Letter from the President 2021

December 2021

Dear Friends and Alumni of Minneapolis NEXT,

MinneapolisNEXT is ringing the bell again for donations. There is no more efficient way to put your charitable giving to work.

As I pen the 23rd annual MinneapolisNEXT update, it is with deep reflection. The Twin Cities is shaken to its core by the murder of George Floyd. What is next for Minneapolis.

Developing Our Next Leaders.

MinneapolisNEXT (“NEXT”) is a small community within our community. NEXT quietly nurtures the hopes and dreams of urban youth – many who feel connected to George Floyd. We have touched the lives of hundreds of deserving scholars, including more than 250 graduates from our flagship NEXT high school scholarship program since 2001 and 45 enrolled in the 2020- 2021 school year. MinneapolisNEXT has also for many years steadfastly supported both the Phelps Activities Council (PAC, 501c3) at Phelps Park in South Minneapolis and the Hollywood School of Dance (for youth) in North Minneapolis. NEXT is a simple recipe – providing essential ingredients to create opportunities for our deserving youth of the Twin Cities.

The little aspiring ballplayers at the park and the young girls in dance class are the future. There you will find kids brimming with optimism. In this year’s letter, we salute Pastor Jim Halbur, the unpaid PAC volunteers, and their park kids. Pastor Jim is the unpaid neighborhood leader of Phelps Park-based PAC. In his primary day job, he is the Senior Pastor at Fountain of Life Church, a few blocks East of the park. MinneapolisNEXT was introduced to Pastor Jim when a student involved in activities at the park was a candidate for a NEXT high school scholarship. MinneapolisNEXT directors visited the park and were impressed with the aspiring student and the entire Phelps story.

The PAC unpaid Volunteers and Pastor Jim are unsung heroes of the now infamous Phelps neighborhood. He and his neighborhood coalition, the PAC, www.phelpsfalcons.org, resurrected Phelps Park, a city park filled with negative activity and no athletics, in 2008. PAC and its partner, The Southside Village Boys and Girls Club, also facilitate activities in the clubhouse. Money is always tight at Phelps PAC. From sandwiches in the school day afternoons that have served thousands to many of the Phelps Falcons athletic teams commandeering the multi-purpose playing field and shoebox gym, the park is a whirl of positive activity. The Phelps Falcons football program is also a matter of tremendous community pride, as it has received national acclaim.

Phelps Park is one block south of the George Floyd crime site. The park became a key staging area and food shelf for a community in turmoil. The Phelps neighborhood was shut down for many months. Streets were blockaded. There was genuine angst. And who can forget the Covid pandemic.

Pastor Jim and his park kids love this neighborhood. They have ownership. A successful park with a great park leader is a remarkable thing. The boys and girls had to mature quickly in 2020 – and become leaders and role models. The Phelps Park kids stood with Pastor Jim and PAC on the frontline handing out food and water to the protestors and mourners. The gym became an organized food shelf with the kids assisting. The kids did not complain. Patience indeed leads to success.

This holiday season, MinneapolisNEXT salutes Pastor Jim, the PAC, and all of the kids at Phelps Park. They have been in the eye of the storm and are unsung heroes in our community. We are so proud to call you friends. Thank you.

And we thank you, our supporters, so much for providing the foundation on which we have grown the organization. With your assistance, we will take another step forward.

Our volunteer Board of Directors continues to pay all of the organization’s modest administrative expenses. As such, a full 100 percent of your donations directly benefit determined and deserving youth.

Here is to 23 more years of changing lives and strengthening communities…one child at a time.

We wish you all the best this holiday season and for a new year of joy, abundance, and good health.

Rexford Holland
Co-Founder and President, MinneapolisNEXT

Phelps Park, Minneapolis, MN
(One Block South of George Floyd Square)
Pastor Jim Halbur, Rex Holland (MplsNEXT), and two Phelps Park youths
(at George Floyd Site)

 

Phelps Park Under Lights
Pastor Jim Halbur: “It is a whole different atmosphere with different activities going on. It is especially noticeable at night with the lights on.”