Audit Finds Minneapolis Violence Prevention Contracts Lacked Oversight, Prone to Fraud

A city audit has found that Minneapolis failed to properly oversee more than 100 contracts awarded to community groups in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, raising concerns about fraud and favoritism in programs billed as alternatives to traditional policing.

The Neighborhood Safety Contract Management Report examined city spending from 2020 to 2025 and concluded that Minneapolis was “not providing sufficient contract oversight or managing contracts effectively.” According to the audit, the city has spent more than $36 million since 2023 on five violence prevention programs.

The report found that contractors submitted invoices lacking supporting documentation while the city continued to make payments. Auditors also found no organized process for site visits to verify that contracted services were actually being performed.

A Pattern Dating Back Years

The audit was written by Bill Glahn, a policy fellow at the Center of the American Experiment, who examined similar issues in a 2023 review. That earlier analysis found the city had committed $7.5 million to a violence interrupter program for 2022-2023, with another $13 million allocated for 2024-2028, despite no evidence that the program was reducing crime.

Glahn’s review also looked at the backgrounds and finances of organizations receiving city grants, finding that several had annual revenues or staffing levels well below the size of the grants they were awarded.

One of the groups examined, called “We Push for Peace,” had members connected to violence outside grocery stores in St. Paul in 2021, and separately was seen on video involved in an assault on a homeless man. In May, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a lawsuit against the group, alleging it misused roughly $6.5 million in funds on luxury vehicles and trips to Las Vegas.

“The city seems primarily interested in shoveling money out the door to ‘address’ urgent problems. Little if any care is given to ensuring that the grant recipients are capable of or have a track record of doing the work, are actually doing the work contracted for, or whether that work is resulting in net benefit for city residents and taxpayers.”

The findings add to a broader pattern of scrutiny over how Minneapolis and Hennepin County have managed public funds directed toward community-based programs in the years following George Floyd’s death in May 2020.