Jaw-Dropping ‘Corruption’ of Minneapolis’ Taxpayer-Backed Defund the Police Department

A city council department in Minnesota is under fire after its director argued for a nearly $1 million contract to be awarded to a nonprofit owned by the sister of one of its staff members.

Luana Nelson-Brown, the director of the Neighborhood Safety Department at the Minneapolis City Council, argued for a contract to be granted to the nonprofit Black Business Enterprises Fund.

But Georgia Korsah, a staff member of the Neighborhood Safety Department, is sisters with Nancy Korsah, the owner of the Black Business Enterprises Fund.

Nelson-Brown argued in front of the council for the one-year, $992,400 contract to be rewarded to the organization, noting the money would be for ‘capacity building and compliance consulting services’ purposes.

However, some council members have deemed the request a ‘red flag’, Star Tribune reported.

Nelson-Brown also noted to the council how the money would be used to employ a team of 17 experts who will coach violence interrupters on financial literacy as well as teaching them how to comply with government accounting requirements, Star Tribune reported.

But LaTrisha Vetaw, a council member, said that she wasn’t aware of what the organization had actually done to help the issue, besides ‘having a gala’.

Another council member, Jeremiah Ellison, said that the organization’s website raised a ‘red flag’ after reviewing its contents.

‘I feel confident that, because of their experience with the vendors that we actually fund and with their fiscal management work, I feel confident that we’ll be able to collaborate well and make the services happen,’ Nelson-Brown said to the council.

‘Typically that would be something to raise an eyebrow with, for sure,’ she added. ‘If I were sitting in your shoes, I’d do the same. But that is something that, as we bring forward this work, we’ve had to do with several organizations.’

The Neighborhood Safety Department, which first launched in 2018 in an attempt to address violence through a public health lens, has a budget of $23 million that is a key element of the city’s strategy to reduce violent crime, Star Tribune reported.

The office oversees the Violence Prevention Find and Gang Violence Initiative, and each program has paid out millions of dollars to nonprofit organizations since 2019.

But a lawsuit filed in November noted that the evaluation process for receiving these grants is flawed and lacks the ‘most basic competitive bidding or proposal,’ making it illegal.

In May of this year, Zachary Coppola, a city resident, spoke in front of a judge, noting that the value of community-based alternatives to policing is important, but the city hasn’t provided sufficient oversight over the matter and can’t ensure meaningful impact.

‘To me this is a key piece of the future,’ he said in an interview with Star Tribune. ‘Citizens have demanded it, and citizens have the right to know what they want is actually happening.’

Since the scrutiny over the department began, council members have been urging for a greater level of accountability.

Nancy Korsah and her sister, Georgia Korsah, were the subject of a whistleblower complaint.

Data from last year found that the city, with the contact on the purchase order listed as Georgia Korsah, paid the Black Business Enterprises Fund $5,000 to provide financial management and consulting, Star Tribune reported.

Black Business Enterprises Fund also was granted $125,000 of federal Covid relief funds through the Neighborhood Safety Department.

This grant was to provide ‘community trauma response programming’ throughout the city, Star Tribune reported.

But it is unclear how the organization spent that money or how they were able to even qualify.

The Minneapolis Police Department’s numbers took a steep dive following the murder of George Floyd, and in the years that followed, the city has relied on ‘violence interrupters’ to defuse conflicts before they turn deadly as well as mentoring teens.

But the Minneapolis’s ‘safety-beyond-policing’ department – which seeks to use preventative, restorative and response services rather than relying on policing – was under scrutiny after a lawsuit was filed last November.

A lawsuit filed last November alleged that the department was illegally selecting recipients to be granted millions of dollars for their programs, Star Tribune reported.

This past May, a Minneapolis attorney asked a judge to appoint a special master to oversee payments to these violence prevention groups in an attempt to make sure taxpayer funds are going to the correct practices.

Council members questioned Nelson-Brown about the relationship between the sisters and the Black Business Enterprises Fund, and whether they had experience working with nonprofits.

The council also raised eyebrows at whether the nonprofits they work with actually provide violence prevention services.

Robin Wonsley, a city council member, asked Nelson-Brown whether Black Business Enterprises Fund would even be able to handle a contract that would grant nearly $1 million.

Due to the size of the nonprofit, their capability of helping other nonprofits build their own organization was also put into question.

Recent financial statements for the nonprofit showed that it had around $350,000 in revenue and $346,703 in expenses, Star Tribune reported.

The contract in question would triple the organizations operating budget.

Nelson-Brown said that she believed Black Business Enterprises Fund could handle the contract – noting that the Neighborhood Safety Department frequently helps smaller organizations in need of support stay afloat.

‘A good financial system allows organizations to track their spending accurately, ensuring that funds are used properly and enabling them to prepare regular reports that meet government expectations,’ she said.

‘It also streamlines invoice reimbursements, which allows us to make more timely payments, and it is necessary for audits and evaluation of program success. I also want to note that these are all things that have been identified as weaknesses.’

But she could not specifically discuss how Black Business Enterprises Fund has previously worked with the city’s violence interruption vendors.

Nancy Korsah agreed to speak to the Minnesota Star Tribune about Black Business Enterprises Fund and their experience providing assistance to nonprofits specializing in violence prevention.

But she never showed up to the in-person interview at her own office, and instead texted through a volunteer that she was no longer available for comment, Star Tribune reported.

The committee postponed her request for a meeting regarding the matter on October 21 after members of the council felt as though their concerns were not answered.

Because of unanswered questions among those involved, the vote on the contract has been repeatedly delayed.

Nancy and Georgia Korsah and Nelson-Brown did not immediately respond to the DailyMail.com’s requests for comment.