You may have heard of A Mother’s Love or maybe seen them on the news, but do you know much about this organization and what they do, or know that they purchased a house in Camden to do their community outreach from?
A Mother’s Love Initiative was founded by Lisa Clemons, a retired Minneapolis police officer, who had moved to North Minneapolis from Chicago when she was in high school and graduated from North High School. A Mother’s Love Initiative is a grassroots organization made up of African American mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. Their team reflects the communities they serve, which includes members who have been in prison, members who have lost a family member to gun violence, or have had a family member who was involved in gun violence. There are people on the team who are single parents and parents of children within the LGBTQIA+ community, etc. They are often easy to spot in their pink t-shirts with black lettering or other times in black t-shirts with pink lettering on them.
They are focused on preventing and ending the gun violence in our area by working with individuals and families and “Bringing Back the Village.” They know that gun violence can stem from something long term like instability or from something as simple as an argument or disagreement that is then resolved with a gun. They recognize that a shooting can destroy two families, the victim’s and the perpetuator’s, and that it eats at the fiber of a community. A Mother’s Love Initiative works to change that narrative and to de-escalate those situations. They do their boots on the ground outreach in communities like North Minneapolis, Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park that are affected by violence. They are at times asked by police to come to the scene of a shooting to be there for the victim’s family and to help them understand things like why they can’t cross the yellow tape while a crime scene is processed for evidence. They also help deescalate any crowd that has gathered. A Mother’s Love team members then follow up with the families to help with any needs they have and to try and ensure there is no retaliation. Team members also sometimes can be seen at some of the Metro Transit stops helping to keep crime from happening there. They also work with women who are in the county jail and youth who are in the Juvenile Detention Center to help them turn things around.
Much of the work A Mother’s Love does is preventative in nature. Rather it’s having boots on the ground in potential hot spots for crime, helping a community member find a job or other resources, tutoring students in the summer, having a mentoring program for young people, having paid and volunteer opportunities for teens, or handing out food or toiletries to people in need, their focus is to help families and individuals, especially young people. They also work with other entities to help bring a village approach to prevent community violence.
For years the team members of A Mother’s Love worked out of the trunks of their cars. They would have everything from bandages, spare t-shirts, toiletries, etc. to Narcan in their vehicles so they’d have what ever was needed if they were called to help people. When the Cub on Broadway was rebuilt with a community space, A Mother’s Love could also be seen holding classes and meetings there. After years of fundraising, a lot of hope and prayers, and searching for a home for a year, everything fell into place in August of 2022. A friend of Lisa Clemons footed the bill for the house and the realtor waived the commission, and in October 2022 A Mother’s Love was able to move into a house on the Humboldt Greenway here in the Camden area of North Minneapolis! This house will serve as a resource center, a place to help folks and place for building a better foundation for long-term help.
It is the belief of A Mother’s Love founder Lisa Clemons, that cutting down on violent crime starts at home, and their new home can and will be a part of the solution to end violence in our community. Info: amothersloveinitiative.org.