As part of the MPR News Young Reporter series, Mai Tong Yang reports on how vendors at Hmongtown Marketplace have been participating in Emergency and Community Health Outreach, a program to help them understand and follow state law. The nonprofit organization, also known as ECHO, works with refugee and immigrant communities in Minnesota to create a safe community environment.
The Hmongtown Marketplace is a bustling center of small businesses is a favorite of the city's Hmong community because if offers fresh groceries, medicinal herbs, and prepared food. But a June 2013 raid found that some vendors in the marketplace also had drugs for sale. Ramsey County Prosecutors charged 14 people with selling misbranded drugs, possessing and selling drugs that require a license, selling syringes, and unlawfully possessing poison.