurs",
which involved teaching financial responsibility to youth. Eileen was
quite successful, and drew a lot of attention. Urban Ventures came to her
and volunteered to be her fiscal agent which sounded like a good idea to
her at the time. Later that year, when Eileen applied to the Ford Bell
foundation for funding, she got a response back that she could only be
funded once per year. Upon investigation, Eileen found out that Urban
Ventures had applied for funding in her organization's name, got funded,
and diverted the funding. Eileen also discovered that her program and
successes were being featured in UV's promotional literature without her
permission, and without noting that the extent of UV's involvement was to
be her fiscal agent; the literature made it all sound like Art Erickson's
idea and Urban Ventures successes.
http://www.mnforum.org/pipermail/mpls/2005-March/039792.html
Art Erickson, President of Urban Ventures sent me a message a week ago
saying that a retraction was forthcoming regarding Urban Ventures and the
Colin Powell Center's Endorsement of a Prayer Proclamation for the Bachmann
Amendment (writing anti-gay discrimination into the state constitution).
<http://lloydletta.blogspot.com/2005/03/urban-vultures-and-colin-powell-youth.html>http://lloydletta.blogspot.com/2005/03/urban-vultures-and-colin-powell-youth.html
"We recently received notification that the Urban Ventures and Colin Powell
Youth Leadership Center names were listed in a document entitled "A
Declaration and a Call" that appeared on the Midwest Chaplains web site.
The inclusion of our name was done without our approval and a retraction is
forthcoming."
See the document here:
<http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=7022461&size=o>http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=7022461&size=o
Call Duane Coleman, Director of Development and lobbyist for Urban Ventures
and ask him when the Retraction will be forthcoming. His number
is: 612-638-1001.
Call Dan Hall at Midwest Chaplains to ask him whether they plan to post a
public retraction on the Midwest Chaplains website: 612-790-2000
Scrubbing websites is not a retraction. A press statement on the Urban
Ventures website would be a retraction. Urban Ventures Leaders doing a
press conference at the Capitol would be a retraction.
It doesn't really pass the smell test that UV and Colin Powell didn't give
their name for the Midwest Prayer Proclamation:
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com/2005/06/vultures-preying-on-state-capitol-rake.html
From the Rake:
The last guest at Chaplain Dan Hall's Wednesday prayer meeting was Duane
Coleman, vice president for Development at the Colin Powell Youth
Leadership Center in South Minneapolis. Supported by organizations like
Best Buy, ADC, and General Mills, the center is a $12.6 million South
Minneapolis project designed to help inner-city youth acquire
secondary-school educations. Duane Coleman has been a repeat guest at Dan
Hall's prayer gatherings, and when he arrived on this day, Hall encouraged
him to describe the results of the prayers he'd received the week before.
Coleman said that, before last week, only the Senate version of the new
bonding bill included cash for the Colin Powell Youth Leadership Center.
"So I came last week and we prayed over this," Coleman explained. "And
somehow, through divine favor, the money ended up in the House bill, too."
A late arrival, a woman in the back of the room, raised her hand. "Is your
group Christian?"
Coleman nodded vigorously. "Yes."
"So what are we praying for today?"
"Success in conference committee!" Coleman replied.
Like many before him, Coleman stood before the group with his eyes closed
as the Cannon Falls ladies and Myrna Howes prayed for him. "Lord, my
husband is a legislator and I know he received a lot of letters on behalf
of this saying it won't do anything," Howes intoned. "Well, I hope those
letters to turn to dust."
With that, the meeting was over. The group quickly dispersed into dimly lit
Capitol hallways filled with legislators on their way to lunch. Charlotte
Herzog, however, stopped to tell me how much she appreciates Dan Hall's
ministry at the Capitol. "You know," she said. "Prayer is just so much more
effective than all those committee hearings and meetings."
This is the group that Peter McLaughlin supported:
http://www.mnforum.org/pipermail/mpls/2004-January/030038.html
Peter McLaughlin has an item on his website bragging about large county
loan for Urban Ventures soccer fields. I've always wondered why he would
support an organization like this with county tax money.
<<http://www.co.hennepin.mn.us/countyboard/district4/d4events.htm>http://www.co.hennepin.mn.us/countyboard/district4/d4events.htm>http://www.co.hennepin.mn.us/countyboard/district4/d4events.htm
Homefield Soccer
Art Erickson, President of Urban Ventures, joins Peter McLaughlin at the
construction site of Homefield soccer fields which will serve over 300
urban youth this summer. The county loaned Urban Ventures $500,000 to start
construction. The loan was paid back on time.
=======================================
I'd like to hear more about the terms of this loan. What type of interest
rate did Urban Ventures get on this loan.
When this issue came up before, Senator Linda Berglin cited McLaughlin's
strong support for UV to justify her support. I posted Berglin's and Neva
Walker's correspondance on this subject.
<http://www.mail-archive.com/mpls@mnforum.org/msg10924.html>http://www.mail-archive.com/mpls@mnforum.org/msg10924.html
I'd like to hear from candidate Peter McLaughlin what he thinks about
public funding for the Colin Powell Youth Center now?
Eva Young
Near North
Minneapolis
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com
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