We have a listserv of nearly 200 people who are currently working on police accountability in the Twin Ports. Use this resource to keep up to date with upcoming meetings, projects, and local initiatives. 

To learn more about the listserv and how to be added to it, please contact us at LEANDuluth@gmail.com.

This is a list of organizations currently working on projects related to police accountability in the Twin Ports. This is not a complete list and organizations listed are not associated with or in partnership with LEAN Duluth. Please fill out this form if you would like to have your group or initiative listed.

Duluth NAACP Criminal Justice Committee

The Duluth NAACP's mission is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons. In particular, this committee focuses on the areas where systemic racism is embodied in our local criminal justice system. Currently, we are in conversation with the City of Duluth, the Duluth Police Department, and other regional law enforcement agencies in order to work towards equitable policing throughout the Northland.  Members are welcome from throughout the Northland! Learn more about the local NAACP chapter at https://duluthnaacp.org/.

Contact: criminaljustice@duluthnaacp.org

DanSan Creatives

DanSan Creatives is a non-profit organization geared towards the education of diverse narratives on the global front. We work with communities and organizations to explore community infrastructures around access for black families. We focus on healing through stories as a method to cultivate connection around identities.

Contact: dansancreatives@gmail.com

Black Men Serving Excellence

Group is working on the campus of University of Minnesota Duluth. Projects is centered around social justice, campus climate, campus unity, awareness of Black culture. 

Contact: mcli0025@d.umn.edu 

Duluth Community Safety Initiative (DCSI)

The Duluth Community Safety Initiative (DCSI, formerly known as the Petition Working Group) is a grassroots collective of concerned citizens who united in the summer of 2020 to implement the demands of this petition: http://bit.ly/DuluthPoliceAccountability. DCSI is organized into three subgroups that are focused on each of the petition demands: a racial bias audit, freezing the Duluth Police Department's budget, and the creation of an Office of Violence Prevention.

Contact: dcsi.duluth@gmail.com

Family Rise Together 

Working in North and South St. Louis County. Working with mental health due to COVID and isolation in the BIPOC community.

Contact: admin@familyrisetogether.org, 218-461-1722

Voices for Ethnic and Multicultural Awareness-VEMA

Holding police accountable through discussion, protest, and offering resources.

Contact: Info@vemamn.org 218-262-9839

Native Lives Matter Coalition

Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, 2 Spirit and Peoples

Contact: nlmcoalition@gmail.com

Twin Ports DSA's Racial Justice Working Group

Twin Ports DSA's Racial Justice Working Group is advocating for the local implementation of an unarmed mobile crisis response program which could be added to our 911 system. This program would be modeled after the CAHOOTS program in Eugene, Oregon and would send extensively trained crisis workers to respond to issues of mental health crises, homelessness, and addiction in our community. 

Contact: tpdsa-racial-justice-working-group@googlegroups.com

Interfaith Committee for Migrant Justice, Police Accountability Task Force

Working on police  accountability generally as well as related to migrant people.

Contact: michigan.organizing@gmail.com

Loaves and Fishes

As a community we offer family-style hospitality to people experiencing homelessness; operate a no-cost neighborhood bicycle shop to promote shared economics; organize with our neighbors to protect everyone’s right to housing; and study and practice nonviolence in our interpersonal relationships and in our politics.  

Contact: duluthcatholicworker@gmail.com

Grandmothers for Peace, Northland Chapter

Conducted weekly anti-racist witness events at Duluth Civic Center and Superior City Hall, June-Nov. 2021.  Members have done groundwork for writing municipal ordinance criminalizing racially motivated 9-1-1 calls.

Contact: Facebook page or dwolden@aol.com

Veterans for Peace, Chapter 80

Working in Duluth, Superior and surrounding areas, VFP is an international organization. We work to end war, abolish nuclear weapons, and seek justice for veterans and all victims of war. We support and work with others to create justice at home and abroad. We support equal rights for everyone, economic justice and the right to healthcare, shelter, employment, safe communities and environmental protection.   

Contact: Philip Anderson, anderp14@yahoo.com, 715-372-5004

Duluth (In)Action

Duluth (In)Action is a platform to ultimately abolish the system of policing in Duluth and shift the culture of accountability.  We are a group of Duluth citizens shedding light on the current practices of our city and the Duluth Police Department (DPD), hoping to change the way we think about policing and safety.  We also hope this work can be used by activists and organizers as a political education tool for communities.

Contact: https://duluthinaction.com/contact/

Positively 3rd Street Bakery

We are a collectively owned business, with a variety of personal perspectives. As a cooperative, we are committed to establishing alternatives to involving the police in any situation. We will soon be participating in de-escalation training, and have compiled a list of non-911 resources that we can contact in crises. 

We have created and participated in mutual aid projects in our community. For example, our school lunch pack program is open for anyone to grab bread and granola. Additionally, we are a donation drop-off site and have run baked goods and supplies to people who are on the frontlines of social movements. Recently, that has been local water protectors and folks involved in the uprisings in the Twin Cities. 

The bakery is open to more mutual aid projects. Contact us if you are interested in collaborating.

Contact: 3rdstreetbakery@gmail.com

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