In The News

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Way to Grow Book Drive in honor of MLK Day
Way to Grow Book Drive in honor of MLK Day 2548 1442 Way to Grow

Thanks to our friends at KARE11 for sharing this book drive as a way to give back during the month of January! Special thanks to HandsOn Twin Cities and General Mills for helping us collect books for our kiddos—we love seeing the deliveries roll in. You can read the article here!

Check out the book drive and donate your favorite to a Way to Grow family now through January 31!

Target Registry
Amazon Wishlist
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UCare Foundation awards grants to ensure a healthier new year for youth across Minnesota
UCare Foundation awards grants to ensure a healthier new year for youth across Minnesota 2500 1407 Way to Grow

Way to Grow is thrilled to be one of 12 organizations to receive a UCare Foundation grant to support our work with infants and expecting parents in 2024! With this funding, we will be able to help even more families navigate their new lives as parents, and support the health and development of our youngest community members. Thank you, UCare Foundation!

More than $400,000 provided to initiatives addressing mental health, infant health and dental care

MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 11, 2024 ─ The UCare Foundation is improving health outcomes for newborns and youth of all ages through grants to 12 community organizations serving diverse populations in urban and rural regions of the state. Individual grants range from $6,500 to $50,000.

UCare always steps up where need is greatest. The 2022 Minnesota Student Survey shows unprecedented numbers of young people struggling with their mental health. In 2021, Children’s Minnesota reported a 30% rise in children contemplating suicide. In response, a significant number of the Foundation grants are directed to improve access to mental health services for young people including neurodiverse, LGBTQIA+ and youth with complex needs.

Other grants support the health and safety of vulnerable newborns and access to dental care for youth and families. “Many young Minnesotans suffered mental health setbacks during the pandemic, and through these UCare Foundation grants, we are giving them a fresh start and better outlook in 2024,” says Tenbit Emiru, MD, MBA, PhD, UCare Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer. “The range of infant and youth programs funded by UCare have strong potential to address health disparities for Minnesota’s diverse populations – starting at birth.”

Snapshot of UCare-sponsored programs across Minnesota

Mental health

Change the Outcome, an opioid impact awareness initiative for young people in middle schools and high schools throughout Minnesota. UCare’s grant supports educational content to increase understanding of substance use disorder, fentanyl, xylazine and pressed pills – while counteracting stigma, shame and judgment.

Connection to Independence Circle of Support individual and group therapy for foster youth who need additional support for mental health challenges and multiple diagnoses – a partnership with Kente Circle.

CornerHouse Rapid Response to Trauma project providing mental health care to children who have experienced abuse. Funding will support the use of a trauma screening tool to identify the severity of trauma and Accelerated Resolution Therapy, an evidence-based therapy that can be effective in just a few sessions.

Franklin Center Open the Door – a culturally responsive initiative aimed at providing behavior therapy to neurodiverse children in the Somali community.

Nexus Family Healing resources for a new Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility that will address unmet mental health needs of youth in Minnesota. UCare funding enables the purchase of sensory items, recreational equipment, games and art supplies in addition to covering the costs of trauma-informed training and resources.

RECLAIM mental health care for queer and trans youth in Greater Minnesota. This pilot project will fund the hiring of local therapists to expand access to affirming mental health care where resources do not currently exist.

Infant health

Life Connections Community Connections: Safe from the Start, a partnership with public health staff and other community agencies to provide families in Central Minnesota with formula, safe sleep and travel equipment/education. Some of these counties rank among the poorest in the state.

New Beginnings Safe Sleep Program to help reduce the number of infant deaths due to SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Parents or primary caregivers participate in free education, and receive a safe crib and sleep sacks, as well as personal support and follow up.

Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) support of 1,079 first-time birthing individuals/families experiencing significant economic and racial inequality across 32 counties and two Tribal Nations in Minnesota. The funding benefits nursing quality, education and practice for 50 NFP nurses providing preventive health care for infants to age 2.

Proof Alliance Our Children are Sacred program to reduce the impact of prenatal exposure to alcohol in Indian Country. Funds go to leveraging the wisdom of tribal leaders and elders and building on the success of current and past programs.

Way to Grow Great by Eight program supporting children ages 0-8 from 600 of the most disadvantaged families in Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs. Great by Eight includes home visits, health screenings and health education to improve birth weights and vaccination rates.

Dental care

Children’s Dental Services expanding culturally targeted, comprehensive oral health care and education to 1,500 Native American and Asian community members across Minnesota, specifically for children, young adults, pregnant women and family members.

About UCare

UCare is an independent, nonprofit health plan providing health care and administrative services to more than 640,000 members throughout Minnesota and parts of western Wisconsin. UCare partners with health care providers, counties, and community organizations to create and deliver Medicare, Medicaid and Individual & Family health plans. The health plan addresses health care disparities and care access issues through a broad array of community initiatives. UCare has received Top Workplaces honors from the Star Tribune for 14 consecutive years since the rankings began in 2010.

About the UCare Foundation

Since 1998, the UCare Foundation has improved the lives of UCare members and their communities through grants that address urgent community health needs. We focus grant-making on initiatives that improve the health of underserved individuals across Minnesota. The UCare Foundation funds high-impact services, education, community outreach and research addressing health equity, social drivers and access barriers.

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Way to Grow receives $2 million surprise grant from MacKenzie Scott
Way to Grow receives $2 million surprise grant from MacKenzie Scott 2400 1254 Way to Grow

Read this article in the StarTribune

Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott surprises six more Twin Cities nonprofits with $26.1M in gifts

Scott’s foundation announced her latest round of surprise donations to nonprofits nationwide. 

By  Kelly Smith Star Tribune

DECEMBER 6, 2023 — 4:26PM

Six Twin Cities nonprofits are the latest local organizations to be surprised by unexpected gifts from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.

Scott, an author and the ex-wife of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, announcedWednesday that she’s donating $26.1 million to six metro area organizations — part of some $2.2 billion in grants she has given to 360 organizations nationwide this year.

“I about fell out of my chair,” said Ann Cazaban, executive director of Southside Community Health Services, of the $2.6 million gift to her small clinic, which serves low-income residents in south Minneapolis. “We don’t get a lot of good surprises like this.”

The largest of the latest local grants is $10 million for City of Lakes Community Land Trust in Minneapolis, which helps provide affordable home ownership opportunities.

The other local grantees and their awards are Project for Pride in Living (PPL), an affordable housing developer in Minneapolis, $7 million; Battered Women’s Justice Project, a St. Paul-based nonprofit that provides national training and resources, $2.5 million; Hmong American Partnership in St. Paul, $2 million; and Way to Grow, a Minneapolis-based organization that provides early childhood education, $2 million.

That’s on top of a $2 million grant that Think Small, a Little Canada-based nonprofit that administers early-learning scholarships, received from Scott in September.

Since 2020, Scott has given more than $109 million to 24 Minnesota-based nonprofits, a number taken from her database of grants and the recipients’ own statements.

Six Twin Cities nonprofits are the latest local organizations to be surprised by unexpected gifts from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.

Scott, an author and the ex-wife of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, announcedWednesday that she’s donating $26.1 million to six metro area organizations — part of some $2.2 billion in grants she has given to 360 organizations nationwide this year.

“I about fell out of my chair,” said Ann Cazaban, executive director of Southside Community Health Services, of the $2.6 million gift to her small clinic, which serves low-income residents in south Minneapolis. “We don’t get a lot of good surprises like this.”

The largest of the latest local grants is $10 million for City of Lakes Community Land Trust in Minneapolis, which helps provide affordable home ownership opportunities.

The other local grantees and their awards are Project for Pride in Living (PPL), an affordable housing developer in Minneapolis, $7 million; Battered Women’s Justice Project, a St. Paul-based nonprofit that provides national training and resources, $2.5 million; Hmong American Partnership in St. Paul, $2 million; and Way to Grow, a Minneapolis-based organization that provides early childhood education, $2 million.

That’s on top of a $2 million grant that Think Small, a Little Canada-based nonprofit that administers early-learning scholarships, received from Scott in September.

Since 2020, Scott has given more than $109 million to 24 Minnesota-based nonprofits, a number taken from her database of grants and the recipients’ own statements.

Unlike most major philanthropists, Scott surprises nonprofits with unsolicited donations that often add up to record-setting gifts for them. The gifts are unrestricted, meaning that nonprofits can spend the money any way they want. They don’t have to navigate lengthy applications or reporting requirements, as with most grants.

Scott, 53, has an estimated net worth of about $39 billion (according to Forbes magazine) and has pledged to give away most of it in her lifetime. But her generosity is shrouded in secrecy; she hasn’t spoken publicly about her philanthropy, and the public usually only finds out about the grants when nonprofits disclose the news.

Last fall, Andriana Abariotes, Project for Pride in Living’s vice president of development, received an e-mail from a consultant asking to set up a meeting to discuss an unnamed private donor’s possible donation.

“It almost seemed like a phishing thing,” she said.

PPL had a $6 million deficit last year and was on track to end this year with a deficit as well, possibly forcing layoffs. But after sharing some financials with the consultant, Abariotes said they were notified they’d get $7 million from Scott — a record amount for a one-time donation to the nonprofit.

That will help close the budget gaps and prevent layoffs while also paying down some debt, supporting employees’ pay and training, and helping close the final funding gaps on development projects as construction costs and interest rates rise.

“It’s transformative for us at a really critical time,” said Paul Williams, CEO of Project for Pride in Living. “I particularly appreciate philanthropy that thinks big.”

In September, Cazaban got a similarly cryptic email out of the blue. In a brief meeting, she was informed of the $2.6 million gift, also a record amount for the Southside clinic — equaling about 40% of the donations it gets in an entire year.

“Little Southside in south Minneapolis, how would they even find us?” she said. “They didn’t ask any questions about anything. They had already done all their due diligence.”

Cazaban said it’s a mystery why Scott’s foundation selected her organization. In past blog posts, Scott has said she’s focused on organizations dedicated to equity and the needs of underrepresented people.

“Inspired by all the ways people work together to offer each other goodwill and support,” Scott wrote online in a short three-sentence announcement Wednesday about the grants.

Southside, which provides dental, medical and vision care for low-income residents, will use Scott’s donation to help fund construction of a new 30,000-square-foot affordable community health center off E. Lake Street. The clinic will break ground in 2024 and open the center by mid-2025 on the site of a former Family Dollar store that burned down in the civil unrest following George Floyd’s murder in 2020.

The nearly $30 million project will allow Southside to expand services and serve more people, helping 18,000 a year. More than a third of its clients are children.

For small nonprofits, a Scott donation is a big boost for supporting staff and programs, said Carolyn Smallwood, CEO of Way to Grow.

“It’s a game-changer in how organizations can serve more folks,” she said, adding that the $2 million Way to Grow received from Scott last spring will help it serve 300 more families a year with early childhood education via home visits.

The Battered Women’s Justice Project will use its gift to beef up its reserves and boost its programming, possibly by adding more staffing, CEO Amy Sanchez said.

Getting such a significant gift from Scott is a vote of confidence for Twin Cities nonprofits, Abariotes said, and may possibly inspire other philanthropists. Cazaban said she hopes Scott’s philanthropy will help change how other foundations give out money, perhaps reducing the typically rigorous process of applying for grants and reporting results.

Scott’s foundation “said, ‘We trust you will use this money toward the mission and help as many people as you can,’ ” Cazaban said. “It’s a very unusual way.”

Minnesota nonprofits receiving surprise grants from MacKenzie Scott 

According to Scott’s website, yieldgiving.com, and individual nonprofits’ announcements, she’s given more than $95 million in the last three years to these Minnesota nonprofits:

  • Southside Community Health Services, $2.6 million (2023)
  • Project for Pride in Living, $7 million (2023)
  • City of Lakes Community Land Trust, $10 million (2023)
  • Hmong American Partnership, $2 million (2023)
  • Way to Grow, $2 million (2023) 
  • Think Small, $2 million (2023)
  • Battered Women’s Justice Project, $2.5 million (2023)
  • Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys, $4.2 million (2022)
  • Boys and Girls Clubs of the Twin Cities, $4.8 million (2022)
  • Big Brothers Big Sisters Twin Cities, $6 million (2022)
  • Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Minnesota, $1.5 million (2022)
  • Red Lake Nation Boys & Girls Club, $875,000 (2022)
  • Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, $13.5 million (2022)
  • Dakota Medical Foundation, $10 million (2022)
  • Boys and Girls Club of White Earth, $1.25 million (2022)
  • Junior Achievement North, $1.9 million (2022)
  • YMCA of the North, $18 million (2021)
  • Penumbra Theatre, $5 million (2021)
  • Greater Minnesota Housing Fund, $7 million (2021)
  • YWCA St. Paul, $3 million (2021)
  • Duluth Area Family YMCA, undisclosed amount (2020)
  • YMCA of Cass and Clay Counties, $10 million (2020)
  • Esperanza United, undisclosed amount (2020)
  • YWCA Cass Clay, $2 million (2020)
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Way to Grow in the News
Way to Grow in the News 1080 400 Way to Grow

School enrollment has felt the impact of the current pandemic. Way to Grow was recently in the news as part of a larger discussion on school enrollment and the drastic choices families face. In a Star Tribune article from October 19, our CEO Carolyn Smallwood outlines the challenges families face: “Pandemic pushes down Minnesota kindergarten enrollment.”

Excerpt:

“Carolyn Smallwood, CEO of Way to Grow, a Minneapolis-based early learning nonprofit that aims to address achievement gaps and support families in Minneapolis, Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center, said some families have struggled to find spots in scaled-down kindergarten programs. Others, especially those with parents juggling multiple jobs to keep the family afloat, realized they couldn’t balance work with supervising their kindergartner’s distance learning and decided to keep them out of school for the year. 

Smallwood said vastly different kindergarten experiences this year are likely to exacerbate the state’s already significant achievement gaps, particularly because the first years of school set the course for future studies. 

‘Now we have a situation where they’re not in kindergarten, not receiving the quality of services that is needed at that particular time, and our kids are probably going to be further behind,’ she said.”

Read the Article

Parents as Teachers

Way to Grow Joins Parents as Teachers (PaT) Network
Way to Grow Joins Parents as Teachers (PaT) Network 2560 1941 Chelsea DeLong

Always striving to improve our services and the Minneapolis community, Way to Grow’s Family Educators have participated in a week-long training, and we have now become a part of the Parents as Teachers (PaT) network as an affiliate.

PaT promotes optimal early development, learning, and health of young children by engaging and supporting their parents and caregivers through an evidence-based education model rather than an evidence-informed education model.  With PaT, Way to Grow will be following a home visiting curriculum where actual research has been conducted on the specific topics within the curriculum.

Founded in 1984, the PaT network serves more than 195,000 children in all 50 U.S. states, over 100 Tribal organizations, five other countries, and one U.S. territory. PaT has four primary goals:

  • Increase parent knowledge of early childhood development and improve parent practices
  • Provide early detection of developmental delays and health issues
  • Prevent child abuse and neglect
  • Increase children’s school readiness and success.

This model has been rigorously tested by peer-reviewed studies and shown to produce results. More than a dozen outcome studies have been done on the effects of the PaT model. The evaluations have been verified and supported by various states, school districts, universities, research organizations, and private foundations. Evaluation results show:

  • Children’s developmental delays and health problems are detected early
  • Children enter kindergarten ready to learn and the achievement gap is narrowed
  • Children achieve school success into the elementary grades
  • Parents improve their parenting knowledge and skills
  • Parents are more involved in their children’s schooling
  • Families are more likely to promote children’s language and literacy.

As a first step, our Family Educators are currently training on a home visiting curriculum focused on the prenatal stage to age three. Later this year, they will attend an additional training that will extend the curriculum to age 5, adding in academically driven session that go along with Way to Grow’s readiness numbers.

Giving Parents a Voice
Giving Parents a Voice 2560 1707 Lisa Bryant

On September 26, Way to Grow launched the first in a series of parent engagement workshops designed to equip parents with the necessary resources and information to advocate for their children’s education and ultimately impact long-term educational outcomes.  My Voice Matters, an innovative initiative developed in collaboration with several of our community partners, will provide parents from seven Minneapolis neighborhoods with an opportunity to voice their concerns about their children’s education, and provide training sessions to help parents navigate the school system and make the school choice that is best for their children.

During the first workshop, nearly 55 people representing Way to Grow families filled the room to listen and share their common concerns about language and cultural barriers, communicating with teachers, cultural competency, and choosing the appropriate school for their children. Information gathered from the series will be used to develop future training sessions.

“Every parent we’ve talked to is concerned about their children’s educational future and the role schools play in preparing them for success,” says Megan McLaughlin, Way to Grow’s program director. “What we’re doing is taking the initiative to empower parents so they’re more deeply engaged in their children’s education and are better able to advocate as a community leader on their children’s behalf for broader education policy.”

In addition to providing parents and families with resources and trainings, this year-long initiative will ultimately provide them training to advocate for system and policy change at the community level, as well as at the school, city and state level. These advocacy trainings, hosted by our community partners, will teach parents how to mobilize others to be more active at school board meetings, and engage key legislators in conversations about their children’s educational future. Ultimately, they will learn how to testify as a group at the Capitol on Advocacy for Children Day 2018, along with Way to Grow CEO Carolyn Smallwood to help shape future policy.

Way to Grow announces its participation in the USDA’s Child and Adult Care Food Program
Way to Grow announces its participation in the USDA’s Child and Adult Care Food Program 667 553 Lisa Bryant

MINNEAPOLIS—July 26, 2017—Way to Grow, the Twin Cities’ preeminent leader for early childhood and K-3rd grade education has announced today that it is participating in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), and has begun to serve meals at no separate charge to children enrolled at Way to Grow Preschool Pals (Center for Families), 3333 4th Street North, Minneapolis, Minn. 55412.

CACFP is designed to improve the diets of young children and increase the opportunity for children to eat a variety of nutritious foods.  The program is operated by the Minnesota Department of Education, and meals meet nutrition standards established by the United States Department of Agriculture.

In the operation of USDA Child Nutrition programs, no participant will be discriminated against because of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.

For more information about Way to Grow’s participation in the Child and Adult Care Food Program, please contact: Craig Allen, Education Coordinator at 612-874-4740, or callen@mplswaytogrow.org

To learn how you can help us do more, visit www.waytogrow.org, or call (612) 874-4740. Way to Grow is headquartered at 125 West Broadway Avenue, Suite 110, Minneapolis, Minn. 55411.

 

Way to Grow Celebrates the Achievement of Early Learners enrolled in ‘Great by Eight’

Way to Grow Celebrates the Achievement of Early Learners enrolled in ‘Great by Eight’ 150 150 Lisa Bryant
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Mayor Hodges Visits Way to Grow as City Launches Talking is Teaching Initiative
Mayor Hodges Visits Way to Grow as City Launches Talking is Teaching Initiative 150 150 Ivy Marsnik

Last week, Way to Grow teamed up with Mayor Betsy Hodges and TPT to launch and promote the City’s “Talking is Teaching: Talk, Read, Sing” campaign. The Talking is Teaching campaign is the first initiative to come out of the Mayor’s Cradle to K cabinet, formed in 2014.

Carolyn Smallwood, Executive Director of Way to Grow and chair of the Cradle to K cabinet explains, “The Talking is Teaching campaign is one of the cornerstone projects of Cradle to K. This campaign encourages the community to talk, read, and sing to our children with the goal of building up rich vocabularies.”

Nearly 60% of American children enter kindergarten unprepared. This sobering statistic stems from the fact that by 3 years of age, there is a 30 million word gap between children from the wealthiest and poorest families. This means building rich vocabularies is a vital first step in securing the futures of our young children. Cradle to K is reminding parents the importance of their role in closing the word gap by engaging in simple, everyday interactions with their children. Mayor Hodges notes, “Science has told us clearly that this simple step can help prepare our children for brighter futures.”

By reminding parents of the fact that these seemingly mundane activities are fostering learning and healthy brain development, we can narrow the disparities seen in early childhood literacy that often persist into grade school and beyond.

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Parent Education – Our Message to Parents
Parent Education – Our Message to Parents 150 150 Ivy Marsnik

Way to Grow Partners with Local Newspaper in Launching Parent Education Section

Way to Grow is happy to announce our partnership with the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. As a contributing partner to the new parent education section, Message to Parents, we will focus on the most critical issues affecting the communities we serve. In order for parents to fulfill their roles as their children’s first teachers, they need access to the tools and information critical to their children’s success. Each month, we will be sharing parent education tips to encourage parents by saying we can do this; we can give our children better opportunities to succeed in school and life – and here’s how.

The Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder was a natural partner for Way to Grow in this endeavor. The hearts of our organizations are united by the same goal: to empower the second generation by working with and through their parents. Way to Grow has been working with parents in isolated communities for over 26 years. Through this project, we aim to cast our knowledge of early childhood and parent education far and wide, sharing the best information and advice we can to help each family rediscover and achieve their highest potential.

Read more about this exciting project and hear from our fellow contributing partners. And, don’t miss our first Message to Parents: Choosing the Right School for Your Child.

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