North Minneapolis Seed Grant Awards
The University Northside Partnership (UNP) is a collaborative effort to enhance the social and economic environment in the North Minneapolis community. The University of Minnesota and other institutions, including NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center, the City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, and Northside community organizations are working in unison to brighten both the present and future of North Minneapolis.
One of the UNP's initiatives is a seed grant program, managed by our Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, that awards funds semi-annually to organizations working with University faculty and/or graduate students in North Minneapolis: Past seed grant projects have included assessing the impact of individualized reading instruction on reading performance at the Lucey Craft Laney Community School, and developing a best practices protocol for a Northside drop-in center for women.
The following projects have been awarded seed grants in fall 2007:
Collegiate Achievers: Promoting Higher Education Access and Success from Kindergarten to Post-secondary Education
The University YMCA, located at the University of Minnesota for 120 years, seeks to build the ethical leadership capacities of young adults in a context of social justice issues. They are currently collaborating with the North Community YMCA and the YMCA Multicultural Achievers program and the University YMCA program sites on the Northside to develop ways to offer progressive programming that will support youth from kindergarten into higher education. This project builds on successful YMCA Black and Minority Achievers programs and existing YMCA college partnerships across the country to explore ways that YMCAs and other community-based organizations can contribute to college success for students who have great potential but struggle with many different issues related to class, gender and race. By combining existing research findings with the YMCA’s best practices for working with youth, Collegiate Achievers will identify effective models for college success and also transform communities.
Restoring Homeownership to Support Family Health and Wealth Building
NRRC is a neighborhood organization and community development corporation with a mission to empower residents of the Near North/Willard Hay neighborhoods of North Minneapolis. During a period of twenty years from 1980 to 2000, NRRC and several other non profits played a key role in rebuilding the Northside as a viable community of quality affordable rental housing and homeownership. This significant achievement was lost in the last four years through the devastation of foreclosures due to aggressive targeting by sub prime lending and adjustable rate mortgages in the community. The Northside is ground zero for foreclosures in the metro area with over 1500 in the 13 Northside neighborhoods of Minneapolis. A research assistant will measure the impact of foreclosures in the community as well as identify programs and strategies NRRC can use to play a role in getting housing stock back into family ownership.