ConnectedMN Celebrates over $1 Million in Grants Through Community-Led Investments
ConnectedMN Celebrates over $1 Million in Grants Through Community-Led Investments
Following two impactful grant rounds in 2020 and early 2021, the Partnership for a ConnectedMN set aside an additional $1M in funding to support digital learning organizations that are led by and serving Black and Indigenous students across the state. These grants were made through the Partnership’s “Community-Led Investments,” a process which relied on the expertise of Black and Indigenous digital equity champions who decided how grant funds would be invested. These grants were made to Black and Indigenous-led organizations supporting digital learning. See the full list of community-led investment grantees here on our website!
Community-Led Action Groups
These grants were made through a participatory process. A Black action group and Indigenous action group of digital learning experts were established during ConnectedMN’s Digital Equity Roundtable conference in July 2021. Participants were invited to start discussions on how and where they would like to direct grant funding.
During further conversations, action groups recommended grants to organizations and programs developed by and for Black and Indigenous communities and students. The process was designed to bypass limitations and inequities in traditional grantmaking processes, to leverage the expertise of community leaders with specific cultural experience, and to better meet community priorities and needs.
A Different Approach to Grantmaking
Grantees and action group participants valued the ease of the Community-Led Investment process. Applying for a grant is not simple and can be tedious and time consuming. One grantee mentioned filling out over 40 applications in the past year. Operational requirements also can exclude underserved communities. Another grantee’s decision to pay staff equitably for their levels of education was critiqued by a funder. Foundations should continue to invest resources in this approach in order to be committed to advancing social justice in funds and methods.
Nevada Littlewolf, a participant in the Indigenous-led action group stated, “the communities most impacted by disparity must be at the center of solutions. Depending on large systems - that are the source of many of the problems - to create solutions is a fool’s errand. There is a need for a major overhaul and true systemic change. We cannot depend on the status quo and self-serving systems to do the hard work and push for something that doesn’t serve their self-interest and power. American Indian people hold knowledge and relationships and must be resourced. This process was a good first step to designing new processes.”
Participants valued spaces composed of their own communities. Ini Augustine, a member of the Black-led action group, commented on the dangers of being a Black woman working in technology, including the physical threats and toxic work environments she has experienced. For her, doing the work with people that look and sound like her was a welcome privilege.
Where Investments Landed
Community-Led Investment grants were general operating grants, enabling grantees to utilize funds in any way that promotes access to tech devices, internet and the necessary tools and support to engage students and families in digital learning and life. Tony Sanneh from the Sanneh Foundation, one of the organizations that received funding from the Black-led community investments group, stated that the funds helped the Sanneh Foundation group with their outreach efforts, helping them serve more families by connecting them to the community digitally. See the full list of community led investment grantees here on our website.
About the Action Groups
ConnectedMN would like to thank the following action group participants for helping realize these Community-Led Investments:
Indigenous-led investments participants:
Dustin Moretz, SPMF
Nevada Littlewolf, Our Children MN
Fawn Youngbear-Tibbetts, Wicoienandagikendan
Tim Tormoen, Heart of America
Pamela Standing, Minnesota Indigenous Business Alliance
Luis Salado-Herrera, Best Buy
Jessica Moes, Best Buy
Becky Lourey, Nemadji
Mary LaGarde, Minneapolis American Indian Center
Mary Kunesh Podein, Senator
Jason Hollinday, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
Bill Coleman, Technology Advisors
Elise Balderrama, City of Minneapolis
Black-led investments participants:
Ini Augustine, Project Nandi
Jon Bacal, Bridgemakers
Jolanda Combs, Summit Academy OIC
Jeremiah Ellis, Generation Next
Yemi Fadahunsi, Office of Senator Tina Smith
Darlene Fry, Irreducible Grace Foundation
Latrese Johnson, Irreducible Grace Foundation
Keenan Jones, Minnesota Children’s Cabinet
Tiffany Kong, SPMF
Darian Lofton, Bridgemakers
Natasha Loya, Bridgemakers
Gaye Massey, YWCA St. Paul
Jonathan Palmer, Hallie Q. Brown Community Center
Jose Perez, Bridgemakers
Elsie Quiterio, Irreducible Grace Foundation
Kevin Robinson, 30,000 Feet
Tony Sanneh, The Sanneh Foundation
Tiffany Scott Knox, St. Paul Promise Neighborhood
Amy Walstein, MN Business Partnership
About the Funders
Community-Led Investments were funded through a partnership with the Minnesota Business Coalition for Racial Equity and the Partnership for a ConnectedMN.
The Minnesota Business Coalition for Racial Equity (MBCRE) is made up of over 80 companies, small businesses, and community organizations whose mission is focused on building an equitable, inclusive and prosperous State with and for Black Minnesotans through mechanisms like the collective’s Digital Learning Fund.
Partnership for ConnectedMN was created to ensure students and families from both urban and rural communities hit hardest by the sudden shift to online schools have the tools and support they need to participate in digital learning and digital life, including low-income, Indigenous and students of color.
Contributors to MBCRE’s Digital Learning Fund include: 3M, Best Buy, Boston Scientific, Bush Foundation, Carlson Family Foundation, Cargill Foundation, Delta Dental of Minnesota, General Mills Foundation, Mortenson, nVent, Opus Foundation, Target, Thrivent Financial, Travelers and US Bank Foundation.
Contributors to ConnectedMN include: Alerus Financial, Allianz Life Insurance Company, Andersen Corporation, Best Buy, Blandin Foundation, Boston Scientific, Bush Foundation, Comcast, Ecolab Foundation, Ernst & Young, F. R. Bigelow Foundation, Fred C. and Katherine B. Andersen Foundation, GHR Foundation, Mardag Foundation, Minnesota Business Partnership, Minneapolis Foundation, Minnesota Twins, Minnesota Vikings, Protolabs Foundation, Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation, Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, Securian Financial, SPS Commerce Foundation, The Margaret A. Cargill Foundation Fund at the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, Vantage Financial and Xcel Energy.
