New federal government findings show the city of Minneapolis was denied funding for the wrong reasons.

Over three years ago, city officials applied for a nearly $1 million grant to reduce crime and drug overdoses, but it was denied.

A new watchdog report regarding the 2020 Bureau of Justice Assistance Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant and Substance Abuse program found the justification for denying the application contained “critical errors.”

After the murder of George Floyd, some Minneapolis City Council members made a bold statement with a “Defund Police” sign on a stage, and it had consequences.

Under the Trump administration in 2020, the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s acting director was in charge of awarding grants.

The city of Minneapolis applied for $900,000 in federal funding to reduce crime and opioid-related overdoses. The audit found that funding was denied despite meeting all the basic eligibility requirements and scoring second-highest out of 212 applicants.

The report also states a BJA senior policy advisor and an associate deputy director recommended Minneapolis should be awarded the funding.

“Without those resources, we were not able to really address the critical needs of people,” Minneapolis City Council Member Andrea Jenkins said.

Federal documents show the application was denied because of a concern the “defund the police movement advocated by some city council members” would “prevent the proper administration of the funds.”

In the report, officials call the reasoning for denying Minneapolis the funding “inadequate” because it contained “critical errors and omissions.”

“I’m really saddened and disappointed to hear that those kinds of political decisions are being made by the Department of Justice,” Jenkins said. “We have a serious opioid crisis here in Minneapolis and throughout the country, and yet the support to help those individuals is being delayed or denied because of political reasons, and that’s deeply unfortunate.”

RS Eden is a nonprofit fighting to end the opioid epidemic across the state.

“Community-based providers rely on government funding,” said Caroline Hood, RS Eden president and CEO. “The substance use disorder treatment has just ballooned into this massive community-wide need, and funding has to meet the need.”

Hood explained she sees the faces of fentanyl firsthand, and helping those patients is only possible with funding.

“When we don’t have the money, it means we don’t have the staff who can provide care. It means that we don’t have the capacity to explore new interventions to work with research foundations,” Hood said.

Jenkins explained the release of the report still does not right any wrongs.

“The best recourse would be to help and send the resources. The problems haven’t gone away. We still have the problems,” Jenkins said. “To just acknowledge that it was wrong without correcting the problem is egregious as well.”        

The audit noted the director did not break the law by denying the application.

The BJA said it plans to improve oversight of how these funds are distributed by having policies and procedures in place to make sure applications are evaluated with accuracy in the future.