Black-led credit union opening in north Minneapolis

CATHY WURZER: A Black-led credit union is gearing up to open in North Minneapolis this fall. It was renamed recently by the Association for Black Economic Power. That's a nonprofit with a mission to address systemic financial challenges affecting residents in North Minneapolis. It's now called Arise Community Credit Union.

For more about the credit union and other business news in the Twin Cities, I'd like to welcome Kelly Bush to the program. Kelly is a Reporter for the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal. Hey, Kelly.

KELLY BUSH: Hey, Cathy. How's it going?

CATHY WURZER: Good. Thank you for being here. We appreciate it. Say, for listeners who don't already know, tell us the back story about Arise Community Credit Union.

KELLY BUSH: Sure. So Arise Community Credit Union is a Black-led community credit union that's been planned for North Minneapolis since 2017. The credit union was launched by local nonprofit Association for Black Economic Power. And it's going to be the first Black-led credit union in Minneapolis when it opens.

CATHY WURZER: So what's the community saying about this?

KELLY BUSH: Yeah, so the community voted on this new name, and the new name is a change from its former name, which is Village Financial Credit Union. And so this new name brings the credit union one step closer to opening.

CATHY WURZER: So let's talk about some other North Minneapolis news. The food justice nonprofit called Appetite for Change I know received their largest donation ever, which was $1.5 million from an anonymous donor. I've never heard of Appetite for Change. Tell us about it.

KELLY BUSH: Yeah. Appetite for Change is another nonprofit in north Minneapolis and it's a nonprofit that uses food as a tool to build wealth and promote social change. So it operates a few programs in the community. These include the West Broadway Farmers Market, Community Cooks meal boxes, and the North Side Fresh Coalition. It also operates Breaking Bread Cafe and Catering on West Broadway Avenue in North Minneapolis.

CATHY WURZER: It sounds like a lot. How are they going to use this donation?

KELLY BUSH: Yeah. It's an unrestricted gift. So the nonprofit can use it however it sees fit. And they told us that right now, it's planning to use the funds to help buy a headquarters building in North Minneapolis. And it also wants to purchase vehicles to support its operations, as well as hire more staff and provide benefits to current staff.

CATHY WURZER: All right, let's move on to another story. Kelly, I understand you recently reported that the Red Lake Nation College, which is in downtown Minneapolis, is expanding its footprint. Tell us about that.

KELLY BUSH: Yeah, it's looking to grow its downtown Minneapolis footprint. And its campus right now is located across the street from US Bank Stadium. And here, it wants to construct one large building which would incorporate two other buildings that currently stand on the property. And this new building would have a two-story glass atrium, classroom space, and event space that would all be used by the college.

And right now, the college currently operates minimally out of one building on-site. And with the new building, it hopes to enroll at least 250 students and further develop curriculum and degree programs for the college.

CATHY WURZER: So I'm assuming this is run by the Red Lake Nation. And who can attend this college? Anyone?

KELLY BUSH: Yeah, anyone. Community members of the Red Lake Nation as well as non-tribal members as well.

CATHY WURZER: All right, a big business target, of course, is facing some issues we understand with excess inventory post-pandemic. What's going on there?

KELLY BUSH: Yeah. It was a big week in local business news. So Target reported its second quarter results this week. And the headline from that report is that Target's second quarter profits fell by nearly 90% from a year ago. And this decline is due to right-sizing steps that Target took earlier this summer.

So Target slashed prices on some items to get rid of that excess inventory. And this right-sizing was needed because consumer habits have pretty abruptly shifted away from items that were popular early in the pandemic. And these popular items were things like kitchen appliances, TVs, and outdoor furnitures, which Target had too much inventory of.

CATHY WURZER: OK. So if I'm looking for a TV, will I get a deal?

KELLY BUSH: I'm not sure you'll get a deal anymore. Target said that it's in a much better place now thanks to those steps it took. So it's expecting financial improvements to continue over the next rest of the year.

CATHY WURZER: OK, so sounds like they've kind of winnowed down their inventory.

KELLY BUSH: Yes, exactly.

CATHY WURZER: Kelly, nice job. We'll have you back.

KELLY BUSH: Thank you. For more on these stories and other local business news, log on to MSPBJ.com.

CATHY WURZER: Excellent. Thank you. Kelly Bush is a reporter for the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal.