The Saint Paul Foundation Supports Immigrant Needs, Racial Justice

The Saint Paul Foundation supported projects to meet the needs of immigrants and promote racial justice through grants it awarded in August 2004 from its unrestricted funds.

Jewish Community Action received a $60,000 grant over two years from the foundation to develop and expand partnerships through the Organizing for the Racial Justice and Immigrants Rights Project. Last year JCA began expanding its work to build ties with multi-faith and multi-ethnic communities and has demonstrated success in bringing Jews, congregations and communities of color together to help create long-term solutions to affordable housing, discrimination, violation of civil liberties, and racial and social injustice. For nearly a decade, JCA has engaged Jewish people from diverse traditions and perspectives to promote understanding and action around social and economic justice issues in Minnesota.

The foundation awarded $20,000 to the Latino Economic Development Center to help the center expand its economic development programs in St. Paul, including Spanish-language entrepreneur training, business loan referrals and analysis, the establishment of a business membership community, and community organizing. The Latino Economic Development Center focuses on entrepreneurial development as a means for Latino immigrants to establish and expand a positive role in Minnesota. The organization provides support for prospective entrepreneurs and emerging businesses and funds real estate development projects to provide appropriate space for Latino entrepreneurs.

The Minnesota Literacy Council, Inc. received $65,000 for the Family Literacy Project, which includes literacy home visits for 100 non-English speaking families with preschool children living in St. Paul and development of an education component aimed at ongoing in-service training to 200 professionals serving young children. The Council is dedicated to improving literacy in Minnesota. In 2000, The Saint Paul Foundation contracted with the Council to pilot literacy home visits with Head Start children participating in the Words Work! initiative. Because of its engagement with Words Work!, Council board and staff have come to fully appreciate the importance and impact of early and family literacy and have launched the Family Literacy Project.

In other funding, the The Saint Paul Foundation provided $75,000 to support an effort to customize The Beehive, a Web site designed to assist low-income people in obtaining information about health, schools, jobs and other resources for the Twin Cities. The goal of The Beehive is to provide low-income people with access to information that will provide them with more choice and opportunities to manage their lives. The project is being led by the Payne-Lake Community Partnership, a community development initiative that is part of a national funding collaborative called Living Cities.

Overall The Saint Paul Foundation board of directors approved 1,636 grants totaling $7,872,404 at its August 2004 meeting. For a complete list of grants (PDF, 28 pages), visit the foundation's Web site. The foundation commits 50 percent of its unrestricted funds to help the community address four goals: creating an anti-racist community; economic development for all segments of the East Metro area; strong families that provide healthy beginnings for children and youth; and quality education for all.

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