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Dear Friends,
Happy New Year. I hope this letter finds you and yours doing well.
I’d like to start the year with a recap of the previous year, and a sketch of my plans for 2021. Twenty-twenty was an incomparable year. Through upheaval both local and global, my office and I remained focused on the well-being of every Hennepin County resident in our work to keep community members healthy, protected, safe, and ultimately, thriving.
In the new year I’m honored to have been unanimously re-selected by my colleagues to be Chair of the Board. This will be my third year as chair, working with my fellow commissioners to ensure that together we prioritize and address the most pressing matters in Hennepin County.
It is my firm belief that government, at its core, exists to steward the common good and provide a safety net for those who need it. Now, more than ever, this responsibility is falling squarely on local governments, Hennepin County included. No jurisdiction has a greater day-to-day impact on the opportunity gap and social safety net than the county. It is imperative that we continue to critically
examine our systems and structures to ensure that this responsibility is carried out in a way that is just, equitable, accessible, and transparent.
These beliefs have led me to focus on the following work in the new year:
Justice
- Advancing the Hennepin County Climate Action Plan
- Continuing to push for justice and public safety reforms with a focus on reducing racial and economic disparities
- Continuing county leadership to ensure the health, safety and fair treatment of immigrants, and partner on the same at the federal level
Ongoing crisis response
- Collaborating with colleagues and community stakeholders to pursue more affordable housing for our region
- Assisting with Minneapolis’ continued recovery from the civil unrest of last summer
- Ongoing leadership to address impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in our communities
An eye to the future
- Partnering with community stakeholders to develop a vision for Hennepin County’s transit future
- Championing new initiatives focused on the wellbeing of county-connected youth
- Exploring opportunities for Hennepin County to lead on single-payer health care
Community input and feedback continue to be a driving force in my policymaking. County visibility, transparency in our decision-making, and co-governance with our communities is critical if we are serious about our goals. This kind of partnership is not only expected, it is how the work will be successful.
COVID-19 response: County Incident Command
In March of 2020, county leadership initiated Hennepin County’s Incident Command and COVID-19 response. By the end of the year, the board allocated and staff executed on $221 million in federal CARES funding as enumerated below. The county’s response has been herculean, and I am grateful to, and
proud of, county administration and staff for their innovative, compassionate, and expeditious work.
- Public health: $47M
- Housing and shelter: $41M
- Small business relief: $37M
- Housing and rental assistance: $21M
- Safe voting and elections: $6M
- Education and programming for county youth:$7M
- Safe licensing service centers: $3M
- Food support: $3M
- Job search resources: $2.5M
- Support for community organizations: $2.5M
- Community COVID-19 prevention campaign: $2.3M
- Laptops, internet access, and digital literacy
support for underserved residents: $1.5M
- Funds for operational continuity
The need is great, and it weighs on me every time the county cannot meet that need. I continue to advocate for further financial investment from the federal government, and regional responses where
appropriate from the state.
Housing and human services
As county staff pivoted to remote work, they also rose to the challenge of ensuring that services to our residents were continued and expanded. County residents continued to receive vital economic supports,
virtually uninterrupted.
- We significantly expanded the number of beds in the shelter system, and over the last ten months funded almost 200,000 nights of safe shelter for vulnerable residents in hotels. (This work alone is worthy
of its own letter – please let me know if you have any questions.)
- The board continues to prioritize affordable housing, including focusing county funding on deeply affordable units. The county is also playing a new-for-us role of first-in funder to encourage the development of more housing that meets the specific needs of our residents. One highlight is our support of Catholic Charities’ Exodus 2.0 project.
- The county used federal dollars to help rehabilitate 50 single-family homes for low-income homeowners and provide down payment assistance to homebuyers. This includes a new initiative to reduce racial
disparities in homeownership.
The region’s affordable housing crisis has been significantly exacerbated by the pandemic. This continues to be a priority area of work for my office and for the county.
Mitigating disruption in the lives of our youth
- Our Connecting Hennepin program distributed computers to county-connected students. We, along with our partners, have distributed almost 9,000 computers and tablets, and provided technical support, to help close the racial and age-related digital divides.
- County libraries delivered invaluable materials and programming including:
* 20,000 digital library cards issued for immediate access to online resources –
demand for which increased by more than one third in 2020
* More than one million physical checkouts at “Grab and Go” libraries
* 150,000 online homework help sessions (up 60 percent over 2019)
- Over 170 adoptions were finalized this year, with children joining loving, stable, forever homes.
In 66 percent of those cases, children were adopted by relatives.
Climate
- In 2020 Hennepin County began developing a bold new framework for how the county will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to changing climate in ways that reduce vulnerabilities and ensure a more equitable and resilient Hennepin County. Our Climate Action Plan will be finalized early this year, and I am proud to champion this critical work.
Public safety reforms
- The Immigration Legal Defense Fund continued to keep families together by providing Hennepin County residents with due process, visa assistance, and pathways to citizenship.
- Justice partners implemented bail modifications and several other changes, which together have
reduced the pretrial jail population by roughly 40 percent.
- Knowing that drug testing drives increased disparities in the justice system, the county joined justice partners to study reduced drug testing.
- In ongoing programming, hundreds of people started medically assisted treatment for opioid addiction
at the Hennepin County Jail and Adult Corrections Facility.
As you can see, 2020 was a productive, if difficult, year. We continue to view all our work and policy considerations in the frame of racial equity and disparity reduction. Last June, the Hennepin County Board passed a resolution declaring racism a public health crisis across the county. This declaration is a public
expression of the county’s commitment to mitigate personal bias and prejudice in the community, to reimagine equitable systems that work for everyone, and to create a future where our residents are healthy and successful.
We live in a country rich with opportunity – we must do better to ensure that everyone has access to that opportunity. I continue to be committed to a vision for our region in which everyone thrives, no exceptions.
This work is impossible without you, and I thank you for all the ways you have contributed. Please continue to be in touch with your views, priorities, hopes and aspirations for our region. It is a privilege to serve you.
My best,
 Marion Greene
Chair, Hennepin County Board of Commissioners
Contact us
Marion Greene
Commissioner, 3rd District
612-348-7883
Elie Farhat
Principal Aide
612-348-7125
Laura Hoffman
District Aide
612-348-0863
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