Neighbors Who Are Making a Difference: Minneapolis Neighborhood Safety Clubs

Article by Becky Fillinger, photos provided

Mill District and North Loop Neighborhood Safety Club members with MPD officers and Ward 3 Council Member Michael Rainville front and center.

A Discussion with Founder and Leader, Aileen Johnson

Did you know that we have neighbors walking our neighborhoods in the evening, providing assistance to people in need and reporting on crimes in progress? The Minneapolis Neighborhood Safety Clubs are currently operational in 15 neighborhoods, with plans to grow to 48 neighborhoods in two years. Founder Aileen Johnson provided us with the background of the clubs and information on how to join a current or start a new safety club.

Aileen JohnsonQ:  Can you tell us about the history and mission of the Minneapolis Neighborhood Safety Clubs?

A:  We began in April of 2022 in hard times in North Loop with the encouragement of MPD 1st Precinct Lt Mark Klukow, Park Police Chief Jason Ohotto, Martin Patrick 3 Business Owner Dana Swindler, and Council Member Michael Rainville. Over time what started as a neighborhood project spread across the city. We are neighbors, business, and law enforcement all moving forward together in a spirit of friendship.

Q:  What neighborhoods does the group cover?

A:  We cover North Loop, Mill District, Loring Park, East Isles, Lowry Hill, Kenwood, East Bde Maka Ska, West Maka Ska, Thomas Beach, Linden Hills, Windom, Dinkytown, Nicollet Island East Bank and Sheridan.

Q:  How often are the walks conducted?

A:  It depends upon the neighborhood. Some walk twice weekly, some weekly and some every other week. The safety walks are a part of a larger program which includes neighborhood clean-up events, tours of City Departments, and learning sessions with Departmental leaders to improve our civic and municipal acumen. We also do special details, for example, staffing our safety information table from during bar close in North Loop when there was trouble in the alley near N Washington Avenue and N 2nd Avenue and helping keep an eye out to address drug dealing on Oak Grove Street in the Loring Park neighborhood. We also have purely social events to get to know each other better.

Q:  What are the requirements to join a group?

A:  We are a civic-minded group promoting friendship and engaged in volunteer service to our beloved City.  In order to be a member, you must support our mission of neighbors, businesses, and law enforcement all moving forward together in a spirit of friendship.

Q:  What safety protocols does the group follow during walks?

A:  We stay together and look out for one another. We are not violence interrupters but are an extra set of responsible eyes on the street looking out for people who need help and reporting crimes in progress to 911. Even when we encounter a health emergency, we take a moment to reflect on the next safe step to take which is almost always to call 911 immediately and then let them talk us through the situation until help has arrived. We periodically meet with the MPD Precinct Crime Prevention Specialists who instruct us in tips and skills to keep us safe while on our walks and in our personal lives. We rely upon our collective ability to keep calm in an emergency and to evaluate all next steps from the position of not jeopardizing our own safety.

Q:  How do you communicate with local law enforcement or emergency services?

A:  We communicate both formally and informally. We report in-progress crimes and medical emergencies through 911 and other issues through 311. We have excellent relationships with each of the five MPD Precincts and the Park Police. They reach out to us and we reach out to them on a routine basis to discuss crime information and to adjust our walks and special details to address their needs and the needs of our neighborhoods. We have formed strong friendships with MPD Officers and visit with them on the streets and at their workplaces on a regular basis.

Q:  What equipment or tools do members typically carry (e.g., flashlights, whistles, phones)?

A:  We wear orange t-shirts - kindly provided to us at no charge by MP3 in North Loop - with our individual neighborhood name on front and our common motto on the back, “Join us. Together we stand for a safer community.” In winter we wear orange stocking caps also provided to us by MP3. We carry flashlights when we are out at night. We carry Narcan provided by the Sheriff. We pick up a lot of litter across the city so we also carry trash bags, gloves and pickers. In Loring Park - where our litter detail is extensive - we have a wagon provided by one of our members to carry our equipment and to manage recyclables, dog waste and broken glass.

Q:  How do you coordinate the walks or patrols (e.g., schedules, routes)?

A:  We are a federation of neighborhood safety clubs operating under one umbrella. We are a grassroots self-funded group of volunteers committed to the same objectives, which are to: improve safety; build friendships; increase our civic and municipal acumen. I lead the larger network plus the North Loop, Mill District and Loring Park clubs. As we expanded, we began to engage more safety club leaders and continue to inspire more people to become safety club leaders for their neighborhoods. The leaders of each club work with their neighbors to determine the schedule of walks. Most neighborhoods walk on the same day each week and a few neighborhoods change their walking day every week. In addition to their regular walks, the leaders of each neighborhood safety club often call upon their teams to do special details such as litter pick-ups, lake and river clean-ups.

Q:  Can you share any success stories or notable achievements of the group?

A:  MPD 1st Precinct Inspector Billy Peterson credits the North Loop Neighborhood Safety Club with reducing theft from autos in North Loop through our education program. Park Chief Jason Ohotto credits our Loring Park Neighborhood Safety Club with moving Loring Park from its status as number one park for crime to not even placing in the top ten. Park Board President Meg Forney and Park Chief Jason Ohotto credit our joint East Isles, East Bde Maka Ska,West Maka Ska, Thomas Beach and Linden Hills safety clubs with influencing a peaceful 4th of July at Bde Maka Ska through their 4th of July safety plan and nighttime walk around the lake paths. Perhaps our most notable achievement is the mutual aid network and the friendships we have built across our neighborhoods and with business and law enforcement. Working with Council Member Michael Rainville and Park Police Chief Jason Ohotto we successfully completed our “Lights On” project to restore broken lighting along the James Rice Parkway and the Stone Arch Bridge.

Neighborhood safety club team members perform litter pick-up as part of their overall tasks. 

Q:  What are the goals for the next year or two?

A:  Our goal for 2024 is to grow from our current 15 to 24 neighborhood safety clubs and then to double that number in 2025 to 48. We have made great strides in educating our members about how the various departments of our City work and in building friendships with the people who lead and work in these departments. In 2025, we would also like to expand our educational tours and programs to include County functions.

Q:  This is all so impressive – congratulations on making a difference in our neighborhoods and city. How may we follow your news or contact you to form a group?

A:  Please visit our website at www.mplsneighborhoodsafetyclubs.com or contact me at fritzdoris@comcast.net or at (612) 516-9705.