foreign [Music] Brooklyn Center Community I'm April Graves mayor of Brooklyn Center I have served as a city council member since 2015 and for four months as your mayor the last few years have been really tough for all of us we've weathered a global pandemic civil unrest upticks and violence and strained social relationships too often we have suffered from either or thinking when solutions to complex social and systemic problems need to be both and the Brooklyn Center City staff commissions committees task force businesses and our diverse Community have been integral to our Collective ability to heal come together and move forward into a more collaborative and compassionate future it's an imperfect process yet despite this discomfort and setbacks it's still progress in the right direction our work together signifies an expansion of practice and procedure that creates more space for marginalized voices and a greater shift in culture toward empathy equity and social justice I'd like to take this opportunity to share with you some of the work the city has done and is doing to help us all live healthier happier and more connected lives in Brooklyn Center foreign months We have replaced six of seven Department directors and finance Public Works our police chief assistant city manager Recreation and interim director of Community Development we are recruiting for community development director which we anticipate to be in place by June we're adding a position of performance analysts to help the city begin measuring progress and all departments a position we have not previously had in addition to the six new Department directors we also have two new office directors that work across the entire organization the director of the office of community prevention health and safety and director of equity and Human Resources the office of community prevention health and safety is a new office that hosts the divisions of alternative response and prevention organizational performance analysts and Community engagement foreign crisis response team started meeting in April of 2021 with Community Partners Business Leaders school officials policy makers to address the impact of covid civil unrest and systemic oppression the community crisis response team provided a space for daily updates between Public Safety coordinators and Community interveners to coordinate safe and peaceful protesting environments the meetings are held weekly monthly or daily as needed to share in real time and develop strategies to alleviate obstacles that prevent resources from reaching the most vulnerable populations thank you emerging Brooklyn Center started in July of 2022 35 Community Partners including residents business owners City staff and Community Messengers have come together as a cohort to learn and co-create together it is an 18-month journey to build trusting relationships shared understanding of systemic challenges of racism and awareness of disparities across the areas of Health Public Safety Economic Development housing and food access the cohort is working to identify innovative ways of dismantling systemic challenges for all residents businesses and institutions in Brooklyn Center and is receiving training on subjects such as immigration housing Small Business and Entrepreneurship incarceration social justice Transportation housing Health Care conflict resolution communication and trauma-informed care [Music] in response to local and National trauma triggers Community Partners have been supported in the city's office of Community Health prevention and safety for healing circles healing circles derive from the practices of indigenous peoples and allows for the formation of relationships the honoring of voices and the creation of unity the city and partners hosted a healing Circle in response to the Memphis Police Department video release we also supported the BC Circle Series which included a circle with the bcpd and Kenyan Church on Humboldt Avenue and Community healing circles for men in April and ongoing healing space for women at intentions in April as well [Music] the city is currently partnering with the Brooklyn Center Community Schools Health Resource Center Specialists Community Partners and wreck on the go for the spring and summer health on the go session health on the go will be at our local parks with Community programming that includes Fitness arts and crafts and health related resources Health on the go will attend Brooklyn Center farmers markets as well as Community pop-ups during the months of May through July Health on the go will also collaborate with Brooklyn Park Health on the go for Brooklyn Park days and the 2023 Brooklyn Center Health Fair Health on the go will also support mental health initiatives hosted by Community Partners In The City thank you the Department of Justice mediators are conducting Community trainings at the Brooklyn Center Community Center the training certifies the participants to facilitate Community conflict using facilitating conflict resolution fundamentals each session can train up to 15 people register through the city's website it's a two-day training that is held four times a year May 25th through 26 August 24th through 25th and November 16th through 17th Narcan and opioid awareness are ongoing trainings facilitated in the community the first training was held in March of 2023. upcoming Narcan training and opioid awareness will continue throughout the summer at various neighborhood locations dates and locations will be posted on the city's website foreign the office of equity and Human Resources mission is to help make Brooklyn Center the best city to work for in Minnesota the office will collaboratively be building a robust HR program that equips and enables employees to do their best work every day over the summer the EHR team will pilot professional development content and team building activities in public works organizational design projects and finance and HR and revising the city's employee handbook in addition A diversity equity and inclusion program will be developed and shared with all city employees the goal of this work is to weave diversity equity and inclusion into the regular business rhythms and decision-making processes of the city there will also be training and other professional development experiences delivered to employees to better equip them to build a productive and inclusive work environment and deliver exceptional customer service to Residents and visitors thank you in public safety we have 40 sworn officers current working in the city increasing Firearms recovered we are also close to implementing an online crime dashboard the bcpd and economic development staff have met with Metro Transit the Met Council leadership and Shingle Creek Crossing developer regarding Safety and Security of the transit center and business areas this work is ongoing the bcpd is in the process of having all supervisors attend Internal Affairs training and bias related training working on more specific diversity training with our new equity and HR director and with a local college that will provide cultural diversity training 30 officers have completed one hour of Patrol online de-escalation training we also have Incorporated de-escalation training into our use of force training via scenarios and new hires get this training during their pre-service we recently had about 14 officers complete two days of field sobriety training 31 officers completed four hours of online autism training foreign the bcpd updated its use of force policy to place more of an emphasis on de-escalation training the bcpd also hosts an embedded social worker that provides the follow-up services for repeat police calls with underlying social support needs we recently hired a liaison for the joint Community Police partnership and the police chief fire chief city manager director of Community Health prevention and safety Hennepin County and the city council are working on implementation of recommendations to create an expanded response team to respond to non-violent mental and Behavioral Health 9-1-1 calls [Music] we also have multiple jurisdictional Partnerships sometimes we have a detective work out of Brooklyn Park to network with their detectives regarding violent crime we have a detective and a crime analyst that attends Northwest Hennepin violent crime collaboratives we've formed a regional task force with other cities such as Brooklyn Park and the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office provides eight lines of business business so if we do not have a law enforcement specialty the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office will provide that for our city foreign now for some updates on our economic and Community Development activities the city executed an immediate action plan in response to Walmart closing City staff courting with the Walmart national office to mitigate the harm in Brooklyn Center including employee transition building ownership transition surrounding Business Development cooperation and security we have developed various scenarios and are engaging potential business owners Walmart site was placed on the market last week the city has upward of five new committed businesses coming to Shingle Creek Crossing including a boba or also known as bubble tea shop ice cream shop and Guatemalan Cuisine Restaurant Polo campira the new businesses are a testament to the desire to come to Brooklyn Center to do business and we're excited to welcome them the final development of phase one of the opportunity site by August of 2023 is an important part of the phase and includes two 628 market and mixed rate housing units which is critical to the viability of businesses in Brooklyn Center particularly in Shingle Creek Crossing these living units will inject purchasing customers into the stores according to the Hennepin County assessor's office the overall value for all Brooklyn Center properties is 3.275 billion which includes 26 million in new construction efforts to create affordable commercial spaces for entrepreneurs micro businesses and small businesses to grow and Brooklyn Center are underway as well [Music] some new initiatives that the city council has been doing with Community include strategic planning a five-year strategic plan is underway this involves the council City leadership and Community identifying a shared vision for the city and prioritizing desired outcomes or end results we also are doing outcome-based budgeting and beginning this initial stages of the 2024 year budget the budget will shift from solely being focused on accounting and activities but toward the city's desired outcomes thereby we will align resources in a focused Manner and not a shotgun approach to achieving the visions of the city we also are starting our community survey the survey will be statistically valid and help the city understand the experiences thoughts and expectations of its residents this is a way to take the city's temperature at this specific time the information gathered will assist the city in planning and evaluating success foreign the city has been deliberate and recruiting and feeling city council commissions there will shortly be two new advisory committees including Community prevention safety and Cultural Arts we are also working with Brooklyn Bridge Alliance For Youth to create more opportunities for youth to join our city commissions the council has established a few task forces and committees to provide Community input and recommendations on major efforts of the city including Highway 252 task force and the Dante Wright Kobe dimmick Heisler Community safety and violence prevention resolution implementation committee these groups dedicate Council countless hours researching and synthesizing information and provide a plethora of wisdom to the council as we deliberate on complex issues recently the council submitted public comments to MnDOT on the Highway 252 I-94 scoping document as a council we ask that MnDOT change the draft scoping document to include evaluation of the six-lane expressway and four-lane low-speed arterial roadway and the environmental impact statement and include pedestrian and bicycle overpasses and the definition of those Alternatives Corridor elements and re-evaluate how they impact the multimodal level of service we also ask that MnDOT add project evaluation criteria that will evaluate the Project's effect on the city's tax base including projected changes to property values as well as changes to business activity finally we ask that MnDOT update its project purpose and need statement to include protecting and promoting Human Health Community livability and equity the city council has received recommendations from the implementation committee regarding eliminating consent searches as well as pretextual traffic stops the committee also presented recommendations on the creation of an expanded response team that would be dispatched to non-violent 9-1-1 calls and provide mental behavioral and social needs supports to individuals the city conducted three Town Halls on the proposed recommendations to gather additional Community input and will receive feedback from the city staff and vote on the recommendations during upcoming Council meetings [Music] now for some upcoming Community engagement opportunities and events we've expanded our youth programs at the community center we have free teen nights Thursdays in May Flick and Float nights swimming lessons in partnership with Brooklyn Center Community Schools archery and dancing lessons we're seeing an increased number of users at our community center the city has requested support from the Senate and House District representatives for a state bonding Bill to expand Community our community center add a multi-purpose gym Community rooms and outdoor splash pad we also have neighborhood meetings coming up Twin Lake Park in May Orchard Lane in June and Centennial Park and Shingle Creek in July there's also a girls and women bike ride with intentions and cycle sisters June 7th and the annual Juneteenth event June 17th National Night Out will be August 1st our community health fair will be August 12th and we also have multiple entertainment in the Park movies in the Parks Thursday farmers markets music on the green and movie date night at Center Brook Golf Course [Music] in the coming months we are committed to continuing this work change takes time but I see promising shifts in progress in our healing and moving forward as one Brooklyn Center there may be setbacks but I have faith in our community I believe in our city staff and I appreciate the differing perspectives of my fellow council members let's continue to show up and do the work and Lead With Love humility and Grace for ourselves and one another Unity is strength when there is teamwork and collaboration wonderful things can be achieved