Minnesota Community Foundation Awards First Statewide Grants

Marking its first round of statewide grantmaking, Minnesota Community Foundation in St. Paul has announced 10 recipients of its new Vision Grants to fund visionary ideas that address needs that are critical to Minnesotans. The grants of up to $10,000 each represent the first year of funding from the foundation's new three-year grantmaking program, which will invest $300,000 in innovative projects across the state.

"The applications we received demonstrated that Minnesotans are committed to taking new approaches to solving challenges and finding ways to improve the quality of life we enjoy here," said Judith H. Dutcher, president of Minnesota Community Foundation. "We are pleased to fund a wide array of projects that are addressing many of the issues that Minnesotans have told us are important to them, both through our research and our time spent working in their communities. Plus, every one of the efforts has the potential to become a local and national model for others to follow."

Recipients of this year's Vision Grants were selected from a pool of 65 grant proposals, and include nonprofit organizations working on environmental education, health and public health and safety issues. The first Vision Grant recipients are:

• College of St. Scholastica, Duluth, which will launch a Computer-Based Personal Health Record Project for graduate and undergraduate health sciences students. Students will use a portable electronic device to track their health history, learn about disease prevention and become familiar with health technology. The technology effort addresses two critical issues facing health care today: the need for better personal health practices and habits and the need for more effective and efficient means of collecting and sharing personal health records.
     
• Independent Feature Project and Taproot, to create a community video project, "Crossing the Line: The Dangers of Methamphetamine." Taproot will work closely with the Wabasha High School drama department, law enforcement, and probation and social services agencies. Local high school students will become the lead actors and musicians for the video, which will show a fictional yet accurate account of one young man's downfall following methamphetamine use. The video is designed to engage and educate entire communities and raise awareness about methamphetamine abuse.
     
• Independent School District #413, including Southwest State University and Marshall junior and senior high schools, will develop a water quality monitoring curriculum for biology students. The students will study water quality of nearby lakes and rivers and share the information with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for watershed management and for replication among others schools and organizations. The project creates opportunities for students to become active learners and leaders in their communities.
     
• The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy is working to promote a revitalized local food system and develop new strategies for local farmers to market their products. The project will develop and launch a "Food Market on Wheels" to provide residents of Minneapolis's Phillips Neighborhood with greater access to regional fruits and vegetables and ready-to-eat, healthy foods. The project will also explore partnerships with local hospitals that may potentially support greater access to healthy food as a public health service.
    
• The Living at Home/Block Nurse Program, which works in Yellow Medicine and Chippewa counties to help the elderly remain in their homes safely and independently, will develop a curriculum and training for its nurses and volunteers to identify clients with mental health issues, educate the clients and their families about mental health issues, make referrals and provide other resources. This replicable, low-cost program addresses two key issues for the senior community: the ability to stay in one's home and the diagnosis and treatment for mental health issues, which affect many older individuals.
     
• The Minnesota Conservation Corps will work to eliminate invasive plant species that are threatening the Trout Lily, a plant known to grow only in southern Minnesota. The group provides work experience for Minnesota youth in the areas of environmental stewardship and conservation. With the help of River Bend Nature Center, Minnesota Conservation Corps youth will host a community-wide "Save the Trout Lily" event that can be replicated in other parts of the state. The event will include an invasive species curriculum and the removal of vegetation that poses environmental and economic threat to the state.
     
• Minnesota Lakes Association, a statewide organization whose mission is to promote stewardship of Minnesota's waters, will expand its six-week lake ecology curriculum for use in upper middle school grade levels and at Environmental Learning Centers. The curriculum aims to provide youth with knowledge of good lake management practices and instill the stewardship values necessary to protect Minnesota's waters for generations to come.
     
• Mujeres Unidas (Women United) del Red River Valley is a small nonprofit organization located in the sugar beet-growing region of the Red River Valley in northwestern Minnesota. The region's high dropout and incarceration rates for Latinos prompted women concerned about the welfare of their daughters and granddaughters to request a program to eliminate gangs and dangerous behaviors among boys and young men. Incarcerated men developed Soy Libre (I'm Free), a comprehensive, culturally based program targeted primarily to Latino boys and young men. The group will expand the program to reach more students and develop manuals and resource materials for other communities to duplicate.
     
• Normandale Community College received a grant for its proposed project to increase the availability of dentistry services provided to the community, especially to the elderly, immigrants and people with low incomes. The program will build on legislation that authorized collaborative agreements that allow dental hygienists to work without a dentist present. Using teledentistry, a hygienist can take diagnostic photos, submit them online and receive an instant diagnosis from a dentist.
     
• United Way of Northeastern Minnesota will create, in partnership with other community organizations, a comprehensive campaign to raise public awareness about the extent and dangers of substance use and abuse in the region, with a particular focus on methamphetamine. The campaign will implement two educational programs: one for the general public and one for youth in the schools created through input from the judicial system, mental health providers, parents, teachers, business and religious leaders, and youth.

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