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The Minneapolis Foundation will invest our unrestricted resources towards specific results in order to achieve social, economic, and racial equity. Our grantmaking will support efforts that address the structural causes of inequity to achieve the following key results (below) with measurable outcomes for Minneapolis residents. To be eligible for funding through the Community Grants program, activities must address at least one of The Minneapolis Foundation's key results and at least one of the approaches listed under the Key Results identified below.
Transform Education
Education reform that enables all young people to learn and thrive is essential to individual well-being and regional prosperity. Our investment in this area focuses on three key results:
Student Success
High quality schooling should be the norm for all young people.
Key Result: Children are ready to enter school, stay on grade level, and graduate prepared to thrive in their post-secondary education/vocation.
We fund:
- Efforts to implement the Agenda to Achieve Learning Readiness by 2020 (draft). The draft is in the final stages of completion.
- Promising practices that are showing effectiveness in reducing educational disparities and increasing student achievement for students of color.
- Activities that prepare students to thrive in post-secondary education.
- Research and advocacy organizations that encourage policy and systemic improvements in P-12.
Effective Public Education
A sound, equitable education system is at the core of our democracy and the promise of equal opportunity.
Key Result: Public schools systems exist where children are assured academic success.
We fund:
Community and Parent Engagement
Parent engagement and community support are critical to improving success for individual students and the quality of educational systems.
Key result: Parents, communities, and school systems work together toward shared goals.
We fund:
For more information on The Minneapolis Foundation's approach to Transforming Education please contact:
Zainab Hassan
Community Philanthropy Officer
(612) 672-3876
Promote Economic Vitality
It is critical to develop pathways to help all Minnesotans move out of poverty and into active participation in our community, which will improve the overall health and vitality of our region.
A positive future for all requires eliminating the disparities that threaten the future competitiveness of the Twin Cities region and the well being of both people and communities. Our investment in this area focuses on three key results:
Stable Families
The security of a home enables us to be productive workers and students and form the attachments to neighbors and neighborhood that are the fabric of a supportive community. Housing is one of the essential underpinnings on which family stability and economic self-sufficiency is built. For most American families, their home is their greatest source of wealth.
Key Result: Individuals and families have stable and affordable housing and are on the path to self-sufficiency.
We fund:
Prepared Workforce
Projected job growth in Minnesota shows that more jobs will require higher levels of education and training. Most avenues toward higher paying employment require some kind of post-secondary education or training.
Key Result: A trained workforce exists to meet the demands of the economy.
We fund:
- Implementation of new career pathways and innovative living wage job training programs designed to meet future workforce needs.
- Participation of the chronically unemployed and underemployed (e.g. youth, immigrants and ex-offenders) in green and next-generation jobs.
- Initiatives to increase the success in post-secondary education and training of underrepresented students of color at community colleges.
- Research and advocacy to encourage policy and systemic improvements in the workforce.
Community Wealth
Both income and wealth are necessary for economic prosperity. Wealth -- the ownership of assets and resources that have value -- enables people and communities to take control of their lives. In the past 25 years, at a time when income poverty declined, asset poverty rose.
Key Result: Job and small business creation is promoted.
We fund:
- Existing community-based networks providing technical assistance, establishing business incubators and expanding alternative financing options.
- Comprehensive community projects linking job creation, low-cost transit, new business development, and minority entrepreneurship to assure family stability and wealth creation.
- Research and advocacy to encourage policy and systemic improvements in job and small business creation.
For more information on The Minneapolis Foundation's approach to Promoting Economic Vitality please contact:
Joanne Walz
Community Philanthropy Officer
(612) 672-3839
Systems and institutions should be representative of and responsive to the communities they serve. Social problems are best solved when those affected participate in defining the challenges and finding the answers. Therefore we are particularly interested in proposals from constituency-based organizations.
The strength of the interdependent relationships among people in a community is a social capital asset. A decline in social capital weakens civic engagement and has a negative impact on education, economic vitality, and the responsiveness of our democratic institutions. Our investment in this area focuses on three key results:
Communities Speak and Act for Themselves
Social challenges are best met when those most affected are deeply engaged in defining the challenges as well as developing and carrying out the solutions.
Key Result: Under-represented communities have the capacity to act on their own behalf.
We fund:
Responsive Organizations
Public, private and nonprofit institutions should recognize the impact of their policies and practices upon community social capital. Often these organizations lack the diversity and awareness needed to recognize the significance of social capital to the health and well-being of communities.
Key Result: Institutions are prepared to work with under-represented communities in new and more effective ways.
We fund:
Effective Leadership
Broad, diverse and representative leadership is essential to ensuring that policies and systems provide equal access and opportunities to every person, neighborhood and community.
Key Result: Current and emerging leaders utilize community assets to advance their shared vision.
We fund:
For more information on The Minneapolis Foundation's approach to Building Social Capital please contact:
Valerie Lee
Community Philanthropy Officer
(612) 672-3849
page updated 2/2/10
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