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In 2020, the Foundation shifted a portion of its housing support to respond to the impact of the COVID pandemic.

Organization: Agape Child Development Center
Grant amount: $25,000
Program/project summary: For culturally-specific organizational capacity building.  AgapeOasis is a culturally-specific, faith-based domestic violence organization serving families and children in North Minneapolis.

Organization: Align Minneapolis
Grant amount: $50,000
Program/project summary: For the Rent Relief Program for people at risk of experiencing homelessness who have not been able to access other forms of assistance.

Organization: American Indian Community Development Corporation
Grant amount: $261,000
Program/project summary: Part of the Governor’s Minnesota Winter Homeless Initiative.  Support for the operations of the overnight KOLA Drop-in Center and peer outreach staff.

Organization: American Indian Community Development Corporation
Grant amount: $250,000
Program/project summary: Building rehabilitation costs to increase emergency shelter capacity.

Organization: Amherst H. Wilder Foundation
Grant amount: $75,000
Program/project summary: For research on racial disparities in the Twin Cities for family and youth homelessness.  Data will be used to develop reports and information that will help guide Wilder program strategies.

Organization: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago
Grant amount: $75,000
Program/project summary: For research to inform youth homelessness prevention strategies.  A highly participatory approach will include youth in defining challenges and opportunities based on national and local efforts.

Organization: Community Stabilization Project
Grant amount: $25,000
Program/project summary: For culturally-specific organizational capacity building focused on tenants rights in St. Paul.

Organization: Connections to Independence
Grant amount: $25,000
Program/project summary: For culturally-specific organizational capacity building focused on youth aging out of foster care.

Organization: Envision Community
Grant amount: $65,000
Program/project summary: Support for fundraising assistance for a capital campaign.

Organization: Family Housing Fund
Grant amount: $30,000
Program/project summary: Support for the Special Advisor on COVID position at the state of Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Organization: Foster Advocates
Grant amount: $50,000
Program/project summary: Homelessness prevention strategy for youth aging out of foster care, and targeted support for LGBTQ youth.

Organization: Greater Twin Cities United Way
Grant amount: $250,000
Program/project summary: To create a centralized, coordinated intake process for people seeking rental assistance from the State of Minnesota’s $100 million Covid-19 Housing Assistance Program (CHAP).

Organization: Heading Home Minnesota Funders Collaborative
Grant amount: $400,000
Program/project summary: To support a full audit of the homeless response system in the Twin Cities metro area, disseminate audit results, and develop a system transformation blueprint that will focus on racial disparities and engaging communities disproportionately impacted by homelessness.

Organization: Headwaters Foundation for Justice
Grant amount: $50,000
Program/project summary: Contribution to a COVID Response Fund from which grants were made to nonprofits working with BIPOC communities disproportionally impacted by the pandemic.

Organization: HousingLink
Grant amount: $50,000
Program/project summary: To develop an online application for renters and homeowners to apply for housing assistance payments from the State of Minnesota’s $100 million Covid-19 Housing Assistance Program (CHAP), and for Grantee Administrators to review the applications  to verify eligibility.

Organization: Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia (IX)
Grant amount: $25,000
Program/project summary: For culturally-specific organizational capacity building.  IX is a grassroots tenants rights and eviction prevention organization serving Minneapolis.

Organization: Institute for Community Alliances
Grant amount: $16,440
Program/project summary: To access federal homeless management information system (HMIS) data to determine the specific disparities in family and youth homelessness in the Twin Cities metro area and to develop a dashboard in HMIS that can pull this information on a regular basis.

Organization: Interfaith Action of Greater Saint Paul
Grant amount: $75,000
Program/project summary: Part of the Governor’s Minnesota Winter Homeless Initiative.  To support a project manager position for Ramsey County’s family shelter expansion.

Organization: Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless
Grant amount: $1,000
Program/project summary: General support for the Homeless Day on the Hill at the Minnesota Legislature.

Organization: Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless
Grant amount: $400,000
Program/project summary: Support for the Coalition’s Regional Expert Network (REN) to engage people with lived experience of homelessness statewide in order to inform local and state policies on homelessness and affordable housing.  Funds will help increase participation, provide wages and professional development for lived experience advocates, and incorporate best practices in
community engagement.

Organization: Minnesota Housing Finance Agency
Grant amount: $250,000
Program/project summary: Assistance for increased capacity to extend processing of federal CARES Act COVID relief housing assistance requests into 2021.

Organization: Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center
Grant amount: $25,000
Program/project summary: For culturally-specific organizational capacity building.  MIWRC provides social and educational services committed to the holistic growth and development of American Indian women and their families.

Organization: Model Cities of St. Paul
Grant amount: $25,000
Program/project summary: Part of the Governor’s Minnesota Winter Homeless Initiative.  Support for the Safe Space emergency shelter.

Organization: Model Cities of St. Paul
Grant amount: $25,000
Program/project summary: For culturally-specific organizational capacity building.

Organization: People Serving People
Grant amount: $25,000
Program/project summary: Support for families displaced by the Drake Hotel fire in downtown Minneapolis.

Organization: Project for Pride in Living
Grant amount: $60,000
Program/project summary: Part of the Governor’s Minnesota Winter Homeless Initiative.  To increase staff capacity for the administration of rental assistance support.

Organization: Research in Action
Grant amount: $67,000
Program/project summary: To engage a panel of customers of Hennepin County’s emergency homelessness response system to review the County’s Pohlad-supported system redesign effort.  The effort’s goal is to improve equity, access and outcomes for households facing imminent loss of their housing.  Research in Action will also provide the County with evaluation technical assistance to continuously improve customer outcomes and experience over time.

Organization: Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation
Grant amount: $50,000
Program/project summary: Contribution to the Minnesota Council on Foundation’s Disaster Recovery Fund for COVID-19.

Organization: Sanctuary Covenant Church
Grant amount: $10,000
Program/project summary: Holiday food distribution for families experiencing housing instability.

Organization: Simpson Housing Services
Grant amount: $64,000
Program/project summary: Part of the Governor’s Minnesota Winter Homeless Initiative.  To provide rent subsidies and to support Simpson’s Family Housing Program.

Organization: The Link
Grant amount: $66,200
Program/project summary: Support for The Link’s local leadership in the national Grand Challenge to End Youth Homelessness, an initiative with the goal of ending homelessness for LGBTQ+ youth and youth of color, setting the path to end homelessness for all youth.