Building Up Belonging Across Place, Race, and Class

New funding, focus, and partnerships designed to increase opportunities for everyone in our region to thrive

What does a sense of belonging mean to you? Offhand, it may be knowing your neighbors, living near friends and family, or joining a team, club, or social group. We think it is also having the voice, power, and tools to improve your circumstances and shape your future.

When you belong you feel welcomed, seen, respected, and invested in your community. You have the opportunities you need to create a good life for yourself and your family. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are words we hear often today. We believe “belonging” is foundational to DEI.

The Northland Foundation is building up belonging in our region along geographic, racial, and socioeconomic lines, or place, race, and class. This work is expanding things we’re already doing, as well as starting new programs and partnerships.

Why it’s important

Our mission is to “invest in people and communities for a thriving region”. This region as a whole can only reach its best potential if everyone living in it has a fair shot at success.

“Through conversations with all kinds of folks across our region, we know there are people who feel left out or left behind in a variety of ways. The strongest communities are ones where everyone can thrive. That’s where we’ll continue to focus our work.”
Tony Sertich, Northland Foundation President

Northeast Minnesota and the Native nations of this region have many strengths and assets. It’s also true that opportunities can differ based on where you live, who you know, the color of your skin, your current income, or family background. Not everyone has full and fair access to even the essentials like quality housing, education, health care, child care, employment and entrepreneurship. This needs to change for us all to realize our fullest potential as a region.

We see our part in driving change as two-fold. 1. Increase support for people who have traditionally been left behind, especially in relation to place, race, and class. 2. Work to undo barriers that have long been “baked in” to society, including those firmly in our wheelhouse – philanthropy and small business assistance.

What we’ve been doing

Northland has had a positive history of relationships with and funding for rural communities, Native nations, organizations led by and serving Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and nonprofits serving low-income people. Yet, when we dug into the data there were clear gaps. We needed to do more.

Some first steps included even more intentional outreach and grant awards to under-served organizations and communities region-wide. Our staff and board participated in DEI learnings around cultural awareness, bias, and historical inequities. We launched an Indigenous-led design process for what became the Maada’ooking program, adjusted board recruitment and hiring practices, crafted a Land Acknowledgement and updated our service area language to be more accurate and inclusive.

In 2019, we began hosting the Northland Small Business Development Center with a team of consultants who bring more eyes, ears, and feet on the ground in rural communities across our region.

Thanks to many generous and patient partners, advisors, and colleagues, we continue to learn and adapt. Belonging is now one of our grant priorities and a lens through which we look at all we do. Here are some of our Belonging-centered outcomes.

GRANTMAKING

Intentionally increasing grantmaking to under-resourced communities in our region, which has led to a 15% increase in grants to rural communities in all corners of the region and a tripling of our funding to BIPOC-led organizations, Tribal Nations, and Indigenous individuals.
Strengthening equity-centered community and leadership capacity as a partner/supporter for the Welcoming Community program led by Northspan with rural community members; setting aside special funds to award multi-year Systems Change Grants; and bolstering support for Indian Education professionals.

BUSINESS SERVICES

Expanding lending and technical assistance for businesses owned by women, veterans, people with handicaps, people with low incomes, and BIPOC-owned businesses, working with the Northland SBDC, Tribal Nation leaders, BIPOC-led organizations, and other economic development partners.
Soon launching a micro-lending program to help BIPOC and other emerging entrepreneurs get no-interest business loans of $1,000-$15,000.

PROGRAMS

Offering culturally specific and DEI-focused training at low or no cost to hundreds of professionals who work with young children and families in our region.
Supporting families with young children to be able to access high-quality child care and other important services through Minnesota Early Learning Scholarships, and the Family, Friend, and Neighbor Child Care and Community Resource Hub programs.

Moving forward

Academic, activist and artist Lilla Watson is credited with saying, “If you have come here to help me you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”

Belonging is not just a word for us at the Northland Foundation. It’s a guidepost to shape decisions, strategies, and directions. It’s also a mirror to look at ourselves; listen, learn, and unlearn; and improve how we show up for people and communities in this region.

It is in all our interest to focus on making sure each and every person who lives in the Northland feels like they belong. We hope you will join us in building up belonging!

Thanks to funding partners

Belonging work is expanding with the Northland Foundation’s own resources together with major grants from the Bush Foundation, McKnight Foundation, Target Foundation, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation and support from other generous partners.

Business Services News

Update 2023: what we’re seeing in the region now

After the crushing blow of 2020 shutdowns and general uncertainty, many business owners found 2021 into 2022 to be positive for cash flow.

As 2023 gets underway, increased costs and logistics are providing some challenges. The spirit of growth, however, is alive and well. People all across the northeast Minnesota are still wanting to start, purchase, or expand businesses. Deal flow has been steady.

“The entrepreneurial ecosystem remains strong. The pandemic was hard on most small businesses, but it also nudged a lot of folks to make the leap into business ownership,” said Northland Foundation President, Tony Sertich.

Working capital and construction-related financing are a heavy focus at the moment, from mature businesses investing into their operations, to small start-ups just getting going, to ownership transitions.

“It’s encouraging to see that, despite rate increases by the Fed, a growth mindset continues in the region.”
Tony Sertich, President

Michael Colclough, who’s led the Northland Foundation’s lending program for over seven years, touts northeast Minnesota’s concentration of financing and economic development organizations as a major asset for entrepreneurs trying to sustain their businesses in lean times or manage growth in boom times.

“We have a solid network – banks and credit unions, the ARDC, Northspan, Entrepreneur Fund, Northland SBDC, and others – with a common goal to help businesses get the support they need be successful,” stated Colclough.

As a non-traditional lender and certified C o m m u n i t y Development Financial Institution, we add to the mix with:

Responsive lending staff able to turn approvals around relatively quickly without a lot of red tape.
Less restrictive loan policy around collateral or other typical lending requirements.
Flexibility and cost-consciousness in a time of rising interest rates.
Willingness to fill gaps, for example, with construction or equipment cost over-runs Northland might step in to extend additional credit and keep projects ticking.

“Being a small and nimble shop, with the ability to take a second position, for example, or be looser about collateral, makes us a good option anytime,” Colclough added. “Our role is arguably most valuable when economic conditions are more challenging.”

Recently Closed Loans

In recent months, the Northland Foundation has closed loans totaling $340,000 to benefit five small business expansions and one new start-up business in the region.

EXPANSIONS:

The Center for Family Wellness, Duluth
Lake County Veterinary Clinic, Two Harbors
American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO), Duluth
Lake States Evergreen Company d/b/a Itasca Greenhouse, Cohasset
El Oasis Del Norte, Hermantown

NEW BUSINESS:

Hawkins Hauling, Duluth

To learn more about Business Services and financing tools available, please email our Economic Development Specialist/Small Business Lender, Amanda Vuicich or Business Services Director, Michael Colclough.

Grants Awarded October-January

More than $450,000 invested in region with quarterly, Maada’ookiing, and Youth In Philanthropy grants

From October 2022 through January 2023, the Northland Foundation made 18 quarterly grants totaling $431,000; the Maada’ookiing Board approved five grants totaling $12,500; and the Youth In Philanthropy Board awarded nine grants totaling $8,267.

Quarterly grants included $81,000 for prevention/intervention work in relation to domestic and family violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking. Three organizations serving survivors in northeast Minnesota received $64,000. Additional grant dollars were awarded through the Foundation’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relations (MMIWR) Grant Opportunity which was open to individuals or grassroots groups of Native nation citizens, descendants, or having kinship ties or affiliations. The Native Lives Matter Coalition in Duluth served as fiscal host for several grants totaling $17,000 for projects in the region. The special grant program was created to bolster efforts to raise awareness, urge change, and promote healing around MMIWR.

“Indigenous women and girls make up 1% of Minnesota’s population but 15% of missing person cases and 9% of female homicides,” stated Northland Foundation Program Officer, Cayla Bellanger-DeGroat. “We are honored to support community-driven efforts that highlight this issue and that work to protect and seek justice for Indigenous women, girls, and relatives.”

Find details on recent grants by clicking the links below.

October through December quarterly grants
Fall Maada’ookiing grants
Winter Youth In Philanthropy grant s

Funding Notes

Essentia Health provides key support for Thrive, bolstering infant and early childhood mental health

Essentia Health has renewed major funding support for the Northland Foundation’s Thrive Initiative with a $20,000 one-year grant.

“Thanks to longtime partners like Essentia Health, the Thrive Initiative continues its pivotal work,” stated Northland Foundation President, Tony Sertich. “As communities continue to recover from the impact of the pandemic, high-quality training and programming is critical to help ensure providers and practitioners have the tools and resources to support children and family well-being.”

Thrive supports a group of 500+ professionals from diverse organizations and agencies including health, early childhood, education, and social services. They convene regularly throughout the year, virtually and in-person, building knowledge and strengthening resources that support social-emotional health for children birth-to-age-eight and their families.

Medica Foundation grant supports early care and education training

The Northland Foundation has been awarded a $5,000 Rural Health Grant from the Medica Foundation.

Resources from the Medica Foundation will directly support professional development opportunities in northeast Minnesota focused on early care and education topics, such as fostering social-emotional well-being of young children and their parents/caregivers; supporting inclusive and culturally response environments and services for young children and families; and offering strategies for providing trauma-informed care

“The Medica Foundation has been a wonderful partner over the years to help advance our early care and education efforts in northeastern Minnesota,” said Zane Bail, Chief Operating Officer, Northland Foundation. “We are pleased to continue our work together to help young children and families thrive.”