Minneapolis– A Northeast Minneapolis threesome of crime-fighting activists is hoping to expand their mission to clean up their neighborhood, and then some, by taking their message to the people.
The trio, Mark Fox, Shelley Leeson and John Schulte, has launched a monthly newspaper dedicated to improving public safety and livability in Minneapolis. They’ve named the paper the Minneapolis Defender.
Schulte, who directs the newspaper’s development, said they settled on the Defender nameplate because of the prevailing feeling among people they speak to that “Northeast, and all of Minneapolis, really, is under siege by criminals.” Schulte said the mission of the paper is to give people a sense that there are things they can do to impact the siege of criminal activity. “We’re giving people information that they can use to take action,” he said.
Over the last year-and-a-half, the three have been the backbone of the Northeast Citizen Patrol (NECP), and were also the driving force in the successful launch of Minneapolis chapter of the Guardian Angels in 2006, and, individually, have launched and operated a number of small businesses over the last 20 years, so they have considerable experience in launching successful endeavors.
Their interests turned to crime-fighting when Schulte founded the NECP in 2005. That summer, Schulte, Fox and one other person, all residents of Audubon Park, formed a walking group in an attempt to deter crime following an incident in which a couple walking to the corner store had been beaten and mugged by a gang of teenage girls near 27th and Central Avenue NE. Continue reading
