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Between January 1 and March 31, 2021, the Northland Foundation made 62 grants totaling $1,003,280 to benefit the people and communities of northeastern Minnesota. An additional three grants were awarded in April by the middle and high school students on the Youth In Philanthropy board, for a combined total of 65 grants and $1,006,280 awarded in recent months.
Youth In Philanthropy grants may be up to $1,000 each and support children-and-youth driven projects. This experiential learning program is made possible by funding from the Scott and Holly Martin Family Foundation, as well as donations from members of the Northland Foundation’s Emeritus Trustee Group.
The two largest grants were made through the foundation’s $3 million Integrated Rural Community Aging Program to help grow the workforce providing care for older adults. The Arrowhead Area Agency on Aging and the Applied Learning Institute received $100,000 and $95,000 respectively. Both grantees are using the funding to implement innovative, multiyear projects designed to attract, train, and retain more people to careers that provide care to the region’s fast-aging population.
“Community-based services like home health care, assisted living, chore service, and respite care struggled to find enough paid staff and volunteers even before the pandemic,” stated Erik Torch, Director of Grantmaking. “It’s an ongoing trend that northeastern Minnesota, especially, needs to address.”
“The two grantees will build on existing programs and try some new directions to help grow the labor pool. We are excited to see their projects unfold,” Torch added.
Locally, Care Partners of Cook County was granted $65,000. These funds will be used to improve access, awareness, and availability of services that support successful aging among Cook County’s older adults and their family caregivers.
COVID-19 pandemic relief and recovery
Twenty-six grants were awarded in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Education on behalf of the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund for emergency wraparound early care and education services. The grants are designed to support northeastern Minnesota children ages 0-8 from underserved populations impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. School and Community Organizations in Northeastern Minnesota received $224,530 in grants.
Two of those twenty-six grants were awarded locally: Cook County Schools – ISD #166, Grand Marais, received $7,500 and the Cook County Community YMCA, Grand Marais also received $7,500.
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