A Minneapolis community pillar is celebrating 93 years in service by opening the first Northside Community Safety Resource Center inside of the building.
Shiloh Temple is kicking off another anniversary with a new chapter.
The funding, designing and execution of this project came together in a year, which is a quick turnaround, project managers explained.
Building the foundation for north Minneapolis’ future has been Shiloh Temple’s mission for decades.
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“Providing the right services, love, joy, peace, goodness, gentleness and so forth. That is what we’re here for,” Bishop Richard Howell at Shiloh Temple said.
With this $2 million makeover, the community is getting new tools to thrive.
Construction workers installed brand new doors, freshly painted walls and bulletproof windows. It’s a special request acknowledging a disturbing reality.
“Funerals, violence in this community. I felt like, ‘What do we do? What can we do to bring peace in our neighborhoods?’” Howell said.
Northside residents will have access to their first community safety resource center and an expanded food shelf that serves at least 400 people per day.
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“Minneapolis is resource-rich and always have been access-poor, right? We know Minnesota has resources, but where do people of color access them?” said Pastor Jalilia Abdul-Brown from nonprofit Change Starts with Community.
Change Starts with Community wanted to make the process easy.
In the space, wrap-around resources will address food insecurity, violence prevention and youth development in one room.
“We’re in a community that has seen the most violence, but also a lack of resources and a lack of investment,” Abdul-Brown said.
The state, Hennepin County and a group of donors wanted to stop that cycle by donating time and money to see the project come to life.
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PCL Construction, Leo A Daly and 4 The Hungry Project Management and Consulting are among many donors who believed in the vision.
“Knowing that we can contribute to helping them get access to the services that Shiloh Cares Food Shelf provides, I think that’s incredible, just to be a small part of it,” Amanda Kelsey, PCL construction, said.
The official ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house is Sunday, Oct. 6, at 10 a.m. at Shiloh Temple.
Church officials will be joined by local and state leaders and lawmakers to debut the space to the community. The public is welcome to attend.
“Vibrancy is returning because we’re understanding the power that we have in this community,” Howell said.
An ICE agent facing several assault charges in connection with a January shooting involving two Venezuelan people in Minnesota has been arrested in Texas, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said.
Christian Castro was charged earlier this month with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime.
CNN is working to determine whether Castro has an attorney and has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Castro faces those charges in connection with the shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan man shot in the leg through the front door of a Minneapolis home. The incident took place during the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement blitz in the Twin Cities.
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Originally, Sosa-Celis and his cousin Alfredo A. Aljorna were facing federal charges after DHS said they had attacked an agent, prompting him to fire a defensive shot.
But the Justice Department dropped the charges in February, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement said two of its agents, who made false statements about the incident under oath, were placed on administrative leave.
FOX 9’s Erika Mrazik has your Thursday evening and extended forecast. Our temperatures continue to feel more like July than May, and we’ll continue to see plenty of sun.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has issued an air quality alert for the Twin Cities starting Friday.
Air quality alert in Twin Cities
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What we know:
MPCA says that ground-level ozone will be at unhealthy levels in the Twin Cities on Friday. An air quality will be in place from noon to 9 p.m.
An air quality alert in the Twin Cities. Graphic courtesy of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. (Supplied)
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Sunny skies, low humidity and warm temperatures make for favorable conditions pollutants to react with sunlight to make ground-level ozone. MPCA says the ozone will subside as the sun sets.
Who is most affected by poor air quality?
Dig deeper:
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People with asthma or other breathing conditions like COPD, chronic bronchitis and emphysema will be affected by poor quality. They can experience symptoms like difficulty deep breathing, shortness of breath, throat soreness, wheezing, coughing and unusual fatigue.
Additionally, children, teenagers and people of all ages who are doing heavy physical activity outside.
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What you can do:
MPCA recommends taking it easy while outside and limiting physical activity.
To help reduce pollution, use public transit or carpool when possible, fill up your car’s tank at dawn or dusk and avoid backyard fires.
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The Source: A press release from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
After the murder of George Floyd, the Minneapolis Police Department lost hundreds of officers and was a “depleted police department,” a statement from former Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara’s attorney said.
The chief “made significant progress in rebuilding community trust and pride within the ranks of MPD,” the statement reads.
At the memorial to Alex Pretti, who was killed during Operation Metro Surge, part of the attorney statement hits home. It says the city was constantly on the “precipice of igniting the spark that would set the city on fire again” and it claims O’Hara helped mitigate the violent clashes.
Most people WCCO spoke with around several Minneapolis neighborhoods say O’Hara had their respect.
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“I was watching the Twins game on my phone and the announcement came over and I was like, ‘Whoa, what’s that all about?’” said Marta Knick as she was heading to the Guthrie Theatre.
“I was very sad because we’re more than the sum of our mistakes,” said Minneapolis resident Howard Dotson.
Hours after the announcement, community members were eager to learn more about the one challenged with leading the most scrutinized police department in the country.
“What’s heartbreaking the most is he was in a high-level position of leaderhip and he dropped the ball,” said Michael Wilson, who works at Pimento Jamaican Kitchen.
Some are giving grace more than others.
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“He may have made a mistake but that doesn’t erase his four years of transformational work in the MPD,” Dotson added.
O’Hara joined the department in November 2022, two-and-a-half years after the murder of Floyd.
“You have to reestablish culture. I feel like he did an amazing job at that and was front-facing, which is good,” said Wilson.
That wasn’t the chief’s only challenge. Just within the past year, he responded to the Annunciation Catholic School shooting and Operation Metro Surge.
“I was pleased with the whole way he handled the Metro Surge thing,” said Ruth Lipker on the Stone Arch Bridge.
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In the statement from his attorney, O’Hara says he was “proud to serve Minneapolis and remains grateful to the officers and community partners who did difficult work under extraordinary pressure.”
“Yeah, he was invested in his job and the community. but he had personal investments in that job as well,” said Minneapolis resident Donald Turner.
Now, Minneapolis residents are looking ahead.
“We have change, again, and because we have change, I think we’re in the place to create a positive outlook or negative outlook,” Wilson told WCCO.
“I always have hope for the city. The city’s bigger than any of us and I love living here,” another man added while walking the Stone Arch Bridge.
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In the recent statement from his attorney, there was zero comment on the investigation that occurred. Those WCCO spoke to continued to have questions about that.
