Something is very wrong and nobody is asking questions or getting answers. Essentially, disparities created by unequal treatment in the past persist today because much of the Civil Rights Movement has not progressed beyond legislative and social issues into the arena of economic empowerment through entrepreneurialism and financial literacy.

By Don Allen, Publisher – Our Black News

Surrogates for local agencies listed to receive pieces of the $35 million dollars are now saying the money was never there and that agencies did not receive any money based on the governors push to end generational disparities in Minnesota’s black community. On last Sunday, a local public radio community program publicly stated that agencies in north Minneapolis did not get the $4.2 million dollars as listed by the State Legislature and on the City of Minneapolis’ website.

This become a challenge with unemployment at an all-time high and real community stakeholders have been forced to deal with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Developments (DEED) hyperbole on the Pathway to Prosperity; the same tripe the Minneapolis Urban League tried to launch under its former president Scott Gray. The real question is where did the money go? Did the Somali, Asian and Native American agencies get their piece of the pie? If they didn’t, we certainly don’t hear any voices of protest at this point.

If billionaire governor Mark Dayton is doing so well with Minnesota’s economy, then why don’t the narratives of success match? As we head into the fourth-quarter, it seems like the usual suspects might be benefiting from trickles of money (a sighting at a local night spot was reported), but the big bucks have yet to make change or for that matter show successful measurable outcomes for black people in Minnesota.

According to the 2014 U.S. Census Bureau ACS study (see charts here) 27% of all African American men, women and children live below the poverty level compared to just 11% of all Americans. An even higher percentage (38%) of Black children live in poverty compared to 22% of all children in America. The poverty rate for working-age Black women (26%) which consists of women ages 18 to 64 is higher than that of working-age Black men (21%). Poverty rates for Black families vary based on the family type. While 23% of all Black families live below the poverty level only 8% of Black married couple families live in poverty which is considerably lower than the 37% of Black families headed by single women who live below the poverty line. The highest poverty rates (46%) are for Black families with children which are headed by single Black women. This is significant considering more than half (55%) of all Black families with children are headed by single women (BlackEconomics.com).

No, the money is not hitting the streets on Friday, and if it has, not too many people know what it is doing. One thing for sure, we know that DEED is sitting on multi-millions of Minnesota cash and has become the dog-trainer in this thing called grants to cure generational disparities. If you put first-things-first, you’ll realize it is impossible for the same group who created MNSure to assist in a Band Aid for the black community.