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
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
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