The City of Minneapolis is beginning to paint a picture of the services beyond policing that will fill the new 3rd Police Precinct — known as the South Minneapolis Community Safety Center — at 2633 Minnehaha Avenue.

Think violence prevention, trauma healing help, substance use recovery and housing services.

The plan is to open the center around the fall of 2025 with police and some local organizations that can fill in those other gaps to improve safety and quality of life in the area.

For the first time on Monday, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS visited with a couple of organizations who said they hope to soon be part of the community safety center.

The first was Restoration, Inc.

“I worked in violence prevention, working with kids who have been gang and click-involved for many, many years,” began founder and executive director Connie Rhodes.

“We’re out there on the street, actually in these hot spots where the gunshots have happened, and we build relationships.”

She and her team are in the business of violence intervention and prevention, bringing young people into safe spaces like The Haven of Hope Youth and Young Adult Center we met at, where they have access to trauma healing services and life coaching from people who have been there.

“How can we help these young people get from where they are to where they want to be? And some of them don’t even know they want to be somewhere. So we help to instill hope, we help to show them a different horizon,” Rhodes explained.

The Haven of Hope Youth and Young Adult Center is in a purple building on Minneapolis’s Northside, but they have centers throughout Hennepin County and plan to make a pitch to the city to work out of the future South Minneapolis Community Safety Center too.

The Twin Cities Recovery Project has the same plan.

“We believe in going to meet people where they are. So we will go to the street and provide services on the spot,” shared CEO LaTricia Tate.

We met with Tate, COO Karissa Lash and project manager Christopher Burks at their busiest office on the Northside. It’s one of a few locations where the team helps connect people with any services someone suffering from substance use disorder might need along the road to recovery. If they can’t provide it, they have a partner who can, Tate explained.

Burks is in long term himself, he shared, adding that it takes someone whose been there to help others along the way.

“It’s much more than just a 12-step group. You actually have a person walking hand in hand with you, dealing with your issues and barriers,” he said.

Twin Cities Recovery Project is also expanding its newest operation, opioid-safe stations, throughout town, equipping businesses and other partners like a fire department with life-saving tools like naloxone, something they teach groups across the community how to use, and they’re hoping to set up another hub for their services in the future South Minneapolis Community Safety Center too.

The city hasn’t started selecting organizations yet, said Amanda Harrington, the director of safety design and implementation for the Minneapolis Office of Community Safety, but she confirmed that the groups we met with fit within what neighbors of the future center have been asking for.

“You’re absolutely right. Some of these organizations provide the services that the community told us they want in the community safety centers,” she said.

The city recently convened about 50 organizations, including the two we connected with in a conference setting. Harrington said the goal is to make the dialogue that they began between citywide organizations providing similar services a quarterly occurrence.

“I think we need to have cross-pollination with different services and organizations, but between those quarterly meetings, we will have smaller meetings of more specific groups,” Harrington added.

CLICK HERE for more information on or to contact Restoration, Inc., and HERE for more information on or to contact Twin Cities Recovery Project.