Dear Ms. Luger,

After reading your letter dated January 6, 2009 which was sent to theIndependent Business News Network (IBNN), it is apparent that the General MillsFoundation doesn’t really understand, nor truly comprehend the Rev. Dr. MartinLuther King Jr.’s writings or mission, which includes one of his last goals forthe African-American community, a goal that he outlined in a book publishedbefore he was shot and killed, which highlighted the key to success in poorcommunities was economic development.

Actually, few people have heard of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’slast book titled, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos orCommunity?” released in 1967, but applicable in 2009 as a way toexamine the grant giving practices of the General Mills Foundation.  Dr.King Jr. writes the following:

“In the treatment of poverty nationally, one fact standsout: there are twice as many white poor as Negro poor in the United States.Therefore I will not dwell on the experiences of poverty that derive fromracial discrimination, but will discuss the poverty that affects white andNegro alike.

Up to recently we have proceeded from a premise that poverty is aconsequence of multiple evils: lack of education restricting job opportunities;poor housing which stultified home life and suppressed initiative; fragilefamily relationships which distorted personality development. The logic of thisapproach suggested that each of these causes be attacked one by one. Hence ahousing program to transform living conditions, improved educational facilitiesto furnish tools for better job opportunities, and family counseling to createbetter personal adjustments were designed. In combination these measures wereintended to remove the causes of poverty.

While none of these remedies in itself is unsound, all have a fataldisadvantage. The programs have never proceeded on a coordinated basisor at a similar rate of development. Housing measures have fluctuatedat the whims of legislative bodies. They have been piecemeal and pygmy.Educational reforms have been even more sluggish and entangled in bureaucraticstalling and economy-dominated decisions. Family assistance stagnated inneglect and then suddenly was discovered to be the central issue on the basisof hasty and superficial studies. At no timehas a total, coordinated and fully adequate program been conceived. As aconsequence, fragmentary and spasmodic reforms have failed to reachdown to the profoundest needs of the poor.

In addition to the absence of coordination and sufficiency, the programs ofthe past all have another common failing — they are indirect. Eachseeks to solve poverty by first solving something else.”

We are likely to find that the problems of housing and education, instead ofpreceding the elimination of poverty, will themselves be affected if poverty isfirst abolished. The poor transformed into purchasers will do a great deal ontheir own to alter housing decay. Negroes, who have a double disability, willhave a greater effect on discrimination when they have the additionalweapon of cash to use in their struggle.”

To celebrate the legacy and life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr is to focus onthe last piece of his legacy — economic development. Black people are not happyjust sit at the lunch counter; today, we want to own the lunch counter!

The General Mills Foundation’s practice of  “perpetual” grant giving isa feeble attempt to solve problems from the top down in north Minneapolis(rather than applying sound business practices from the bottom up). For 14years, communities in north Minneapolis have seen virtually no change in thesocio-economic status of the people, a majority who are of African-Americandescent, living day-to-day within in this underserved region of Minneapolis.The fact that no significant and recognizable social or economic advancementhas occurred in the north Minneapolis communities is most evident in theMinneapolis Public School System where the failure rate for Black youth exceedsthe combined totals for Mississippi, Kentucky and Alabama.

If giving grants to organizations that focus on education and the success ofthe youth of Minneapolis, how could this academic failure occur? A wise manonce said: “You can’t just water the tree; you also must take care of theroots.” The General Mills Foundation has been simply watering the tree, withouttending to the roots. In other words, the Foundation has been comfortablegranting dollars to the same individuals and the same organizations year afteryear, rather than taking the time to speak with the true stakeholders in northMinneapolis. As a result, nothing identifiable with change has taken place in14 years. And if the process doesn’t change, this lack of change willperpetuate.   

The current trend in north Minneapolis reveals a community in demise —social, economic and educational demise. Examples of the community’s demise: in2007, five elementary schools in north Minneapolis were closed; more than 1700home foreclosures occurred in 2007 and 2008. In 2009, the City of Minneapoliswill close additional parks besides Bethune and Willard, the two parksscheduled to close in 2009.  If the Foundation was more strategicallyfocused on how its “grant dollars” were disseminated, these types ofdevastating occurrences, which ultimately reduce the social worth and economicvalue of a community, could be avoided. By working to prevent such demise, theGeneral Mills Foundation would be able to pinpoint tangible examples of whatthe Foundation has done to rehabilitate blighted communities in northMinneapolis.  The headline could have read, “General Mills FoundationSaves Inner-City Park from Closure!” Instead, there is another headline, “MoreSilence in North Minneapolis with the Closing of Inner City Parks.”

On Thursday, January 8, 2009 at the Hawthorn Huddle, you presented threevery effective examples of community engagement organizations that partner withseveral other entities to achieve their missions. My advice to you and theGeneral Mills Foundation is to meet with north Minneapolis stakeholders andwork from the bottom up with those who are truly interested in solving thechallenges that face north Minneapolis. (Dog and pony shows are only excitingat the state fair).

Regarding your statement that the General Mills Foundation contributednearly $15 million to programs focusing on communities of color in 2008, I amunsure if you meant in Minneapolis

or the United States. What I do know is that the General Mills Foundationgives to the Susan G. Koman Foundation’s Walk for the Cure, which in turngrants money to Planned Parenthood, a group that is helpinginadvertently to kill many black children. Secondly, I know the GeneralFoundation’s media spending for diverse audiences is lacking in theMinneapolis/St. Paul market. You respond to the Foundation’s media spending bysaying: “…for competitive reasons, I cannot disclose the amounts.”  Ireply to your comment by saying the following: “If there is no level playingfield, there can never be any competition.”

The fact that the General Mills Foundation refuses to consider local radio,print and TV that are minority-ethnic owned, or a radio station that isWhite-owned but plays music targeted to an African-American audience isevidence that General Mills, Inc. and the General Mills Foundation have optedto ignore solid reach and frequency solely because of the “color” of aformat.

In closing, this is the time of the year we celebrate the birthday of one ofthe world’s great leaders — the Revered Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  Inkeeping with his sprit and goals, I like to refresh your memory of Dr. King’sobjective in Memphis, Tennessee at the time he was assassinated. His objectivewas to secure better wages and working conditions for garbage workers. Iemphasize the words GARBAGE WORKERS to highlight the fact that he was fightingfor and died for the “Least of Thee”.  

Dr. King states in his “I Have A Dream” speech that “…America has given the(Blacks) people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficientfunds.” 

I refuse to believe that General Mills, Inc. or the General Mills Foundationis providing our community a check marked “insufficient funds.”  Myparents were happy sitting at the lunch counter; today, my generation wants toown the lunch counter.

Very best regards,

Donald W.R. Allen, II