Mayor Jacob Frey’s proposed 2027 budget would cut about $4 million from the Minneapolis Climate Legacy Initiative, a set of city programs that help residents grow fresh food, keep their homes warm and lower energy bills. The Minneapolis City Council can keep these programs and fill the $30 million budget shortfall another way.

The proposal would end every contract for Homegrown Minneapolis, which manages more than 50 community garden leases on city lots and supports composting, farmers markets and food waste work. The city set aside about $540,000 for it in 2026. Gardens like Plant Grow Share in south Minneapolis turn empty lots into places where neighbors grow and share food. Lane Brown, co-executive director of the group that runs Plant Grow Share, told MPR News the gardens help “uplift community connectedness and education and food access.”

The budget would also cut 32 percent from services that help pay for energy upgrades like insulation, sealed windows and electric appliances. Outreach workers bring this help door to door in green zones, neighborhoods the city considers historically underserved and overburdened by pollution. One outreach worker described meeting a resident whose house had been so cold that she got frostbite on her toes.

Utility franchise fees fund these programs. Last year, after a push from local groups, the City Council raised that fee to bring in about $4 million more. The proposed cuts are close to that same amount. And the city is “not on track and probably not close” to its climate goals, according to Patrick Hanlon, a deputy commissioner in the Minneapolis Health Department.

Council members will propose budget changes before a final vote in mid-December. Sign the petition to ask the Minneapolis City Council to balance the budget without cutting the gardens and home energy help that neighborhoods count on.