$1.2 Million in Reimagine Education Grants Awarded

With a focus on literacy and leadership, the Minneapolis Foundation has awarded more than $1.2 million grants to 30 schools and organizations working to create a more equitable K-12 education system.

“These grants support Minnesota schools with literacy training, materials, and tutoring as they implement the READ Act,” said Patrice Relerford, Vice President of Collective Impact and Giving at the Minneapolis Foundation. “We also continued to invest in school leadership, educator pipelines, and elevating student and family voices in decision-making.”

Reimagine Education grants fund projects that:

• Support public schools in using evidence-based strategies to ensure all students can read at or above grade level.
• Elevate student, family, and community leadership to strengthen school-community ties and improve learning environments and outcomes.
• Provide opportunities for educators to deepen their understanding of race and equity as they work to create more inclusive, culturally responsive schools.
• Promote school, local, and state policy changes that address longstanding inequities in Minnesota’s education system.

These grants are part of the Foundation’s Reimagine Education strategy, which turns research into collective action to make Minnesota schools better for all. Since launching this work five years ago, the Foundation has invested more than $6.5 million in local schools and students.

Photos courtesy of LatinoLEAD and Minneapolis Public Schools

In 2025, the Foundation is deepening its investment in literacy. With the new READ Act rolling out, schools are shifting how reading is taught across the state. Many of this year’s Reimagine Education grants will support teacher training, classroom resources, and lessons to make sure every child can read confidently.

One such grant will support ServeMinnesota’s partnership with Minneapolis Public Schools. This year, the organization is placing Reading Corps members at seven schools in the district. “This investment enables us to expand the reach of Reading Corps in Minneapolis Public Schools—bringing high-impact, evidence-based literacy tutoring to students who need it most,” said Julia Quanrud, Executive Director of ServeMinnesota. “Together, we’re ensuring more children have the opportunity to become confident, successful readers by third grade.”

Another grant to Minneapolis Public Schools will allow the district to continue offering paid summer internships for high school students who are interested in pursuing teaching careers. Interns work as teacher assistants with elementary students in the district’s summer programs. “Not only do interns provide significant support and mentoring to MPS youth, they learn valuable skills that they will take with them as they continue their quest to become teachers following graduation,” said Dr. Emily R. Olson, the district’s Director of Talent Development and Management.

MPS will also use some of its funding to provide stipends for teachers who mentor colleagues through the district’s Grow Your Own programs. “Over the past two years, Minneapolis Public Schools has been building some of the most innovative grow-your-own models in the country through teacher apprenticeship, residency, and a district-embedded licensure program,” Olson said. “With support from partners like the Minneapolis Foundation, we’ve created a pathway that allows our own community members—all of whom are already working in schools and serving students as paraprofessionals or teachers of record during the program—to earn their teaching licenses while staying employed.”

The St. Louis Park school district will use its Reimagine Education grant to support young leaders by hiring high school students for its Youth Data Analyst (YDA) internship. “Each summer, these interns study our district’s data and read academic research, then present their recommendations to our school leaders,” said Dr. Silvy Lafayette, the district’s Executive Director of Assessment, Research and Evaluation. The grant will also help the district offer professional development during the school day to instructional assistants who help teach students to read in the district’s four elementary schools, she said. “This fulfills a longstanding request by past YDA students to recognize our instructional assistants as important teachers of structured literacy.”

LatinoLEAD will use its grant to engage parents and educators around how the READ Act and LEAPS Act impact multilingual and English language learners. These conversations will shape the organization’s statewide advocacy in 2026. “This grant is a powerful investment in our communities, bringing our voices to the forefront and forging a roadmap for equitable education advocacy,” said Irma Márquez Trapero, CEO of LatinoLEAD. “This will ensure multilingual students across Minnesota get the educational support they need to become the leaders and innovators of our future workforce.”

Photos courtesy of St. Louis Park Schools, LatinoLEAD, and ServeMinnesota

• 826 MSP: $30,000 to develop curriculum materials that align with the state’s new ethnic studies standards and incorporate the writing and experiences of BIPOC students in the Twin Cities.
• Advancing Equity Coalition: $30,000 to engage a network of parents, educators, students, and school leaders in education policymaking and advocacy, including district and state-level meetings related to the Cruz-Guzman school segregation lawsuit.
• American Indian OIC: $40,000 for Takoda Prep, an alternative high school operating under contract with Minneapolis Public Schools.
• The Coalition of Asian American Leaders: $40,000 to monitor the implementation of Ethnic Studies for All legislation, and to recruit, train, and support a cohort of parent leaders who are advocating with schools to adopt policies that address anti-Asian hate.
• Decoding Dyslexia MN: $40,000 to continue the organization’s education and advocacy on the learning needs of dyslexic students, and to increase parent awareness and understanding of the new requirement that all kindergarteners be screened for dyslexia.
• EdAllies: $75,000 to conduct a statewide analysis of district literacy plans submitted under the READ Act to assess the quality of instructional materials and their alignment with evidence-based approaches. Ed Allies will also partner with the Hunt Institute’s Path Forward Coalition to ensure that teacher preparation programs provide training on evidence-based literacy instruction.
• Education Evolving: $50,000 for the organization’s Heritage Language Program and Expanding Equitable Licensure Pathways. In 2024, with support from the Minneapolis Foundation, EE successfully advocated for the creation of a portfolio assessment process that helps speakers of diverse languages become licensed bilingual educators.
• Educators 4 Excellence, Inc.: $50,000 for teacher-led research and advocacy campaigns that advance systemic change to close opportunity gaps and improve Minnesota’s K-12 education system.
• Good Trouble (fiscal sponsor: Propel Nonprofits): $40,000 to expand the organization’s Youth Saving Learning process in three Northside high schools, empowering students to lead storytelling, community sensemaking, and policy advocacy to improve school climate and engagement.
• Great MN Schools: $30,000 for the Minnesota Literacy Coalition, which will partner with Minneapolis Public Schools and the Achievement Network to support the implementation of structured literacy curriculum and provide related coaching and professional development to MPS staff.
• Green Card Voices: $40,000 to create graphic memoirs that tell the stories of immigrants in ways that align with the science of reading and engage students in grades 3-8, with a focus on English language learners. Its staff and a literacy consultant will train and support teachers as they pilot these materials in 15 classrooms.
• Groves Academy: $40,000 for Groves Literacy Partnership to collaborate with New Millennium Academy, a public K-8 school in Brooklyn Center, and support its teachers and staff as they integrate literacy instructional practices that are aligned with the science of reading.
• Illusion Theater and School: $35,000 to partner with six Minneapolis public schools to engage 6th and 8th grade students in theater arts storytelling and performances that support social and emotional learning.
• LatinoLEAD: $35,000 to engage with parents and educators, learning about their experiences to identify gaps in the READ Act and LEAPS Act that affect multilingual and English language learners. LatinoLEAD will use this information to inform its statewide legislative advocacy in 2026.
• The Legal Rights Center Incorporated: $50,000 to expand the capacity of Minneapolis Public Schools educators to implement restorative disciplinary practices.
• MIGIZI Communications Inc.: $30,000 for a program that supports 200 Native American youth in the Twin Cities, providing them with in-school academic support and coaching, mentoring, peer connections, and other supports to keep them on track to graduate high school.
• Minneapolis Public Schools: $75,000 for the district’s Grow Your Own pathways to pay student interns over the summer and increase leadership compensation for teachers who mentor Grow Your Own teachers.
• Minnesota Education Equity Partnership: $40,000 to provide training for educators and administrators, and to continue its advocacy for state policies that support the success of students of color.
• The Minnesota Humanities Center: $40,000 to continue partnering with Minneapolis Public Schools on Bridges to Belonging, a project designed to transform how MPS engages students, educators, and communities in shaping curriculum, school climate, and instructional leadership.
• OutFront Minnesota Community Services: $40,000 for its LGBTQ+ education equity work.
• Richfield Public Schools: $26,700 to provide LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) professional development for the district’s elementary and interventionist staff.
• ServeMinnesota: $50,000 to continue the organization’s partnership with Minneapolis Public Schools and place Reading Corps members at seven schools, where they will tutor 200 students using an evidence-based literacy program.
• Smart North: $35,000 to organize a coalition of parents, educators, and students across Minneapolis to advocate for an increased investment and focus on technology education.
• St. Louis Park Public Schools: $25,000 for the district’s youth data analyst internship for high school students, and to offer professional development and coaching to instructional assistants who support literacy instruction in the district’s four elementary schools.
• Teaching for Equity, Empowerment and Community Healing (TEECH): $37,500 for a two-year teaching fellowship that supports aspiring teachers—typically juniors in college—as they challenge bias, recognize systemic inequities, and build affirming environments for all students.
• Ujima Collective: $40,000 to implement the next phase of its Educator Kinship Project, which addresses the systemic conditions that disproportionately push Black and Brown educators out of the profession.
• University of St. Thomas: $50,000 for a teacher residency pathway in partnership with Minneapolis Public Schools that helps educators with bachelor’s degrees obtain teaching licenses and master’s degrees in education.
• Voices for Racial Justice: $40,000 for the organization’s nine-month Education Equity Parent Fellowship and Alumni Facilitators program, which provides training for parents who organize and advocate for more equitable policies in local schools and districts.
• World Savvy: $37,500 to partner with Robbinsdale Area Schools, reviewing and making recommendations to build the district’s capacity to implement student-centered instructional practices across its schools.
• Youthprise: $50,000 to provide cash assistance to students at El Colegio Charter High School in South Minneapolis, supporting their participation in an action research project on how other countries address school attendance issues with teenagers.

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