Fans heading to Target Field on September 1 are being asked to wear purple and buy their tickets a little differently this time. The Minnesota Twins' 6:40 p.m. game against the Detroit Tigers has been designated Domestic Violence Awareness Day, with $5 from each ticket sold through a dedicated event portal going toward a local domestic violence advocacy group or shelter chosen by the buyer at checkout.
The event is being organized by the Minnesota Office for Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls, a division of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, according to a Minnesota Department of Public Safety Facebook post. Tickets are available through the office's GoFevo event page, and attendees are encouraged to wear purple to show support. A portion of every ticket purchase will support advocacy and care programs run by several local organizations, the post states.
One of those organizations, 360 Communities, is directing its share of the proceeds to its Violence Prevention and Intervention program and its Lewis House emergency shelter for survivors, according to 360 Communities. The nonprofit's announcement frames the ballpark event as a way to pair public education with direct fundraising for shelters that serve survivors day to day.
A State Office Born From Stark Numbers
The Minnesota Office for Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls made history in 2023 as the first state agency of its kind in the nation, created under Minnesota Statutes § 299A.90 after lawmakers passed House File 55, according to Session Daily. The law was designed to address what state legislative records describe as severe disparities in how missing persons cases involving Black women and girls are investigated and resolved. Those same records show that missing persons cases involving Black women and girls remain open four times longer on average than cases involving other demographic groups, and that Black women in Minnesota are nearly three times more likely to be murdered than white women.
The numbers behind the office's creation are stark. Although Black women make up only 7 percent of Minnesota's population, they account for 40 percent of domestic violence victims across the state, per the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. The office grew out of recommendations from the Missing and Murdered African American Women Task Force, a body created by the Minnesota Legislature in 2021 that was, at the time, the first state-level task force in the country dedicated to studying violence against Black women, according to the Gender Policy Report.
Office Operates on $1.24 Million Budget
Today the office operates within the Department of Public Safety's Office of Justice Programs, with an annual state budget of $1.24 million and a staff led by Director Kaleena Burkes, according to reporting cited by U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar's office. Minnesota's model has since had ripple effects beyond its own borders: it inspired federal legislation introduced by Omar to establish a national office for missing and murdered Black women and girls within the U.S. Department of Justice.
Hoodline has previously covered the office's founding and its work supporting families in cold cases, including the Robbinsdale family that pushed state lawmakers for answers in a park killing earlier this year. Leadership at the broader Office of Justice Programs has also seen recent change, with Kim Babine appointed as its permanent executive director.
Ballpark Event Lands Amid a Grim Statewide Trend
The Target Field event arrives as Minnesota faces a documented rise in intimate partner violence deaths. According to data compiled by the coalition Violence Free Minnesota, at least 31 Minnesotans died from intimate partner violence in 2025 — a nearly 30 percent increase from 2024 and one of the highest annual fatality totals recorded since the coalition began tracking such deaths in 1989.
State lawmakers have also moved on the policy front. A new Minnesota domestic violence law took effect on August 1, mandating compliance court hearings to verify that individuals subject to protective orders actually surrender their firearms, according to MPR News. Hoodline recently reported on a related case, in which a 60-year-old Minneapolis man was charged with attempted murder after shooting his wife amid a divorce, a case that surfaced amid the statewide conversation around the new firearm surrender requirements.
For now, the message at Target Field is a simpler one: wear purple, buy a ticket, and send a piece of that purchase toward a shelter or advocacy group working on the front lines of an issue that state data shows disproportionately affects Black women and girls in Minnesota.
