(Center of the American Experiment) — Deena Winter of the Minnesota Reformer has a scoop: the wife of Minneapolis City Council Member Jamal Osman operated a free food site last year.
Ilo Amba incorporated the nonprofit Urban Advantage Services in November 2020, at a location on 10th Street in downtown Minneapolis.
Records kept by the state Secretary of State’s office lists both Amba and Osman and two other individuals as the original incorporators of the nonprofit Stigma-Free International.
Urban Advantage registered their location under the sponsor of Partners in Nutrition in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). The site was registered with a maximum capacity of 2,500 children per day in 2020, dropping to 2,000 in 2021.
Neither Osman nor his wife have been accused of any wrongdoing.
The Reformer reports:
“Urban Advantage Center reported feeding 2,500 kids daily from Feb. 1, 2021 through September 2021 under the sponsorship of Partners in Nutrition, according to state records.”
The Star Tribune reports that Urban Advantage took more than $460,000 out of the free-food program during its existence.
In its Feeding Our Future indictment issued last month, the Department of Justice described the transfer of Osman’s Stigma-Free International from its original owners to figures who were indicted in the scandal.
Beginning on page 26, paragraph 99, the FBI describes how an “Individual A” transferred ownership of the Stigma-Free nonprofit in October 2020 to two individuals included in the indictment. One of the individuals was Abdi Salah, at the time, a senior aide to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
In Partners in Nutrition’s current lawsuit against the state Department of Education, Exhibit J lists a paid invoice due to Urban Advantage (PDF page 22).
As the Reformer mentions, Urban Advantage applied for two additional sites through Partners in Nutrition this year (PDF page 7).
Again, neither Osman nor Amba have been accused of any wrongdoing in the case.
Bill Glahn
Bill Glahn is an Adjunct Policy Fellow with Center of the American Experiment.
