Contact: Mike Greco, Communications Coordinator, CURA, 612-625-7501, curaweb@umn.edu; Kris Nelson, CURA, (612) 625-1020; Jeff Matson, CURA, (612) 625-0081

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (10/7/2004) -- The University of Minnesota’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA), in partnership with various state agencies and community organizations, has been awarded a three-year, $600,000 Technology Opportunities Program (TOP) grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce to create a strategy for expanding economic opportunity in and around the Twin Cities.

The initiative, called Minnesota 3-D (M3D), will provide an integrated, Internet-accessible system of employment, housing and development information and analysis tools for neighborhoods, community development corporations, employment trainers, businesses, central cities, suburbs, counties and state agencies in Minnesota. The goal of the system is to promote community economic development, with an emphasis on creating jobs and housing in close proximity to one another.

“The future development of the Twin Cities depends on our ability to connect work to where people live and where they live to where there are jobs,” said Kris Nelson, project director at CURA. “The M3D system will integrate this information and make it available at the local, regional and state level. This dynamic system will allow for other layers of information to be added to create effective community development strategies.”

U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN), who was notified of the grant as well, said, “Minnesota and her community organizations have always been a leader in assessing the problems and opportunities for development. This funding will finally allow them to work together to support the next generation of economic development in our region.”

Minnesota 3-D will be a first-of-its-kind system, combining existing region wide parcel-level housing data with statewide employment and demographic data obtained through agreements with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Social Security Administration and the U.S. Census Bureau. The system will include a suite of Internet-based applications that will provide geographic analysis of current development patterns, encourage job creation near areas with underutilized workforce assets, promote housing production and reinvestment near job growth areas, and support community economic development activities at the local level.

The award allows CURA to broaden its efforts in community geographic information systems (GIS) and capacity building, which began with the Minneapolis Neighborhood Information System (MNIS) project in 2001.

The Minnesota 3-D project is a partnership between the university’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA; www.cura.umn.edu), the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, the Minnesota Office of Revenue, the Metropolitan Council, Ramsey and Hennepin Counties and various Twin Cities neighborhood organizations and community development corporations.

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