$3.1 Million in Racial and Economic Justice Grants Awarded
The Minneapolis Foundation today announced $3,184,900 in grants to 79 local organizations that are advancing racial and economic justice in the Twin Cities.
Racial and Economic Justice grants support organizations and projects that:
- Advance structural and systems change through policy advocacy, organizing, and movement building.
- Invest in economic systems and practices that build wealth and stabilize communities.
- Advance narrative strategies focused on racial and economic justice.
“The Minneapolis Foundation is committed to fueling solutions that are shaped and led by those most affected by injustice,” said Jo-Anne Stately, Senior Vice President of Impact at the Minneapolis Foundation. “These grants illustrate the energy, creativity, and innovative approaches that Minnesotans across our community are bringing to the task of creating a more equitable society.”
In the past four years, the Foundation has invested more than $13 million in community, leadership, and organizational strategies through its Racial and Economic Justice grant program. Racial and Economic Justice grants are awarded through a competitive process, with applications reviewed by a committee of Foundation staff and community members.
One of this year’s grants will support the Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers (MCCD), an association of nonprofit affordable housing and economic development organizations from across Minnesota.
“For too long, traditional economic development practices have inflicted economic, social, and political harm on BIPOC and low-wealth communities. At MCCD, we see shared ownership as an approach that repairs this harm and builds community wealth.”
With the Minneapolis Foundation’s support, MCCD plans to continue to advance policy, capital access, and technical assistance to expand its sector-based strategy for worker cooperative development. “This approach involves establishing and growing employee-owned cooperative businesses as ethical, viable, and competitive alternatives in sectors characterized by rampant labor exploitation and the overrepresentation of BIPOC, women, and immigrant Minnesotans,” Gaarder said.
Another grant will support the Awood Center, a worker-centered organization that creates a culturally and linguistically relevant space to build unity and develop the next generation of leaders in Minnesota’s diverse East African communities. “As a frontline organization that advocates and empowers East African workers, this grant will enable us to support more vulnerable workers so they can have a voice at their workplace and tools they need to fight back for workplace justice,” said Abdi Muse, the organization’s Executive Director. “Enabling workers to build power at their workplace is an effective way to advance racial and economic justice.”
Photo courtesy of the Awood Center
The grants announced today will support these organizations:
African American Leadership Forum: $40,000 to support community-created policy agendas addressing issues central to the African American community in Minnesota.
African Development Center: $50,000 to support technical assistance, financial services, and lending to build wealth for African immigrant entrepreneurs and families.
African Economic Development Solutions: $50,000 to support African immigrant entrepreneurs in Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Minneapolis, and Richfield.
All Square: $40,000 to support career pathways for formerly incarcerated adults interested in practicing law.
Alliance for Metropolitan Stability: $40,000 to support and strengthen strategic, multi-racial coalitions that advance intersectional approaches to racial and economic justice.
American Indian OIC: $50,000 to support employer engagement efforts that create culturally affirming hiring and retention practices for candidates of color.
Amherst H. Wilder Foundation: $30,000 to support the Community Equity Program, which centers on culturally relevant public policy developed and led by communities of color.
Appetite for Change Minnesota: $30,000 to support a Black-led food justice and social enterprise in North Minneapolis.
Association for Black Economic Power: $35,000 to support the launch of a full-service credit union in North Minneapolis.
BLCK Press Center for Broadcast Journalism: $30,000 to support training opportunities for next-generation journalists of color.
CAPI USA: $30,000 to support career pathways, family stability, and resettlement programs at multi-service centers in Brooklyn Center and Minneapolis.
Central Area Neighborhood Development Organization: $35,000 to support community engagement and organizing in neighborhoods surrounding George Floyd Square.
Centro de Trabajadores Unidos En La Lucha: $50,000 to support leadership development, organizing, and policy development in Latinx communities.
Centro Tyrone Guzman: $25,000 to support intergenerational Latinx leadership, advocacy, and community engagement that addresses issues of economic equity.
Coalition of Asian American Leaders: $40,000 to support leadership development and civic participation in Asian communities.
Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES): $50,000 to support culturally tailored wealth-building strategies in Latinx communities.
Comunidades Organizado el Poder y la Accion Latina (COPAL) MN: $40,000 to support Latinx leadership development, organizing, advocacy, and policy advancement to eliminate racial and economic inequalities.
ConnectUP Institute: $30,000 to support the growth of entrepreneurs of color and expand access to culturally appropriate resources.
Cultural Wellness Center: $40,000 to support community-owned development and community-led wellness strategies.
Destination Northside Coalition: $40,000 to increase economic prosperity in North Minneapolis.
Dream of Wild Health: $30,000 to support a sovereign-based food system and culturally based leadership training site for Native youth.
East Phillips Neighborhood: $50,000 to support a community-owned center for public health and economic development.
Emerge Community Development: $40,000 to support comprehensive placed-based and culturally relevant employment services in Minneapolis.
Family Housing Fund: $50,000 to support a fair and just system for tenant screening and selection.
Headwaters Foundation for Justice: $40,000 to support grassroots power building, systems change initiatives, and movement organizers.
Hope Community: $50,000 to support intergenerational capacity building, economic ownership, and collective power.
Housing Justice Center: $40,000 to support disability and housing justice organizing through policy advocacy and partnerships.
Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota: $40,000 to support policies that protect the human rights of immigrants and secure racial and economic justice for immigrants and refugees living in Minnesota.
Indigenous Roots: $30,000 to foster cultural, social, and policy change by empowering Native communities through We Are Still Here Minnesota initiatives.
ISAIAH: $40,000 to support organizing, civic participation, and grassroots leadership in North Minneapolis, Brooklyn Center, and Brooklyn Park.
Isuroon: $40,000 to support wealth-building strategies for Somali and East African families in Minneapolis.
Juxtaposition Arts: $50,000 to support comprehensive arts training and pathways to creative sector employment for young people of color in North Minneapolis.
Lake Street Council: $40,000 to support increased investment in businesses owned by entrepreneurs of color along the Lake Street commercial corridor.
Latino Economic Development Center: $50,000 to support technical assistance, financial services, and lending to build wealth for Latinx entrepreneurs and families in Minneapolis and first-ring suburbs.
LegalCORPS: $30,000 to provide legal services for entrepreneurs of color.
Local Initiatives Support Corporation: $50,000 to support technical assistance, lending, and capacity-building for developers of color investing in Minneapolis Cultural Districts.
Market Entry Fund: $30,000 to support start-up funding and market placement of food products created by entrepreneurs of color.
Memorialize the Movement: $25,000 to support the preservation of plywood murals created by artists of color after the murder of George Floyd.
Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers: $50,000 to support a shared-ownership model of cooperative and employee ownership to build wealth in communities of color.
Metropolitan Economic Development Association: $50,000 to support technical assistance, financial services, and lending to build wealth for entrepreneurs of color.
MIGIZI Communications: $50,000 to support renewable energy and media and communications career pathways for Native youth.
Mixed Blood Theatre Company: $50,000 to support community engagement and narrative change initiatives.
Mni Sota Fund: $50,000 to support wealth-building strategies for American Indian families and businesses in Minneapolis.
Muslim American Society of Minnesota: $20,000 to support voter engagement and mobilization in the Muslim American communities in Minneapolis.
Native American Community Development Institute (NACDI): $50,000 to support community organizing, policy development, and community development to advance systems and structural change.
Navigate MN: $45,000 to support immigrant and refugee organizing and economic justice advocacy in Latinx communities.
Neighborhood Development Center: $50,000 to support entrepreneurs and business owners of color through technical assistance, training, and lending.
New American Development Center: $50,000 to support wealth-building strategies for Somali and East African families and businesses in Minneapolis.
New Native Theatre: $40,000 to support the development of Native artists and address root causes of exclusion and power dynamics embedded in American theater.
Nexus Community Partners: $40,000 to support community engagement, leadership development, and civic participation.
Native American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NATIFS): $40,000 to support programs that help develop and maintain Indigenous food products and businesses.
Northside Economic Opportunity Network: $50,000 to support low- to moderate-income entrepreneurs of color.
Northside Funders Group: $25,000 to support economic revitalization and opportunities in North Minneapolis.
Northside Investment Cooperative Enterprise: $50,000 to support the purchase of properties and create and maintain affordable housing and commercial space, prioritizing Northside residents of color.
OutFront Minnesota: $25,000 to support policy advocacy, community organizing, and civic participation in LGBTQ+ communities.
PFund Foundation: $49,900 to provide business capacity grants to LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs and business owners of color.
Phyllis Wheatley Center: $30,000 to support generational wealth- building strategies.
Pillsbury United Communities: $50,000 to amplify voices, stories, and cultures through community media ecosystems.
Project for Pride in Living: $40,000 to support opportunities for asset-building and professional growth in the housing development field in and with communities of color.
Propel Nonprofits: $50,000 to support stabilization of and fiscal sponsorships to nonprofits focused on racial and social justice that are led by people of color.
Public Functionary: $35,000 to support strategies that provide economic pathways for young and underrepresented artists.
Reviving Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment: $25,000 to support increased civic engagement of Muslim women.
Rosy Simas Danse Inc.: $45,000 to provide technical and fiscal support for artists of color.
Sahan Journal: $50,000 to expand equitable and comprehensive media coverage among immigrants and communities of color.
Sakan Community Resource: $35,000 to provide support and comprehensive homeownership and financial education to East African and Muslim families.
SEWA-AIFW: $40,000 to support financial literacy and entrepreneurship in South Asian communities.
Seward Redesign, Inc.: $50,000 to support entrepreneurs and developers of color through technical assistance and lending services.
Soomaal House of Art: $25,000 to empower and support Somali-American artists.
The Awood Center: $30,000 to support leadership development, organizing, and policy advocacy led by workers of color.
The Loft Literary Center: $25,000 to support skills training opportunities for young, marginalized writers of color.
The Riverside Plaza Tenants Association: $40,000 to support outreach and training for youth and adults in obtaining certification in the information technology and healthcare fields.
The SEAD Project: $30,000 to support emerging leaders in creating narratives that break down barriers in Southeast Asian communities.
Twin Cities RISE!: $40,000 to support personal empowerment, career training, and job placement in Black and African American communities.
United Renters for Justice (, Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia): $50,000 to shape policy and support rent stabilization in Minneapolis.
Urban Homeworks: $40,000 to support first-time homeowner initiatives, advocacy, and policy work.
Voices for Racial Justice: $40,000 to support organizing, power building, and civic engagement led by people of color.
West Broadway Business and Area Coalition: $40,000 to support comprehensive research to enhance economic opportunities along West Broadway Avenue in North Minneapolis.
WomenVenture: $50,000 to support access to capital, business training, and consulting programs to women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs.
Youthprise: $40,000 to support equitable opportunities for young people of color to achieve ownership, wealth, power, and healing.
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Watch this 3-minute video for a glimpse of how Memorialize the Movement, a Racial and Economic Justice grantee, is preserving plywood murals that were made by protesters and mourners in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.
