DESIGN PHASE

In 2022, GroundBreak launched a 12-month process to co-create investment pathways to achieve our goals. Over 170 individuals and 120 organizations participated in a six-month design process to identify financial tools and products that could help close racial wealth gaps in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

THE PROCESS

Workgroups focused on each of GroundBreak’s areas moved together through three phases.

Discover

Scan the landscape for: 1) opportunities to optimize existing solutions by bringing them to scale and 2) spaces for innovation where current systems and products fall short.

Design

Build or broker capital pathways and financial products to achieve GroundBreak’s goals.

Deliver

A final set of investment pathways and products aligned with GroundBreak’s transformative goals that participating institutions are prepared to finance through loans, loan guarantees, equity, grants, and combinations thereof.

Working groups flowed from and reported to the steering committee. They were responsible for driving progress towards their assigned outcomes (rental housing, homeownership, commercial development, BIPOC entrepreneurship) by:

  • Identifying capital products and investment opportunities pathways that optimize existing structures and innovate new ones where what currently exists either doesn’t meet the needs of or actively impedes achieving assigned results;
  • Ensuring that MSP has an institutional and organizational ecosystem with the capacity to absorb and effectively and equitably deploy capital at the necessary scale;
  • Addressing policy barriers, practices and opportunities that will either frustrate or enable the attraction, absorption, and deployment of capital in service of these results; and
  • Tracking progress toward results and recommending course corrections based on learning and experience.

GroundBreak Coalition Progress Report

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THE PEOPLE

WORKING GROUPS

 Homeownership

CO-CHAIRS

  • Fmr. Cmmsr. Chris Latondresse
    Hennepin County
  • Dondi Edwards
    Wells Fargo

STAFF

  • Ben Hecht
    McKnight Senior Advisor
  • Julia Welles Ayres
    Hennepin County
  • Julie Gugin
    MN Home Ownership Center
  • Brooke Walker
    MN Home Ownership Center
  • Johnna White  Strategy Partner Imagine Deliver
  • Malik Mitchell  Strategy Partner Imagine Deliver

Rental Housing

CO-CHAIRS

  • Cmmsr. Jennifer Ho
    Minnesota Housing Finance Agency
  • Kate Kelly
    PNC Bank

STAFF

  • Ben Hecht
    McKnight Senior Advisor 
  • Will Delaney
    Hope Community
  • Shannon Smith Jones
    Hope Community
  • Johnna White  Strategy Partner Imagine Deliver
  • Malik Mitchell  Strategy Partner Imagine Deliver

Commercial Development

CO-CHAIRS

  • Dorothy Bridges
    US Bank
  • David Reiling
    Sunrise Banks
  • Jim Mulrooney
    Bremer Bank

STAFF

  • Ben Hecht
    McKnight Senior Advisor 
  • D’Angelos Svenkeson
    NEOO PArtners Inc.
  • Cameran Bailey
    NEOO PArtners Inc.
  • Johnna White  Strategy Partner Imagine Deliver
  • Malik Mitchell  Strategy Partner Imagine Deliver

BIPOC Entrepreneurship

CO-CHAIRS

  • Fmr. Cmmsr. Steve Grove
    MN DEED
  • Ravi Norman
    Norman Global Enterprises
  • Greg Cunningham
    US Bank

STAFF

  • Ben Hecht
    McKnight Senior Advisor 
  • Alex West Steinman
    The Coven
  • Lyneir Richardson
    The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development
  • Johnna White  Strategy Partner Imagine Deliver
  • Malik Mitchell  Strategy Partner Imagine Deliver

Steering Committee

The early GroundBreak Coalition Steering Committee members and their organizations agreed to work collectively to close racial gaps in income and wealth through home ownership, community-led commercial development, entrepreneurship, and rental housing.

Tonya Allen
McKnight Foundation

Kelly Baker
Thrivent 

Susan Bass-Roberts
Pohlad Foundation

Tawanna Black
Center for Economic Inclusion

James Burroughs
Children’s Minnesota

Robert Butterbrodt
Wells Fargo

Dorothy Bridges
U.S. Bank

Mayor Melvin Carter
City of St Paul

Kari Collins
Ramsey County

Greg Cunningham
US Bank

Dondi Edwards
Wells Fargo

Rebecca Fabunmi
City of Minneapolis

Patricia L Fitzgerald
Hennepin County

Mayor Jacob Frey
City of Minneapolis

Jen Ford Reedy
Bush Foundation

Peter Frosch
GreaterMSP

Darrel German
Huntington Bank

Amy Goldman
GHR Foundation

Nicolle Goodman
City of St. Paul

Commissioner Greene
Hennepin County

Amelia Hardy
Best Buy 

James Hereford
M Health Fairview

Jennifer Ho
Minnesota Housing Finance Agency

David Hough
Hennepin County

Suzette Huovinen
Securian Financial

Kate Kelly
PNC Bank

Kenneth Kelly
First Independence

B Kyle
St. Paul Area Chamber

Kenneth E. LaChance
Wells Fargo

Chris LaTondresse
Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative

Commissioner Martinson
Ramsey County Board Chair

Repa Mekha
Nexus Community Partners

David Mortenson Mortenson Construction

Adair Mosley African American Leadership Forum

Jim Mulrooney Bremer Bank

Joe Nayquonabe, Jr. Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures

Ravi Norman Norman Global Enterprises

Ryan O’Connor Ramsey County

Pilar Oppedisano J.P. Morgan

David Reiling Sunrise Bank

RT Rybak Minneapolis Foundation

Nadege Souvenir Saint Paul and Minnesota Foundation

Steve Steinour Huntington Bank

Stephen Spears Bremer Bank

Alene Tchourumoff Minneapolis Federal Reserve

Kathy Tunheim McKnight Foundation

Jonathan Weinhagen Minneapolis Chamber

Tim Welsh U.S. Bank

regional and national champions

Regional Champions

Tonya Allen
President, McKnight Foundation

Tawanna A. Black
Founder & CEO, Center for Economic Inclusion

Dorothy Bridges
Board Member, US Bank

James C. Burroughs II
Senior Vice President, Children’s Minnesota

Mayor Melvin Carter
City of St. Paul

Fmr. Commissioner Toni Carter
Ramsey County

Mayor Frey
City of Minneapolis

Peter Frosch
CEO, GREATER MSP

Darrel German
Regional President, Huntington Bank

Commissioner Marion Greene
Hennepin County Board Chair

James Hereford
President & CEO Fairview Health Services

Commissioner Jennifer Ho
Minnesota Housing Finance Agency

Eric J. Jolly, Ph.D.
President and CEO, St. Paul & Minnesota Foundations

Kate Kelly
Executive Vice President &
Regional President, PNC Bank

B Kyle
President and CEO,
St. Paul Area Chamber

Kenneth E. LaChance
Senior Vice President/Financial Advisory Manager, Wells Fargo Advisors

Chris LaTondresse
Beacon Interfaith Housing 

Repa Mekha
President & CEO,
Nexus Community Partners

Ravi Norman
CEO, Norman Global Enterprises

Pilar Oppedisano
Head of Upper Midwest,
JP Morgan Private Bank

Marcus Owens
Executive Director, African American Leadership Forum

Jen Ford Reedy
President, Bush Foundation

David Reiling
Chairman & CEO, Sunrise Banks

RT Rybak
President and CEO,
Minneapolis Foundation

Kathy Tunheim
CEO & Principal, Tunheim

Jonathan Weinhagen
President and CEO,
Minneapolis Regional Chamber

National Champions

Jonathan Goldstein
Head, Sustainable Finance Group, Goldman Sachs

Chris Hilger
Chairman, President, & CEO
Securian Financial

John Palfrey
President, MacArthur Foundation

Dr. Rajiv J. Shah
President, Rockefeller Foundation

Jim Shelton
Chief Investment & Impact Officer,
Blue Meridian Partners

Steve Steinour
Chairman, President, & CEO,
Huntington Bank

Darren Walker
President, Ford Foundation

Tim Welsh
Vice Chair, U.S. Bank

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