James Burroughs, senior vice president, government and community relations, chief equity and inclusion officer at Children’s Minnesota, will serve on the GroundBreak Coalition that launched on May 12, 2022. According to the organization, the GroundBreak Coalition is a group of financial, government, philanthropic, and corporate partners in the Twin Cities committed to creating a new model for community development financing. Burroughs joins 24 other community leaders – including St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey – who will now serve as what the GroundBreak Coalition calls Regional Champions.
“I’m honored to serve on the GroundBreak Coalition. Real change in our community starts with action and engagement – the GroundBreak Coalition can help write a new chapter in the history of the Twin Cities built on equity in every sense of the word,” said Burroughs. “I’m thrilled about the possibilities the GroundBreak Coalition will forge throughout our communities that have been underserved and underinvested in for far too long.”
The GroundBreak Coalition says their goal over the next decade is to:
- Create 45,000 new Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) homeowners.
- Stabilize families in 23,500 affordable rental units.
- Complete 30 community-led, climate ready, transformational commercial developments.
- Launch more than 11,000 BIPOC-owned businesses with at least 20% employing five or more people.
“Recent regional analyses tell us that $2 billion of flexible private, public, and philanthropic capital, together with collective, courageous leadership, will enable us to disrupt the status quo, close long-standing racial gaps in income and wealth and transform communities. We will deploy this capital in four areas: homeownership, rental housing, commercial development, and BIPOC entrepreneurship,” explained the GroundBreak Coalition.
