Women’s Foundation Awards $301,000 in Grants to Support Future Economic Prosperity for Minnesota Girls

The Women’s Foundation of Minnesota has awarded 18 multi-year grants and five planning grants totaling $301,000 to nonprofit organizations through its girlsBEST (girls Building Economic Success Together) fund. The grant period is June 15, 2019, to June 14, 2020, and represents the last renewal of a multi-year grant from girlsBEST. Multi-year grants are for up to three years, based on an annual grant review and approval of progress towards goals. Planning grants are limited to one year. The next grant round for girlsBEST will open with a request for proposals in the spring of 2020.  

Launched in 2002, girlsBEST awards grants to programs that build the opportunity and future economic success of Minnesota’s girls, ages 12-18. Priority is given to programs that include outreach to underserved, underrepresented populations around the state, including low-income girls, girls of color and American Indian girls, and girls from Greater Minnesota. 

Multi-Year Grantee-Partners: 

Bagosendaan (Mahnomen) | $14,000 – To support year-round programming that ensures that young women remain in school and avoid drugs and alcohol. Bagosendaan sponsors three events each year that promote speakers and public forums on topics of interest to women and girls.  

Best Academy, Inc. (Minneapolis)| $18,000 – To support SISTER Academy, an all-girls education and enrichment program for grades 5-8, designed to build, nurture, and strengthen academic, moral, and social development in preparation for a successful transition into high school, college, and career. 

Centro Tyrone Guzman (Minneapolis) | $14,000 – To support Jóvenes Latinas al Poder, a Latina leadership training program that supports advocacy for justice, inclusion, and equity in the Twin Cities. 

Communidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio, Inc. (CLUES) (St. Paul) | $14,000 – To support Jóvenes en Acción – ¡YA! (Youth in Action Program), a holistic, culturally appropriate leadership development and college access preparation program. 

Dakota Wicohan (Morton) | $14,000 – To support the year-round Dakota Youth Leadership Program, which connects Dakota youth to their community and helps prepare them to contribute academically, economically, socially, and culturally. 

Girl Scouts – Dakota Horizons (Sioux Falls, S.D.) | $18,000 – To support hands-on learning with a focus on life skills, STEM (science, technology, science, and engineering), the outdoors, and financial literacy. 

HAP (Hmong American Partnership) (St. Paul) | $14,000 — To support the needs of a new generation of Hmong girls and women with group mentoring and an internship program that includes stipends, financial literacy training, and career exploration. 

Isuroon (Minneapolis) | $14,000 — To support culturally appropriate employment preparation, sexuality and AIDS education, mentoring, and academic achievement training for African immigrant girls in programming that includes family and other caring adults. 

Liberty Community Church, PCUSA (Minneapolis) | $18,000 — To support the 21st Century Academy, which provides quality learning and mentoring, developmentally appropriate activities, and leadership development for girls. The program emphasizes reading, writing, math, and technology. 

The Link (Minneapolis) | $14,000 — To support the Career and Leadership program to increase girls’ leadership skills, provide mentoring partnerships, and prepare them for paid internship opportunities. 

Men as Peacemakers (Duluth) | $18,000 — To support the Girls Restorative Program (GRP) in expanding leadership opportunities and skill-building through education and career preparation. 

Neighborhood House (St. Paul) | $14,000 — To support the Gang Reduction and Intervention Program (GRIP) and the Girls Realizing Our Worth (GROW 2.0) group in preparing young women for economic readiness and financial stability through training in confidence, cultural awareness, critical thinking, and life skills. 

OutFront Minnesota (Minneapolis) | $18,000 — To support a youth-led, statewide Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) network, which will support adult advisors of GSAs and LGBTQ+ youth; train and support Minnesota educators to create inclusive school environments; and advocate for public policies and practices that affirm and support LGBTQ+ students. 

Peacemaker Resources (Bemidji) | $18,000 — To support the Girls Lead on the Go program, which includes community-based leadership development to build community and advocate for change. 

Project FINE (Winona) | $14,000 — To support economic development and education for youth from refugee and immigrant families through the Girls Reaching Above and Beyond (GRAB) program. 

Range Engineering Council (Hibbing) | $14,000 — To support #EngineerLikeAGirl, a girl-led, overnight awareness and mentorship program with a series of outreach events, including job shadowing and Engineering Mentor Night. 

uCodeGirl (Fargo, N.D.) | $14,000 — To support Crack the Code: Summer Technology Camp and Shape the Future: Inspire and Nurture Her programs that include one-on-one mentoring and technology education from industry professionals. 

United Community Action Partnership (Marshall) | $14,000 — To support the Generation Next program, with a focus on building the economic stability of girls through leadership, mentorship, skill-building, and financial literacy. 

Planning Grants:

BOLD, Inc. (Lake Shore) | $5,000 – To support the research-based BOLD curriculum in the Brainerd Lakes area for middle and high school girls to build self-esteem and pursue their goals.  

Coalition for Asian American Leaders (CAAL) (St. Paul) | $5,000 — To support Making Our Voices Effective for Equity (MOVEE), a leadership program to support, develop and sustain Asian social justice movement leaders in Minnesota, including girls and young women.  

RECLAIM (St. Paul) | $5,000 – To support Passages, a program that aims to change the cultural and systemic landscape of healing for LGBTQ+ and people of color and Indigenous (POCI) individuals and communities through supporting practitioner development with youth, ages 12-18.  

Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment (RISE) (Minneapolis) | $5,000 – To enhance youth curriculum for empowerment and advocacy trainings for Muslim girls so they help expand district policies that support religious accommodation and cultural competence training of educators.  

Sisters-N-Technology (Minneapolis) | $5,000 — To support the expansion of after-school coding classes in Minneapolis and St. Paul.