Minneapolis City Council rejects extension of contracts with controversial pastor’s groups

The Minneapolis City Council has voted not to extend two city contracts with a church and nonprofit run by a prominent north Minneapolis pastor who made threatening statements toward the Minneapolis City Council in February.

The city’s Neighborhood Safety Department had asked the council to approve a bundle of violence prevention contracts, including two contract extensions with entities associated with the Rev. Jerry McAfee.

McAfee is pastor of New Salem Missionary Baptist Church and operates several nonprofits that have done violence prevention work for the city, Downtown Improvement District and the state for years. Such community violence prevention programs have received tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds since the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020.

McAfee’s church and various companies have landed nearly a dozen city contracts over the years — most of them since 2022 — worth a total of $1.6 million.

McAfee roiled City Hall in February when he interrupted a council meeting and went on a five-minute rant that some council members viewed as threatening and homophobic. McAfee accused Council Member Jason Chavez, who is LGBT, of acting like a “girl.”

Weeks after his diatribe, the city’s Neighborhood Safety Department pulled back for review a $650,000 violence interruption contract with McAfee’s nonprofit called Salem Inc. The department had recommended the council approve the contract, but on the day the council was set to vote on it, two employees of another McAfee nonprofit, 21 Days of Peace, were charged in connection with a March 10 shootout in north Minneapolis. Hours later, city officials pulled the contract and have not commented on its status since.

But last week, the same department forwarded a package of 11 community safety contract amendments to the council for consideration that included contract extensions for McAfee’s church and Salem Inc.

But the City Council has now shot that down.

The council discussed the contracts during a committee hearing before a final council meeting vote last week.

Council Member Jamal Osman recalled during the committee hearing that McAfee physically challenged him — “the Somali council member” — when he unleashed on the council, and questioned whether McAfee’s people should be sent to his ward, Ward 6. He called McAfee a “xenophobic individual” who used language that could incite violence.

Osman said “shame on you” to Neighborhood Safety Department Director Amanda Harrington.

Council Member Linea Palmisano said she was hesitant to award the contract extensions, but she ultimately voted to approve them because McAfee’s church and Salem were not involved in the shootout.

“I do not take those threats lightly,” she said, noting recent political assassinations in Minnesota of ex-House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband.

Chavez said McAfee has taken no accountability for his homophobic slurs.

“If we’re going to use city tax-funded dollars to create more distrust in our community ... that’s pushing trauma onto community,” he said.

Council Member LaTrisha Vetaw said the community trauma work has been “a lifeline” for north Minneapolis, where the contractors work on addiction, health care and housing.

“I know people have problems with a person in those groups but these contracts are not about one person,” Vetaw said.

“I’m tired of begging: I’ve been begging for months for my community to be seen,” Vetaw said.

Council Member Robin Wonsley questioned the wisdom of the administration in wanting to extend the contracts.

“Partnering with a vendor who has made threats to shoot people undermines the city as a whole,” she said. “For me, the city’s values are not negotiable.”

Harrington told the council her department used a data analysis process that was “fair and consistent” that “wasn’t based on one individual and looked at the work of an entire organization.”

When asked Monday to comment on the council’s rejection of his contract extensions, McAfee responded with the following text: “African American heterophobia is real. So who’s the real bigot?”

The more progressive members of the council voted against extending the contracts and the more moderate council members aligned with Mayor Jacob Frey voted to extend the contracts. The mayor’s office doesn’t participate in the selection of the contractors.

Voting to extend the contracts were Palmisano, Vetaw and Michael Rainville.

Voting against extending the contracts were Council President Elliott Payne, Vice President Aisha Chughtai and council members Chowdhury, Wonsley, Chavez and Katie Cashman.