What: Grant awarded to MNIS

Who: Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA), City of Minneapolis, Neighborhood Revitalization Program, neighborhood organizations

Contact: Mike Greco, Communications Coordinator, CURA, 612-625-7501, curaweb@umn.edu

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (10/4/2001) -- The Minneapolis Neighborhood Information System (MNIS), a joint project of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA), the city of Minneapolis, the Neighborhood Revitalization Program and participating Minneapolis neighborhood organizations, has been awarded a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The grant was one of 74 Technology Opportunity Program (TOP) grants totaling $42.8 million awarded to nonprofit organizations and state and local governments across the United States and Puerto Rico. The project provides detailed housing information and analysis to help neighborhood organizations plan and evaluate housing improvement programs.

According to Kris Nelson, a program director at CURA who oversees the University of Minnesota’s participation in the MNIS project, the grant will enable the university to better fulfill its land grant mission by supporting the development of “a model community partnership between neighborhood organizations, local government and a research university.”

“The TOP grant will allow the university to provide resources and technical expertise that will enhance the capacity of neighborhood organizations to use state-of-the-art information technology being developed by the city of Minneapolis,” Nelson explained. These tools will assist community organizations with community planning and the prevention of housing deterioration and abandonment.

The MNIS partners plan to use the award to create an integrated property database system that will give neighborhoods real-time access via the city’s intranet to basic housing information, as well as problem property indicators such as code violations, delinquent property tax status and utility arrears. Neighborhoods will be able to incorporate local data with city and county data, and produce maps of past and current housing programs, housing conditions, and areas at risk. These tools will allow neighborhood organizations to track the health of their neighborhood’s housing supply and target resources and strategies for addressing housing deterioration problems.

TOP grants are intended to extend the benefits of advanced telecommunications technologies to underserved communities and neighborhoods. “We want these grants to demonstrate how the most up-to-date technology can help deliver services to Americans of all ages and backgrounds, and improve public safety, public health, public information, homeownership and economic development,” said Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information Nancy Victory. “Successful TOP grant recipients share best practices with other nonprofit and public sector organizations.”

A complete list of the FY 2001 TOP award grants is available at www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/top/index.html or by calling NTIA at (202) 482-2048.

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