Grantee Learning Logs

Renewing the Countryside II will grow the capacity of our local food system by developing a plan to make farmland more accessible to new and young farmers and supporting new and existing partnerships between food co-op members and farmers.

Answering the Voices' will connect individuals from the refugee and immigrant community with established residents and local decision-makers to explore community issues and develop innovative solutions for identified needs.

TakeAction Minnesota will engage Minnesotans to identify problems and actionable solutions for getting the most out of the new MNSure health care system.

MAVA will convene conversations with partners, cities, volunteer managers, volunteers and citizens interested in building new strategies to engage a diverse citizenry in community problems. They will develop strategies and curriculum to train cities throughout Minnesota to grow citizen volunteerism in problem solving and public service.

Connector Academy and Lab,' a project of the Cleveland Neighborhood Association, will train residents to become leaders in their community and make change in their neighborhood. Residents will work together, learn from one another and support one another in creating innovative community-building projects.

The Promise Neighborhood – Central Minnesota will lead community engagement and capacity building efforts to achieve educational, economic and community aspirations in the Talahi neighborhood in St. Cloud.

The 'Public Art and Community Engagement Project' will advance the development of vibrant public spaces and public art in Fargo-Moorhead to more strongly connect citizens with the community and each other.

The Autism Society of Minnesota will engage public school educators and parents of and students with disabilities to improve student outcomes in employment and post-secondary education.

Teen Up,' an initiative of Partnership Rapid City, will create online youth engagement technology, provide opportunities for youth to participate in city planning and cultivate all that youth have to offer by engaging them in service and in advisory and leadership roles throughout the community.

United Way of Steele County will examine disparities in income, education and health among low-income residents and people of color in Steele County. They will also design and implement a collaborative, multi-sector initiative at the intersection of these disparities to create change in their community.

Main Street Square will research, develop and implement a successful community arts collaborative and clearinghouse that will create a sustainable, equitable future for the arts and artists in Rapid City.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe will hold talking circles and lead a community assessment to guide the development of a network of home and community-based service providers who qualify for Medicare and state reimbursement programs. This network will help elders and adults with disabilities in their community continue living independently.

The Barbara Schneider Foundation will work together with four Native nations--Red Lake Nation, White Earth Nation, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and Rosebud Sioux Tribe--to create culturally distinct programs for prevention of and intervention in mental health crisis and wellness recovery. Each Nation will identify strengths, needs, priorities and barriers to wellness, and develop a collaborative response plan for their community.

To promote high quality research relevant to the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians that will advance the tribe's problem solving capacity and economic development, and uphold its positive images

Mni Wizipan Wakan (Water Bundles) Project to manage and protect water rights

To create a fund and fill gaps in resources accessible to immigrant and undocumented communities in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic

To partner with justice-involved youth and their families in Itasca County to design and pilot a whole-family solution led by Itasca County Public Health that is appropriate, sustainable, and impactful

Studies show that high quality out-of-school-time programs really make a difference in the lives of young people. However, young people of color and from families with lower income access these programs at lower rates. Urban Arts Academy is creating “Agents of Change”: a highly collaborative, sustainable youth program model fueled by youth-driven engagement. The 20 organizations in the Agents of Change collaborative believe that they will better serve youth and families in the Bancroft, Bryant Central and Powderhorn neighborhoods of Minneapolis if they truly listen to youth and work together.

To address critical gaps in North Dakota’s behavioral healthcare system using data, evidence and innovative financing

To unite MHA Nation community segments in Fort Berthold Reservation and overcome isolation

To identify short-term and long-term collective strategies to address the opioid epidemic and create a regional hub for treatment and family services for people addicted to opioids in the Minot North Dakota area

The BrandLab would like to see the Twin Cities develop the most inclusive and diverse marketing industry in the nation. There is still a long way to go to realize that vision, but the BrandLab is committed to this cause through their Fearless Leaders work. This highly collaborative initiative, guided by a diverse group of professionals from Twin Cities marketing and creative firms, will focus on developing and facilitating workshops for local firms about diversity and inclusion. BrandLab’s biennial “State of the Industry” report is an important tool to measure and share the progress of this work.

To work with local growers and food service directors in building a hub that will aggregate and distribute local foods to schools, healthcare organizations and other nonprofits in the region

To collectively develop solutions to solve the Personal Care Assistants crisis

Tribal community conversations to identify the need for and methods of improving the competency of Lay Advocates who represent parties in criminal and civil cases before six tribal courts in North Dakota and Minnesota

To strengthen the South Dakota One Health Producer/Provider/Veterinarian Network (PPV Net) to more effectively communicate information regarding zoonotic disease and other public health issues among livestock producers, medical providers and veterinarians in an effort to improve the quality and continuity of healthcare among both human and animal populations in South Dakota

The Latino Economic Development Center leads a collaborative that includes a broad range of immigrant business owners who are served by the African Economic Development Solutions, Council on American-Islamic Relations - MN Chapter, and African Development Center. This grant builds on a previous Community Innovation Grant effort that supports the collaborative's long-term strategy to transform past disinvestment in the immigrant community. Collaborators will provide immediate access to financial resources to impacted immigrant business owners and rural areas.

This grant supports the Native American Community Clinic to adapt its telehealth visit model to meet an urgent need for coordinated health care for Native Americans living in Minneapolis. This work will transform the existing health care system serving Native Americans, prepare for when extra state funding ends and a possible recurrence of COVID-19. This grant builds on a previous Community Innovation grant to support this work.

To host a monthly community forum, encouraging the community to share ideas and thoughts on how to improve the economic, social and cultural status of the city of Two Harbors

To facilitate the expansion of Minnesota’s Safe Harbor laws to include labor trafficking

To identify community-led strategies to address homelessness in the Minneapolis Native American community

Advance Care Planning and Palliative Care: Quality Conversations to guide End of Life decisions

To support the realization of a Rondo Land Bridge to reconnect communities proximate to I-94 in the Rondo neighborhood of Saint Paul

To create capacity and support for African American businesses to survive and recover during COVID-19

Partners in Change: Building Resiliency within Minnesota’s Muslim Community, and Equipping Communities to Respond to and Prevent Bias in Greater Minnesota

This grant builds on a previous Community Innovation Grant for the Mni Wizipan Wakan (Water Bundles) Project. This work aims to manage and protect water rights on the Ihanktonwan (Yankton) Reservation by creating a political, scientific and legal basis for tribal-federal government co-management of the landscape and hydroscape of the Missouri River Cultural Basin that passes through tribal lands. This grant supports developing and testing an idea that has the potential to transform the way tribes manage water.

This grant builds on a previous Community Innovation Grant to surface innovative strategies that prevent gentrification and displacement. With this work, the Alliance and its partners hope to use the critical momentum around eviction prevention to explore and establish sustainable wins for renters in Minnesota that will provide benefit long after the temporary eviction moratorium ends.

This grant builds on a previous Community Innovation grant to align the stewardship of Pine Ridge tribal lands with community needs and aspirations. The next phase of the work is to form an innovative public/Native nation partnership that indigenizes conservation by bringing the Oglala Lakota peoples' perspective to co-management of the 133,000-acre, tribally owned portion of Pine Ridge Reservation, designated the South Unit of Badlands National Park. This work has the potential to transform the way Native nations manage and regain cultural connections to their lands within national park boundaries.

This grant builds on a previous Community Innovation Grant aimed at elevating the profile of microbusinesses, accessing data on needs and practices, and creating a pipeline to resources and funding. This important work is developing and testing an idea that has the potential to transform the ecosystem of support for microbusinesses that have not received adequate visibility or resources to date. ACER will uplift those unmet needs and work to improve the ability of public agencies to provide rapid response to microbusinesses impacted by crises.