{"id":3974,"date":"2025-12-30T19:02:36","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T19:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/?p=3974"},"modified":"2026-07-14T19:06:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T19:06:19","slug":"northside-forward-maps-1-5b-community-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/2025\/12\/30\/northside-forward-maps-1-5b-community-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Northside Forward Maps $1.5B Community Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A public conversation outlining the scope, structure, and intent of the\u00a0Northside Forward<\/a>\u00a0initiative airs 1pm Tuesday, Dc. 30 on Radio KFAI 90.3FM\u2019s\u00a0The Conversation With Al McFarlane<\/em>, bringing together community members, institutional leaders, and organizers to discuss what a long-term, coordinated investment in North Minneapolis could look like in practice. The live Town Hall meeting, recorded at the Capri Theater, featured\u00a0Greg Cunningham, Chief Community Impact and Inclusion Officer at U.S. Bank<\/a>, introducing a wide-ranging conversation bteween veteran journalist and\u00a0Insight News<\/em>\u00a0Editor-in-Chief Al McFarlane and\u00a0Tyrize Cox, Chief Community Revitalization Officer at the African American Leadership Forum (AALF).<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cunningham opened by explaining why transparency was central to the gathering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the most important reasons that all of you are in this room today is because we want to be really open and transparent with all of you about the work that\u2019s happening,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to allow all of you to have the tools that you need to actually share the information.\u201d He added that accountability is no longer optional for large institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat people are craving is much more transparency about the work, much more accountability to outcomes,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cOrganizations like ours who have the power to convene have a responsibility to bring people together and to allow platforms like Insight News to help share the work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cunningham emphasized that U.S. Bank\u2019s involvement is rooted in long-term presence. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a branch right down the street from here on West Broadway for 30 years,\u201d he said. \u201cThis work is not new to us. Our support and investment in this community is not new. But what\u2019s even more important is recognizing that we can\u2019t do it alone. We need everybody in the ecosystem working together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McFarlane framed the discussion through history, media, and lived experience. \u201cI live in North Minneapolis. I\u2019ve been living here since 1973. This is my neighborhood,\u201d he said. \u201cWe see ourselves as the information infrastructure for our community. We have a specific mission to document who we are, where we\u2019ve been, and where we\u2019re going.\u201d He traced that role back decades. \u201cThe history of U.S. Bank, First Bank, and Insight News goes back to 1974,\u201d McFarlane said. \u201cOur first advertiser was my mentor, John Warder, president of First Plymouth National Bank. From the beginning, this work has been about documenting community life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When McFarlane turned the conversation to Tyrize Cox, she grounded Northside Forward in personal and professional context. \u201cI\u2019m a Northside kid,\u201d Cox said. \u201cI was born on the Northside. I didn\u2019t grow up here, but when I moved away and came back in my twenties, I realized coming back to Minneapolis, where my roots were, is where I wanted to be.\u201d She explained how her academic training shapes her approach. \u201cMy undergrad is in sociology. I thought I was going to be a social worker,\u201d Cox said. \u201cThen I went back to get an MBA. The work that I do needs both my head and my heart. I need to have a heart for the people, but I also have to make sure the math works and that the outcomes are what we intend them to be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cox described Northside Forward as a structured, community-built plan. \u201cNorthside Forward is a comprehensive plan that aims to invest $1.5 billion in North Minneapolis over ten years,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was put together by about 200 community members, community leaders, and faith leaders. It\u2019s not a lot of fluff. It has six goals, 25 strategies, and 73 action steps.\u201d Those goals include thriving corridors, cradle-to-career education, housing, health and wellness, civic engagement, and employment. \u201cWhen we talk about thriving corridors and nodes,\u201d Cox said, \u201cwe\u2019re talking about Broadway and Lowry being places where people want to spend their time and their dollars. Commerce, restaurants, retail, movement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Housing, she noted, is clearly defined. \u201cThere is a concrete number. I believe the number is 1,800 housing units,\u201d Cox said. \u201cThat includes single-family housing, duplexes, higher-density housing, homeownership, and senior housing. We realized that in the next ten years, we will not have enough housing to meet the community\u2019s needs if we don\u2019t act intentionally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On civic engagement, Cox emphasized clarity and accountability. \u201cYour elected officials have an accountability to you,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we also want people to understand what they\u2019re being promised. What does that mean in your life, at your address? Engagement shouldn\u2019t start right before an election.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McFarlane pressed on the issue of perception. \u201cIf people believe there is no value here, their actions and public policy will reflect that,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, the question becomes, how do we intentionally change the narrative?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe way we change it is how we tell our story,\u201d Cox responded. \u201cHow well, how often, and how loudly we tell the stories about the good things that are already happening in North Minneapolis.\u201d She named long-standing organizations and leaders as evidence of existing momentum. \u201cPeople like Doris Baylor<\/a>, organizations like NEON<\/a> (Northside Economic Oportunity Network) , Summit Academy, PPL<\/a> (Project for Pride In Living), Minneapolis Park Board partners<\/a>\u2026\u201d Cox said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been doing amazing work for a long time. This is an opportunity to do it together, faster, more efficiently, and louder.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conversation also acknowledged systemic barriers. \u201cThere was a period when nonprofits were competing because resources were thin,\u201d Cox said. \u201cI do think there was some intentionality in how funding was structured. That makes collaboration even more important now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McFarlane returned to the importance of scale. \u201cWhen we attach billion-dollar numbers to our needs and our potential, we shift the conversation,\u201d he said. \u201cWe stop talking about scraps and start talking about what is actually necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cox agreed. \u201cNaming that number creates accountability,\u201d she said. \u201cIt also gives our community permission to dream bigger about what we deserve and what we\u2019re capable of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the broadcast concluded, McFarlane closed with words he had returned to throughout the conversation. \u201cVictory is both imminent and inevitable,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are on track. We are building the freedom that we seek, building the democracy, building the vitality, and we are going to save ourselves, our families. We\u2019re going to save humanity in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A public conversation outlining the scope, structure, and intent of the\u00a0Northside Forward\u00a0initiative airs 1pm Tuesday, Dc. 30 on Radio KFAI 90.3FM\u2019s\u00a0The Conversation With Al McFarlane, bringing together community members, institutional leaders, and organizers to discuss what a long-term, coordinated investment in North Minneapolis could look like in practice. The live Town Hall meeting, recorded at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3975,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[2573,2583,2574],"class_list":["post-3974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-greg-cunningham","tag-northside-forward","tag-u-s-bank","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Insight-News-Website-Images-6-1.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3974"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3976,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3974\/revisions\/3976"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}