McKnight Foundation grant to support expanded “Belonging” work in northeast Minnesota
The Northland Foundation was recently awarded a one-year, $200,000 grant from the McKnight Foundation to expand our “Belonging” work. The grant will advance work to to 1) support Indigenous communities and individuals to assert their self-determination, achieve their full potential, and thrive, and 2) help rural communities address structural inequities by engaging community members in understanding and taking action on systemic bias and its impacts. Resources from the McKnight Foundation will help build on existing programs, including our Indigenous-designed and led Maada’ookiing Program, Business Services, and other programming to:
- Foster leadership development
- Support peer learning and networking
- Increase access to financial resources
“McKnight is a longstanding partner to us, supporting our work in rural northeast Minnesota. This new funding provided through their Vibrant & Equitable Communities program will help bring additional, valuable resources to Indigenous communities and increase efforts to ensure all people in our region feel welcomed and connected,” said Northland Foundation President, Tony Sertich.
City of Duluth 1200 Fund awards $300,000 for Child Care Workforce Strategies Pilot Project
The City of Duluth’s Duluth 1200 Fund is contributing $300,000 to the Northland Foundation’s Child Care Workforce Strategies Pilot Project.
Through the Pilot project, licensed child care center and family programs may apply for funding of $1,500-$12,000 for staff recruitment and retention efforts. The goal of the project is to help stabilize and/or grow child care capacity and increase quality to serve more families with young children in northeast Minnesota communities and Tribal nations. Applications for these grants are being accepted on the Foundation’s website through December 13, 2022.
Tony Sertich, President of the Northland Foundation stated, “Right now, there are 3,700 children in our region who do not have access to child care. The shortage of child care openings is, like many other industries, affected by workforce shortages. The $300,000 from the 1200 Fund means virtually every licensed child care in Duluth could receive a grant to help boost their staffing, which will in turn help stretch additional funding from other partners throughout the seven counties and five Tribal nations in our region.”
