Message from Council Member Kevin Reich

You may have noticed recent television and billboard public service announcements on behalf of Be The Match Foundation. Did you know that that organization is part of the National Marrow Donor Program which is located in the Mid-City Industrial neighborhood of Ward One? NMDP maintains a database of 13 million bone marrow and cord blood donors and facilitates over 5—transplants per month.

NMDP started with 34 employees when it opened its doors nearly 20 years ago and has grown to employ 700 people in its NE Minneapolis location. NMDP has recently launched the Phoenix Initiative, a plan to modernize their transplant support systems. This upgrade would cut in half the processing time for critical transplant patients seeking donors.

NMDP requested funding assistance from the City of Minneapolis to facilitate this program. At the Community Development Committee meeting on May 18, my colleagues and I voted in favor of issuing $80 million in 501c(3) Tax-exempt and Taxable Revenue Bonds to finance the technology improvements. The full Council gave approval on May 28.

This exciting development is a win-win on a number of fronts:

• NMDP’s mission to make bone marrow and cord blood donations available more quickly will be greatly enhanced.
  
• The additional 95 employees they expect to add in 2011 and 400+ employees by 2019 will boost the economic vitality of NE Minneapolis.
• The City will make a profit of $50,000 per year in fees above and beyond the repayment of the $80 million.
• This additional $50,000 in annual revenue will support the City’s small business assistance programs.