Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi Foundation Helps Advance Early Childhood Initiative

The Minnesota Early Childhood Initiative, with all of its 36 community coalitions now in various stages of development, recently received a major financial boost from the Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi LLP Foundation for Education, Public Health and Social Justice. The foundation, which is a supporting organization of The Minneapolis Foundation, has approved a two-year grant in the amount of $200,000 to support the initiative's goal of promoting the well-being of children from birth to age six.

The Minnesota Early Childhood Initiative is a statewide campaign to give children under six an opportunity to thrive and receive the stimulation and encouragement necessary for healthy development. The six Minnesota Initiative Foundations are leading the Early Childhood Initiative, which involves six community coalitions within each foundation's region.

The RKMC Foundation grant will be used to implement each of the 36 communities' unique strategic plans for strengthening the social, cultural, physical, intellectual and emotional development of young children. "The support from the Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi Foundation will help us reach our statewide goals to increase the quality and accessibility of child care, improve the delivery of services to families, create better outreach plans to reach all children, and foster better working relationships among professionals in early care and education," said John Ostrem, president of the Northwest Minnesota Foundation in Bemidji, one of the six MIFs involved in the initiative.

The McKnight Foundation, Minnesota's largest private foundation, has already pledged $3.2 million in program support and matching funds for the Minnesota Early Childhood Initiative. Other contributors to the effort include The Minneapolis Foundation, the Buuck Family Foundation, the Otto Bremer Foundation, The Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation and The Sheltering Arms Foundation.

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