Unfortunately Michelle, what you've illustrated is the lack of attention to detail or perhaps even laziness on the part of some of the FORMER staff of the Empowerment Zone. What you'll notice at the bottom of that document is the year 2003, which is when the Small Grants program was started. When this document was written, I believe the individual either didn't realize the that the City Council was not a part of the process or once clarified that this was not a step in the process, did not remove that. It is an inaccurate statement and shoddy administrative work not to have removed it or updated it in 2 years. Which is why when I took over in December 2004 I made sure that the guidelines were updated. You can find them on our website (www.ci.minneapolis. mn.us\ez) and will notice they do not have this step. It should not have been listed on the guidelines, but having it written in there or removed does not change the outcome of the process and does not prove your point.
What would prove your point is a copy of a City Council agenda or action showing that the Small Grants were brought forward for approval. All of the Council agendas and actions are available on the City website at http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/council/. You can review them at your leisure but you will notice that the Small Grants program does not appear, because it does not go to them for approval as I have previously stated. The document you have, therefore, and not the information I have presented, is inaccurate. The fault, however, also lies with the EZ Your friends situation illustrates why there was a need to clarify and revise the guidelines. As was stated before, the Small Grants program began in 2003 with the original intent of complementing the EZ Small Business loans and technical assistance programs already existing. The original intent was for the Small Grants to be for non-profits as there was no consistent funding mechanism for smaller organizations besides businesses through the EZ except in response to RFPs. The Board saw the need to assist non-profits and smaller projects and the idea for the Small Grant program was born. Unfortunately, as has already been pointed out, the guidelines didn't clarify the fact that the program was for nonprofits. As such it left a loophole for the Empowerment Zone to be approached by two businesses in June of 2004. This raised the question for the Board and they directed the staff to review the feasibility of extending the Small Grants program to include businesses and return with a recommendation. After much discussion and consideration of the capacity of the EZ to review and analyze business proposals and track them, as well as the impact this would have on undermining the current Small Business initiatives the Executive Committee, based on the recommendation of staff, decided not to set aside grants funds for business or include them in the Small Grant program. This was approved at the August 12, 2004. Which would account for your friend's September letter. While it was not stated that being a for-profit was a reason for declination, neither were any of the other reasons. This, again, has been added to the guidelines to try to make things as clear as possible, and why we also provide free technical assistance through the Office of Grants and Special projects to keep people from investing their time only to find out their ineligible. As you can see, we make revisions and quality improvements at every step that we can to ensure the best quality of service. As you have not named your friends business I cannot verify any other information that you claim. Originally, you stated that Don had given her a letter of support, now you state that she has a letter of support from "her Council Member" and that Don was "there" offering letters of support, which indicates that the letter is not from him. Whether he was actually offering letters of support is for Don to clarify, but without an actual letter of support it's secondhand rumor at best. More importantly, I hope this whole thing will lay to rest the misinformation that Don wrote letters of support and then vetoed the proposals, as one is unsubstantiated and the other is impossible. Finally, I answered your question about El-Amin's Fish House in my last email, let me know if you don't see it and I'll repost it. The Empowerment Zone is funding the Minneapolis Urban League for its Uhuru program, the Director of which is Spike Moss. And I don't know all of the businesses that Basim is connected to so without a name, I cannot accurately answer your question. I do know that in 2001 a proposal for an intiative that he was driving was considered but that ultimately it didn't meet the minimum requirements and was not funded. As for who was benefited from EZ funds, I would once again encourage you to check out our website. It has the answers to many of the questions you are asking, and a list of EZ allocations is posted there. Feel free to email me again with any questions or needs for clarification. Jonathan Palmer Victory REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact 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 Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
