MINNEAPOLIS — For the first time, Minneapolis is poised to invest in Turning Point, a long-standing nonprofit located in the Willard-Hay neighborhood on the city's north side. The organization led by Dr. Peter Hayden provides substance use disorder treatments designed for African Americans.
During a press conference with city and state leaders Wednesday, counselor Byron Jeffrey said the organization helped him turn from someone who needed help to someone who helps others.
"I came here and I heard another guy share," Jeffrey said. "He shared his story and I cried right in that corner. That was my turning point."
The nonprofit also turned around life for a woman whose daughter would become Ward 4 city council member LaTrisha Vetaw.
"My mother fell victim to the crack epidemic in the '90s and this place is what made a huge turnaround for my family," Vetaw said.
Vetaw says her mother tried other treatment centers but says Turning Point worked best because it was located in the same neighborhood where they lived, offering culturally specific behavioral health services.
Turning Point also provides housing and training opportunities. However, multiple upgrades are needed on many of its properties.
"Our auditors had given us this whole kind of narrative," chief financial officer Lori Wilson said. "They said, 'Basically you guys, your doors will be closed by the end of the year,' and I was like, 'Not on my watch. Not on your watch,' and so we did a lot of just relationship building. Like, 'Who can we talk to?'"
Now though, Mayor Jacob Frey has included $500,000 for Turning Point in his 2024 budget proposal. It's the first administration to do so in the nonprofit's 47-year history.
Frey says city data from 2021 shows Black people were 2.4 times more likely and Native Americans were 29 times more likely to suffer from an opioid overdose death than white people.
"Nationwide we have an opioid crisis," Frey said. "When council member Vetaw said, 'Hey you got to go check this place out,' we walked through. We saw a place that was in desperate need of repair but was still doing the work … the work that quite literally keeps people alive."
Minnesota Senate president Bobby Joe Champion was also on that tour. This year, he sponsored a bill that would provide Turning Point with $1 million in grant money. Sen. Champion says the bill passed as a part of the capital investment bill.
The city money would be available in January after council adopts a final budget by mid-December.
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