After tornado recovery, north Minneapolis tackles social issues

Three years after a tornado struck north Minneapolis, recovery efforts have turned from repairing buildings to addressing long-term social issues.

The May 22, 2011, tornado damaged about 150 homes and destroyed about 6,000 trees. Most of the storm damaged properties have been torn down or repaired and two years ago, forestry crews finished replanting more than 3,000 trees.

However, some say the storm recovery efforts have not been able to repair the social problems that still affect many area residents. Today, many will attend a community meeting at the University of Minnesota Urban Research and Outreach Engagement Center that will mark the three-year anniversary of the tornado — and focus on repairing ongoing economic damage on the city's north side.

Members of the Northside Community Response Team say they are working to find ways to bring jobs and economic growth to north Minneapolis, where nearly 70 percent of northside residents receive some form of government assistance. The group is also marking the storms anniversary by launching a study of the housing needs of north side residents.

Louis King, president and CEO of Summit Academy OIC, said the tornado exposed some of the long standing disparities between low-income people of color who live in the storm damaged neighborhoods and the larger Twin Cities community.

At the meeting, King and others will talk about efforts to improve job opportunities for residents of the hard-hit areas who by 2040 will account for much of the region's growth and 40 percent of its workforce.

"I think we have a great opportunity here," King said. "We need to be about the business of integrating these people into the economic mainstream."