Introduction, approach and partners

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Introduction

The Blue Line Extension Light Rail Transit project (BLE) is a rare opportunity to build inclusive community prosperity. Agency and community partners are committed to working together to prevent displacement and maximize the benefits of light rail for existing residents and businesses within the BLE corridor. The purpose of this document is to present all possible actions that could be used to achieve anti-displacement and community prosperity, and to facilitate the identification and advancement of priority actions by specific entities.

The BLE project will enhance transit service for many households who rely on transit. This major transportation investment will increase access to education, jobs, healthcare, recreation, and other services and opportunities that allow people to build wealth and live healthy and happy lives. In addition to major improvements in mobility and connectivity, light rail transit can inspire additional investment in community and economic development including housing, business growth, infrastructure and more. It can lead to new locally-owned and community-serving businesses, more affordable housing options, and improved infrastructure.


Many communities in the BLE corridor have suffered historical disinvestment and continue to experience racial and economic disparities stemming from systemic racism, segregation, redlining, and other unjust housing and land use policies and practices. Major public infrastructure investments have too often been delivered at the expense of communities of color. Communities in the BLE corridor have experienced this history firsthand with the construction of Interstate 94 and Olson Memorial Highway, which displaced thriving Black and Jewish businesses, neighborhoods, and cultural districts. With the opportunities light rail can bring to communities, it can also bring concerns and risk of displacement. Residents, businesses, and community leaders have raised these concerns, and government partners hear and share them.

For all people in the BLE corridor to benefit from the transit investment, public, private, and community partners must work together to develop and fund robust anti-displacement strategies. The Blue Line Extension project can set a national example for how agency and community partners work together to deliver major infrastructure for the benefit of communities of color, instead of at their expense. The success of the Blue Line Extension will be measured by whether it benefits existing communities in the corridor, rather than those who would displace them.


Background

The METRO Blue Line Light Rail Extension Project (Project) is proposed to run 13.4 miles northwest from downtown Minneapolis, connecting Brooklyn Park, Crystal, Robbinsdale, north Minneapolis, and surrounding communities to new opportunities and destinations. This critical piece of our transit system will improve mobility and access in the highly traveled northwest area of the Twin Cities metropolitan area, including communities with high numbers of households who rely on transit to get where they need to go every day.

The existing METRO Blue Line light rail transit line currently terminates at Target Field Station in downtown Minneapolis. The Project would extend the existing line to provide a one-seat ride from corridor communities to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, the Mall of America, and many other key destinations and connections along the way. While integrating with other existing and planned transitways, the Project would include LRT tracks, 12 new stations, bridges, pedestrian amenities, bike facilities, and park-and-ride facilities.


Community members have raised concerns of displacement around the Blue Line Extension for many years and have called on project leaders and partners to implement an equity framework that centers community voices in implementing measures to ensure existing corridor residents are the first to benefit from this transit investment. In response to these concerns, Hennepin County and the Metropolitan Council launched a first-of-its-kind community oriented anti-displacement initiative in 2021.

To lead the initial phases of this work, Hennepin County contracted with the University of Minnesota's Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) to convene an Anti-Displacement Work Group (ADWG). The ADWG centered community voices and brought together diverse stakeholders and subject matter experts to study and recommend anti-displacement strategies to help ensure BLE light rail will benefit current corridor residents, and minimize physical, cultural, and economic displacement. The ADWG included corridor residents, business owners, philanthropic partners, and representatives from each local governmental entity along the corridor. After meeting for more than a year, the ADWG published its Blue Line Anti-Displacement Recommendations report in April 2023. The report defined a set of desired outcomes, actions, and policies to guide anti-displacement planning and investment.


Approach

The purpose of the Coordinated Action Plan is to identify the full range of existing and potential new actions and policies, and likely lead entities for each, to ensure efficient coordination and to maximize the impact of project and partner actions. The Coordinated Action Plan (CAP, or “Plan”) aims to prevent displacement before, during, and after light rail construction. The plan includes actions to address physical, cultural, and economic displacement pressures. The plan specifically builds on and centers the leadership, research, and recommendations of the Anti-Displacement Work Group in order to describe how their desired outcomes for anti-displacement can be achieved. The plan will be a living document designed to remain responsive to evolving needs, opportunities, and conditions in the Blue Line Extension corridor leading up to, during, and after construction of the light rail project.

Each section of this document contains “blueprints” that detail our overall approach and actions that are in place, being developed, or under consideration. These blueprints and actions represent many but not all potential actions that could be taken by partners to achieve anti-displacement and community prosperity outcomes. They do not necessarily represent specific commitments that have been made by individual entities to take those actions, except where an action is identified as “in place.”

Positioning the appropriate partners to lead individual actions is critical to our approach. In some cases, only specific jurisdictions will have the authority to adopt and implement or enforce relevant policy or legislative actions. For example, in the case of rental markets, only cities or the state will have the regulatory and enforcement power to enact specific policy actions such as limiting investor ownership of single-family homes, Inclusionary Zoning, Tenant Screening Reform, and Tenant Opportunity to Purchase. In such cases, Hennepin County and the Metropolitan Council are positioned to provide technical assistance and support to the implementing entity. Where opportunities exist to advance state legislation to protect residents and business owners, the County is prepared to work with community and local government partners to champion and advance these efforts.


Timing

Anti-displacement planning and implementation has been in the works for many years. Since 2015, Hennepin County’s Bottineau Community Works has partnered with jurisdictions to guide community and economic development in the corridor. Continued community engagement has helped refine anti-displacement needs and priorities, while new funding streams and commitments from partners are being secured to support deeper, targeted investment.

Planning and implementation efforts will continue before, during, and after construction with the community’s voice centered in all anti-displacement efforts. Throughout the Coordinated Action Plan, we have noted specific checkpoints to meaningfully engage and incorporate feedback from the community, especially when considering adaptations to existing services and resources. Below, readers can view how actions are being designed, implemented, and evaluated with community engagement at the forefront throughout the different periods of the Blue Line Extension’s construction. Readers can view sections of the Coordinated Action Plan for more information on the timing of specific actions.


Roles and Responsibilities

Given its status as a federal transit project, federal and state law and regulations limits what the Blue Line Extension Project can and cannot fund and when it can or cannot take specific actions related to anti-displacement. The federal environmental review process will identify specific project commitments and actions related to anti-displacement, to be outlined in the 2025 Supplemental Final Environmental Impact Statement. To complement what the BLE project can do within the scope of the transit project, a wide variety of partners are coordinating work outside of and separate from the Blue Line Extension project.

No one agency or entity alone can deliver the full breadth of programs, strategies, and policies needed to realize the potential of this work. Partner agencies and organizations already have many impactful programs that they can expand or focus to achieve the identified anti-displacement outcomes. New programs or initiatives will be coordinated and led by the appropriate agency or entity to optimize delivery and impact. In some instances, actions will be most impactful if led by a non-public entity.

Key Partners

  • Hennepin County will be the primary owner and lead coordinator of the Coordinated Action Plan for Anti-Displacement. It will be responsible for convening partners identified in this plan to advance, strategize, and coordinate action across agencies, community, philanthropic, nonprofit, and private organizations. The county is also a primary funder and partner in the development of BLE transit and aims to ensure that when combined with anti-displacement actions, this new infrastructure benefits the communities it serves starting with existing residents and business owners. The County has committed full-time staff through its Disparity Reduction line of business to lead its anti-displacement work. Hennepin County already operates many impactful tools, programs, and policies that will contribute to anti-displacement objectives. These efforts will be evaluated and expanded, refined, or focused, and the county will also develop new programs and strategies to address displacement concerns. Where appropriate, Hennepin County can also serve as fiscal agent or grant recipient for potential external funding sources. Hennepin County’s Disparity Reduction line of business works to eliminate disparities in education, income, employment, housing, health, justice, and connectivity. The county recognizes that the BLE corridor experiences some of the most significant disparities in our region, and that many members of the BLE corridor communities are already vulnerable to displacement. The county acknowledges that historic patterns of racism, exclusion, and disinvestment at every level of government have created many of these disparities. Hennepin County will also provide staffing and administrative support for the Anti-displacement Community Prosperity Program Board (described below) established by the state legislature. The county will partner with this body as it develops plans and actions around its anti-displacement work.

  • The Metropolitan Council will help coordinate the Coordinated Action Plan for Anti-Displacement. It will coordinate work among partners, and it will help implement policies and programs identified in the plan. The Council is responsible for the Blue Line Extension project. It is the recipient of federal funds for the project, and it is primarily responsible for the oversight and delivery of anti-displacement actions identified in this plan as “Project actions.” The Council has set up the Blue Line Extension Project Office (BPO). The Council is also responsible for the future maintenance and operations of the BLE and accompanying facilities. As the Twin Cities regional governmental entity, the Council also manages many programs and initiatives related to housing, economic development, parks and the environment, transportation infrastructure, and community and urban planning and policy. Many of these programs, initiatives, and policies can be expanded or focused to achieve anti-displacement priorities in the BLE corridor.

  • The Metropolitan Council Blue Line Extension Project Office (BPO) is responsible for the BLE project itself and all efforts to deliver the LRT project. This includes but is not limited to the design of the BLE route, the design of new stations, infrastructure improvements to areas along the alignment that are paid for by the project, construction of the project, public outreach for the project, and more. Many project actions that will be responsive to anti-displacement recommendations will be identified through the federal environmental review process, including specific commitments that will be outlined in the Supplemental Final Environmental Impact Statement expected to be published in mid-2025. Actions recommended under this Coordinated Action Plan for Anti-Displacement that fall within the scope of the project are the responsibility of the BPO and are identified as “Project actions.”

  • Corridor Cities (Minneapolis, Robbinsdale, Crystal, Brooklyn Park) are responsible for local land use policies, local roadways, assisting with community engagement, and working alongside the Metropolitan Council and Hennepin County to implement project actions that require coordination with the cities, as well as actions that the cities alone are positioned to advance. Infrastructure improvements by the cities will likely be done in coordination with BLE construction to minimize costs and maximize safety impacts. Cities may also help distribute funding from Hennepin County and other partner programs. As discussed further below, corridor cities have a unique and essential role as the entities with jurisdictional authority to deliver key anti-displacement policies and interventions, especially related to land use zoning and policy.

  • The Anti-displacement Community Prosperity Program (“ACPP”) Board is a 26-member group, including residents and business owners in the area, people with lived experience of displacement, and people from the philanthropic community and local government agencies. This Board was established by the Minnesota State Legislature to govern the Anti-displacement Community Prosperity Program (ACPP), which received a $10 million allocation from the Legislature in spring 2024. The initial members of the ACPP Board are the members of the Anti-Displacement Work Group, which has been instrumental in laying the groundwork for the Coordinated Action Plan through the creation of the Anti-Displacement Recommendations report.

  • The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) is an independent park district that owns, maintains and programs property and activities in Minneapolis. MPRB is a committed partner in exploring and advancing innovative strategies to prevent displacement and support residents and businesses before, during and after construction. As identified in their comprehensive plan, the Park Board can “partner with other agencies at various stages of the development process, and leverage agency relationships to further anti-displacement approaches, foster healthy and equitable community development projects and capital improvement and advocate for housing availability.” MPRB staff have identified four anti-displacement focus areas with strong connections to existing and ongoing work of the park board, including land disposition, small business support, workforce programs and cultural placekeeping/placemaking.

  • The State of Minnesota is the initial funder of the Antidisplacement Community Prosperity Program (ACPP), having appropriated money during the 2024 legislative session. The state will provide oversight and implement procedures or policies necessary for the disbursement of these funds. The state may also be the responsible legislative authority to implement certain policy changes related to anti-displacement.

  • Federal agency partners will provide significant funding for the transit project and could provide additional funding for related anti-displacement efforts. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) could provide up to half of the capital funding for the BLE project, while other agencies such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) or the Department of Transportation (DOT) may provide funding for other projects along the BLE alignment, such as housing and community development or multimodal transportation safety projects.

  • Other implementation partners may include philanthropic organizations, nonprofits, and community-based organizations, who may advance or support anti-displacement work by providing funding and program delivery through the disbursement of federal, state, and local funds, as well as supporting community engagement, program and policy implementation, and more. Community-based and cultural organizations in the corridor will play a critical role in informing the development and execution of anti-displacement actions and providing oversight and accountability of public agencies in delivering actions identified in this plan. Philanthropic and private sector partners will play a critical role providing investment, planning, and implementation support, especially for new actions where innovation and creativity is most needed.


Funding

Many of the programs and actions outlined in this plan are already ‘in place’ and are expected to be funded in the budget of a local government agency for years to come. Other initiatives represent new programs or actions ‘in development,’ where local government has committed funding. Expanding existing programs and developing certain programs noted as ‘under consideration’ will require new resources from non-government sources.

The wide scope of topic areas and strategies combined with the diversity of partners involved in this effort will make many different sources of funding available. Partners also anticipate the alignment of this work with priority values shared by local, regional, state, and federal agencies, as well as other private, philanthropic, and nonprofit entities, will help build broad financial support for preventing displacement and growing inclusive prosperity in corridor communities over time.

An incremental and flexible fundraising approach will allow partners to be responsive to emerging and changing needs and target investment and funding opportunities where it can be most impactful for corridor residents and businesses. This approach will also allow individual implementing partners and funders to focus on the areas of work they are uniquely positioned to advance. There may be instances where a nonprofit or private entity is better positioned to deliver impactful programming or pursue funding than a public entity. Alternatively, there will be times when government is best suited to deliver a particular program or service or pursue a specific funding opportunity.

During the Spring 2024 session, the Minnesota Legislature established a new $10 Million funding allocation to advance certain Anti-displacement objectives. The program is called the Antidisplacement Community Prosperity Program (ACPP), and the legislation established the ACPP Board to make decisions around the use of these new resources. The qualifying purposes of the ACPP are outlined below, along with the corresponding section of this Plan that describes relevant programs and initiatives.


Metrics and Measurement

Working with partners in the community and local government, Hennepin County will lead efforts to develop, measure, and track metrics that define successful anti-displacement and disparity reduction along the BLE corridor. This work will quantify the outcomes recommended by the Anti-Displacement Work Group as well as connect recommended policies and actions to those outcomes. As part of this process, the Metropolitan Council and Hennepin County will develop a framework to gather, analyze, and communicate baseline data and continuously evaluate conditions in the corridor. The University of Minnesota’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs will review the proposed metrics to ensure they comprehensively address the shared vision for anti-displacement. To ensure transparency, the county will also develop a set of public-facing dashboards to track metrics along the corridor.


Introduction

The Blue Line Extension Light Rail Transit project (BLE) is a rare opportunity to build inclusive community prosperity. Agency and community partners are committed to working together to prevent displacement and maximize the benefits of light rail for existing residents and businesses within the BLE corridor. The purpose of this document is to present all possible actions that could be used to achieve anti-displacement and community prosperity, and to facilitate the identification and advancement of priority actions by specific entities.

The BLE project will enhance transit service for many households who rely on transit. This major transportation investment will increase access to education, jobs, healthcare, recreation, and other services and opportunities that allow people to build wealth and live healthy and happy lives. In addition to major improvements in mobility and connectivity, light rail transit can inspire additional investment in community and economic development including housing, business growth, infrastructure and more. It can lead to new locally-owned and community-serving businesses, more affordable housing options, and improved infrastructure.


Many communities in the BLE corridor have suffered historical disinvestment and continue to experience racial and economic disparities stemming from systemic racism, segregation, redlining, and other unjust housing and land use policies and practices. Major public infrastructure investments have too often been delivered at the expense of communities of color. Communities in the BLE corridor have experienced this history firsthand with the construction of Interstate 94 and Olson Memorial Highway, which displaced thriving Black and Jewish businesses, neighborhoods, and cultural districts. With the opportunities light rail can bring to communities, it can also bring concerns and risk of displacement. Residents, businesses, and community leaders have raised these concerns, and government partners hear and share them.

For all people in the BLE corridor to benefit from the transit investment, public, private, and community partners must work together to develop and fund robust anti-displacement strategies. The Blue Line Extension project can set a national example for how agency and community partners work together to deliver major infrastructure for the benefit of communities of color, instead of at their expense. The success of the Blue Line Extension will be measured by whether it benefits existing communities in the corridor, rather than those who would displace them.


Background

The METRO Blue Line Light Rail Extension Project (Project) is proposed to run 13.4 miles northwest from downtown Minneapolis, connecting Brooklyn Park, Crystal, Robbinsdale, north Minneapolis, and surrounding communities to new opportunities and destinations. This critical piece of our transit system will improve mobility and access in the highly traveled northwest area of the Twin Cities metropolitan area, including communities with high numbers of households who rely on transit to get where they need to go every day.

The existing METRO Blue Line light rail transit line currently terminates at Target Field Station in downtown Minneapolis. The Project would extend the existing line to provide a one-seat ride from corridor communities to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, the Mall of America, and many other key destinations and connections along the way. While integrating with other existing and planned transitways, the Project would include LRT tracks, 12 new stations, bridges, pedestrian amenities, bike facilities, and park-and-ride facilities.


Community members have raised concerns of displacement around the Blue Line Extension for many years and have called on project leaders and partners to implement an equity framework that centers community voices in implementing measures to ensure existing corridor residents are the first to benefit from this transit investment. In response to these concerns, Hennepin County and the Metropolitan Council launched a first-of-its-kind community oriented anti-displacement initiative in 2021.

To lead the initial phases of this work, Hennepin County contracted with the University of Minnesota's Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) to convene an Anti-Displacement Work Group (ADWG). The ADWG centered community voices and brought together diverse stakeholders and subject matter experts to study and recommend anti-displacement strategies to help ensure BLE light rail will benefit current corridor residents, and minimize physical, cultural, and economic displacement. The ADWG included corridor residents, business owners, philanthropic partners, and representatives from each local governmental entity along the corridor. After meeting for more than a year, the ADWG published its Blue Line Anti-Displacement Recommendations report in April 2023. The report defined a set of desired outcomes, actions, and policies to guide anti-displacement planning and investment.


Approach

The purpose of the Coordinated Action Plan is to identify the full range of existing and potential new actions and policies, and likely lead entities for each, to ensure efficient coordination and to maximize the impact of project and partner actions. The Coordinated Action Plan (CAP, or “Plan”) aims to prevent displacement before, during, and after light rail construction. The plan includes actions to address physical, cultural, and economic displacement pressures. The plan specifically builds on and centers the leadership, research, and recommendations of the Anti-Displacement Work Group in order to describe how their desired outcomes for anti-displacement can be achieved. The plan will be a living document designed to remain responsive to evolving needs, opportunities, and conditions in the Blue Line Extension corridor leading up to, during, and after construction of the light rail project.

Each section of this document contains “blueprints” that detail our overall approach and actions that are in place, being developed, or under consideration. These blueprints and actions represent many but not all potential actions that could be taken by partners to achieve anti-displacement and community prosperity outcomes. They do not necessarily represent specific commitments that have been made by individual entities to take those actions, except where an action is identified as “in place.”

Positioning the appropriate partners to lead individual actions is critical to our approach. In some cases, only specific jurisdictions will have the authority to adopt and implement or enforce relevant policy or legislative actions. For example, in the case of rental markets, only cities or the state will have the regulatory and enforcement power to enact specific policy actions such as limiting investor ownership of single-family homes, Inclusionary Zoning, Tenant Screening Reform, and Tenant Opportunity to Purchase. In such cases, Hennepin County and the Metropolitan Council are positioned to provide technical assistance and support to the implementing entity. Where opportunities exist to advance state legislation to protect residents and business owners, the County is prepared to work with community and local government partners to champion and advance these efforts.


Timing

Anti-displacement planning and implementation has been in the works for many years. Since 2015, Hennepin County’s Bottineau Community Works has partnered with jurisdictions to guide community and economic development in the corridor. Continued community engagement has helped refine anti-displacement needs and priorities, while new funding streams and commitments from partners are being secured to support deeper, targeted investment.

Planning and implementation efforts will continue before, during, and after construction with the community’s voice centered in all anti-displacement efforts. Throughout the Coordinated Action Plan, we have noted specific checkpoints to meaningfully engage and incorporate feedback from the community, especially when considering adaptations to existing services and resources. Below, readers can view how actions are being designed, implemented, and evaluated with community engagement at the forefront throughout the different periods of the Blue Line Extension’s construction. Readers can view sections of the Coordinated Action Plan for more information on the timing of specific actions.


Roles and Responsibilities

Given its status as a federal transit project, federal and state law and regulations limits what the Blue Line Extension Project can and cannot fund and when it can or cannot take specific actions related to anti-displacement. The federal environmental review process will identify specific project commitments and actions related to anti-displacement, to be outlined in the 2025 Supplemental Final Environmental Impact Statement. To complement what the BLE project can do within the scope of the transit project, a wide variety of partners are coordinating work outside of and separate from the Blue Line Extension project.

No one agency or entity alone can deliver the full breadth of programs, strategies, and policies needed to realize the potential of this work. Partner agencies and organizations already have many impactful programs that they can expand or focus to achieve the identified anti-displacement outcomes. New programs or initiatives will be coordinated and led by the appropriate agency or entity to optimize delivery and impact. In some instances, actions will be most impactful if led by a non-public entity.

Key Partners

  • Hennepin County will be the primary owner and lead coordinator of the Coordinated Action Plan for Anti-Displacement. It will be responsible for convening partners identified in this plan to advance, strategize, and coordinate action across agencies, community, philanthropic, nonprofit, and private organizations. The county is also a primary funder and partner in the development of BLE transit and aims to ensure that when combined with anti-displacement actions, this new infrastructure benefits the communities it serves starting with existing residents and business owners. The County has committed full-time staff through its Disparity Reduction line of business to lead its anti-displacement work. Hennepin County already operates many impactful tools, programs, and policies that will contribute to anti-displacement objectives. These efforts will be evaluated and expanded, refined, or focused, and the county will also develop new programs and strategies to address displacement concerns. Where appropriate, Hennepin County can also serve as fiscal agent or grant recipient for potential external funding sources. Hennepin County’s Disparity Reduction line of business works to eliminate disparities in education, income, employment, housing, health, justice, and connectivity. The county recognizes that the BLE corridor experiences some of the most significant disparities in our region, and that many members of the BLE corridor communities are already vulnerable to displacement. The county acknowledges that historic patterns of racism, exclusion, and disinvestment at every level of government have created many of these disparities. Hennepin County will also provide staffing and administrative support for the Anti-displacement Community Prosperity Program Board (described below) established by the state legislature. The county will partner with this body as it develops plans and actions around its anti-displacement work.

  • The Metropolitan Council will help coordinate the Coordinated Action Plan for Anti-Displacement. It will coordinate work among partners, and it will help implement policies and programs identified in the plan. The Council is responsible for the Blue Line Extension project. It is the recipient of federal funds for the project, and it is primarily responsible for the oversight and delivery of anti-displacement actions identified in this plan as “Project actions.” The Council has set up the Blue Line Extension Project Office (BPO). The Council is also responsible for the future maintenance and operations of the BLE and accompanying facilities. As the Twin Cities regional governmental entity, the Council also manages many programs and initiatives related to housing, economic development, parks and the environment, transportation infrastructure, and community and urban planning and policy. Many of these programs, initiatives, and policies can be expanded or focused to achieve anti-displacement priorities in the BLE corridor.

  • The Metropolitan Council Blue Line Extension Project Office (BPO) is responsible for the BLE project itself and all efforts to deliver the LRT project. This includes but is not limited to the design of the BLE route, the design of new stations, infrastructure improvements to areas along the alignment that are paid for by the project, construction of the project, public outreach for the project, and more. Many project actions that will be responsive to anti-displacement recommendations will be identified through the federal environmental review process, including specific commitments that will be outlined in the Supplemental Final Environmental Impact Statement expected to be published in mid-2025. Actions recommended under this Coordinated Action Plan for Anti-Displacement that fall within the scope of the project are the responsibility of the BPO and are identified as “Project actions.”

  • Corridor Cities (Minneapolis, Robbinsdale, Crystal, Brooklyn Park) are responsible for local land use policies, local roadways, assisting with community engagement, and working alongside the Metropolitan Council and Hennepin County to implement project actions that require coordination with the cities, as well as actions that the cities alone are positioned to advance. Infrastructure improvements by the cities will likely be done in coordination with BLE construction to minimize costs and maximize safety impacts. Cities may also help distribute funding from Hennepin County and other partner programs. As discussed further below, corridor cities have a unique and essential role as the entities with jurisdictional authority to deliver key anti-displacement policies and interventions, especially related to land use zoning and policy.

  • The Anti-displacement Community Prosperity Program (“ACPP”) Board is a 26-member group, including residents and business owners in the area, people with lived experience of displacement, and people from the philanthropic community and local government agencies. This Board was established by the Minnesota State Legislature to govern the Anti-displacement Community Prosperity Program (ACPP), which received a $10 million allocation from the Legislature in spring 2024. The initial members of the ACPP Board are the members of the Anti-Displacement Work Group, which has been instrumental in laying the groundwork for the Coordinated Action Plan through the creation of the Anti-Displacement Recommendations report.

  • The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) is an independent park district that owns, maintains and programs property and activities in Minneapolis. MPRB is a committed partner in exploring and advancing innovative strategies to prevent displacement and support residents and businesses before, during and after construction. As identified in their comprehensive plan, the Park Board can “partner with other agencies at various stages of the development process, and leverage agency relationships to further anti-displacement approaches, foster healthy and equitable community development projects and capital improvement and advocate for housing availability.” MPRB staff have identified four anti-displacement focus areas with strong connections to existing and ongoing work of the park board, including land disposition, small business support, workforce programs and cultural placekeeping/placemaking.

  • The State of Minnesota is the initial funder of the Antidisplacement Community Prosperity Program (ACPP), having appropriated money during the 2024 legislative session. The state will provide oversight and implement procedures or policies necessary for the disbursement of these funds. The state may also be the responsible legislative authority to implement certain policy changes related to anti-displacement.

  • Federal agency partners will provide significant funding for the transit project and could provide additional funding for related anti-displacement efforts. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) could provide up to half of the capital funding for the BLE project, while other agencies such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) or the Department of Transportation (DOT) may provide funding for other projects along the BLE alignment, such as housing and community development or multimodal transportation safety projects.

  • Other implementation partners may include philanthropic organizations, nonprofits, and community-based organizations, who may advance or support anti-displacement work by providing funding and program delivery through the disbursement of federal, state, and local funds, as well as supporting community engagement, program and policy implementation, and more. Community-based and cultural organizations in the corridor will play a critical role in informing the development and execution of anti-displacement actions and providing oversight and accountability of public agencies in delivering actions identified in this plan. Philanthropic and private sector partners will play a critical role providing investment, planning, and implementation support, especially for new actions where innovation and creativity is most needed.


Funding

Many of the programs and actions outlined in this plan are already ‘in place’ and are expected to be funded in the budget of a local government agency for years to come. Other initiatives represent new programs or actions ‘in development,’ where local government has committed funding. Expanding existing programs and developing certain programs noted as ‘under consideration’ will require new resources from non-government sources.

The wide scope of topic areas and strategies combined with the diversity of partners involved in this effort will make many different sources of funding available. Partners also anticipate the alignment of this work with priority values shared by local, regional, state, and federal agencies, as well as other private, philanthropic, and nonprofit entities, will help build broad financial support for preventing displacement and growing inclusive prosperity in corridor communities over time.

An incremental and flexible fundraising approach will allow partners to be responsive to emerging and changing needs and target investment and funding opportunities where it can be most impactful for corridor residents and businesses. This approach will also allow individual implementing partners and funders to focus on the areas of work they are uniquely positioned to advance. There may be instances where a nonprofit or private entity is better positioned to deliver impactful programming or pursue funding than a public entity. Alternatively, there will be times when government is best suited to deliver a particular program or service or pursue a specific funding opportunity.

During the Spring 2024 session, the Minnesota Legislature established a new $10 Million funding allocation to advance certain Anti-displacement objectives. The program is called the Antidisplacement Community Prosperity Program (ACPP), and the legislation established the ACPP Board to make decisions around the use of these new resources. The qualifying purposes of the ACPP are outlined below, along with the corresponding section of this Plan that describes relevant programs and initiatives.


Metrics and Measurement

Working with partners in the community and local government, Hennepin County will lead efforts to develop, measure, and track metrics that define successful anti-displacement and disparity reduction along the BLE corridor. This work will quantify the outcomes recommended by the Anti-Displacement Work Group as well as connect recommended policies and actions to those outcomes. As part of this process, the Metropolitan Council and Hennepin County will develop a framework to gather, analyze, and communicate baseline data and continuously evaluate conditions in the corridor. The University of Minnesota’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs will review the proposed metrics to ensure they comprehensively address the shared vision for anti-displacement. To ensure transparency, the county will also develop a set of public-facing dashboards to track metrics along the corridor.


Page last updated: 21 Aug 2024, 12:48 PM