The Minneapolis Neighborhood Information System (MNIS) was recently awarded a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The grant was one of 74 Technology Opportunity Program (TOP) grants totaling $42.8 million awarded to nonprofit organizations and state and local governments across the United States and Puerto Rico.

MNIS is a joint project of the NRP, the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA), the City of Minneapolis and several participating Minneapolis neighborhood organizations. The project provides detailed housing information and analysis to help neighborhood organizations plan and evaluate housing improvement strategies and programs as well as assists them in a variety of community planning efforts.

The MNIS partners plan to use the award to create an integrated property database system that will give neighborhoods real-time internet access to basic housing information as well as problem property indicators such as code violations, delinquent property tax status and utility arrears. Neighborhoods will be able to incorporate local data with city and county data and produce maps of past and current housing programs, housing conditions and areas at risk. These tools will allow neighborhood organizations to track the health of their neighborhoods' housing supply and target resources and strategies for addressing housing deterioration problems accordingly.

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