Change Starts With Community asks for state funds to expand workforce-driven food-security and violence-prevention program

Senate File 19-67, a funding request for Change Starts With Community, was presented to the Senate Committee on Jobs and Economic Development. The bill requests $1,000,000 in FY2026 and $1,000,000 in FY2027 (witnesses confirmed the intent is one-time funding) from the Workforce Development Fund to expand a workforce-driven food-security and violence-prevention program based in North Minneapolis.

Sponsor Senator Champion summarized program accomplishments: participants receive year-round employment, training and certifications (including food handling), and the program reported that 17 youth formerly on probation completed Department of Corrections requirements with a reported 0% recidivism rate among those participants. Testimony highlighted the Shiloh Temple facility on West Broadway, which houses a food shelf and a community safety resource center used as a training hub; proponents said the program served more than 60,000 families annually through Shiloh Cares and operates an agrihood garden where youth grow and prepare food.

Executive director Jalila Abdul Brown described the programs workforce model, partner commitments (including a roughly $200,000 commitment from Cargill), and an example of a youth participant gaining full-time employment with Hennepin County at approximately $65,000 annually. Lorenzo Williams, a 17-year-old participant, testified that the program helped him move off probation, improve his school grades and obtain job training, certificates and driver's permit access. Bishop Richard D. Howell Jr. of Pentecostal Assemblies of the World and other community leaders affirmed the programs impact on youth.

Senator Champion asked the committee to support the appropriation; the committee laid Senate File 19-67 over for possible inclusion. No committee vote was recorded during the hearing.