House Racial Justice Committee recommends $1B 'BIPOC Capital Fund'

A state House panel assembled to address racism has announced what it thinks Minnesota should do to combat it. 

The House Select Committee on Racial Justice is recommending a $1 billion fund to help Minnesotans suffering inequality, along with policy changes that would impact everything from public art to the way the state does business with minority-owned contractors.

The report to the legislature comes about three months after the formation of the bipartisan committee, which followed a summer of civil unrest sparked by the death of George Floyd. 

The BIPOC Capital Fund, as it's referred to in the report, would be used to fund affordable housing and homeownership programs, grants, loans, business incubators and more. 

The report describes it as a "a dedicated revenue stream that will fund BIPOC activities that build the economic development infrastructure needed for wealth creation."

Meanwhile, the recommended policy changes would "require no new funding," the committee says. These include making it easier for small and minority-owned businesses to bid on state contracts, and dedicating "25 percent of the dollars dedicated to art in new construction projects to be provided by BIPOC cultural organizations and artists."

As the Star Tribune reports, the panel's Republican members gave a separate set of recommendations, which were "heavy on education reform, such as ending policies where teachers are laid off based on level of seniority."

The GOP members argues that "the practice undermines recruitment efforts," the paper notes. 

You can read the report in its entirety by clicking right here.