Minneapolis names five vendors for violence-interrupter program; council debate continues over coverage gaps

The Committee of the Whole on March 25 advanced contracts for a 2025 Minneapolis Strategic Outreach Initiative that will fund community-based violence interrupter teams organized under the Cure Violence model.

Deputy Director Leah Lakes of the Neighborhood Safety Department said the city’s RFP and review process identified eight data-driven target zones; funding is currently available to support teams in six of those zones. After evaluation, the top-scoring vendors selected to receive contracts were A Mother’s Love Initiative, Touch Outreach, Restoration Inc., Sabathene Community Center, and Mad Dads. Staff said the assignments tied organizations’ demonstrated community connections to the eight geographic prioritization maps produced with technical assistance from Cure Violence Global.

Each funded target area is planned to deploy a team of roughly nine staff — five violence interrupters, two outreach workers, one site supervisor and one program manager — with a total salary allocation per team of about $540,000 and a full operational cost estimated at roughly $730,000 per…