Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Minnesota: We provided funding to support the expansion of youth mentoring services into Olmsted County. Big Brothers Big Sisters provides all enrolled youth over the age of 12 with college and career readiness programing. Activities range from financial literacy to career exploration to individualized counseling to assist in career development and college applications. Providing these activities along with individual college and career counseling, opens pathways for future success for our youth. Many of the youth served by Big Brothers Big Sisters are first generation college students.
Collider Foundation: We provided funding for the community incubator program. This program is free to participants and focuses on women, BIPOC, veteran, low income, and LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs who live or operate their business in Rochester, Minnesota. The incubator helps early stage entrepreneurs go from a business model on paper to a workable product or service to test with their target market. This support allows for an early stage entrepreneur to receive 3+ months of individualized consulting and support, at no cost to them, to remove barriers to entrepreneurship and financial wellbeing.
United Way of Olmsted County: We provided funding to support bringing the Asset Limited Income Constrained Employed (A.L.I.C.E.) research project to Dodge, Fillmore, Olmsted, and Winona Counties. ALICE households earn above the Federal Poverty Level but are unable to afford the cost of basics including housing, child care, food, transportation, health care, and technology. Unlike the Federal Poverty Line and Consumer Price Index, the ALICE threshold is based on the local prices of essentials that low-income households prioritize. 1 in 3 households in Olmsted County are ALICE and by supporting this research we hope to close the gap between financial hardship and financial stability so that every family, in every ZIP code, has an equal opportunity to thrive.
Rochester Somali Community Center: We provided funding for housing navigational support services. These services assist Somali individuals and families in finding rental properties or managing their housing payments, ensuring they fully understand all details of their contracts to make informed decisions to help safeguarding their housing stability as newcomers to SE MN.
Channel One: We provided funding for purchasing meals for food insecure families. Food insecurity is growing across the country and Channel One has experienced a 32% increase in monthly household visits to area food shelves compared to last year. The funding provided ensures that Channel One has the operational capacity to continue their mission and distribute more than 11.9 million pounds of food annually across 14 counties, support approximately 8,000 household visits a month to the Channel One Food Shelf, and serve an estimated 1,050 prepared meals weekly.
Family Service Rochester: We provided funding to support the local Meals on Wheels program. The Meals on Wheels program helps those in our community wo are often seen the least but in the most need, this includes the elderly and people with physical and mental disabilities who are often living in poverty in our SE MN community.70% of FSR's Meals on Wheels clients live alone and rely on services for both a hot meal and an assurance check, giving them and families peace of mind. 64% of the Meals on Wheels clients live below 185% of poverty and 93% of them require some kind of financial assistance to pay for their meal.
Rochester Community & Technical College Foundation: We provided funding for the OAKS scholarship program. The OAKS (Overcoming Adversity Keeping Strong) program provides scholarships for students who have overcome significant adversity and want to pursue their education. The OAKS scholarships help support students "beat the odds" to pursue their education, leading to successful careers with many of our leading employers. The OAKS program helps disadvantaged students, whom are often low-income, immigrants, refugee, people of color, people with disabilities or mental health struggles, to access a quality education at RCTC.
Jeremiah Program: We provided funding to support coaching programs centered on college persistence for JP moms. A college education is a key to higher earnings, steady employment, and financial security. With the support of their JP Coach, JP moms explore career pathways, enroll or re-enroll in a local post-secondary program, map out their plan for program completion, and balance life as a non-traditional student parent. The coaching framework paces moms’ support needs throughout their post-secondary lifecycle and uses asset-based language that speaks to moms from a place of strength rather than perceived needs or deficits.
Bear Creek Services: We provided funding for an important renovation project to create wheelchair accessible housing for residence of Bear Creek Services at the Allendale House. The home has zero steps and has several other accessible attributes that will allow this home to support people with disabilities for decades to come! Allendale house will be a home for men who have developmental disabilities in the community. The first residence moved into Allendale house during the summer of 2023.
Boy’s and Girl’s Club of Rochester: We funded the Money Matters program. Money Matters is youth development program with a curriculum promoting financial responsibility and independence among Boys & Girls Club members ages 13-18. This program increases the financial literacy of Club teens by focusing on critical money management skills such as goal setting, budgeting and saving, while also equipping them with the decision-making confidence to achieve financial well-being and lifelong success. By encouraging teens to envision their life after high school and into young adulthood, Money Matters prepares young people to select a career, manage benefits and earnings, and be supportive of family without the distraction of potential financial stressors.
