Information about agencies receiving direct appropriations from the Minnesota Legislature for youth-focused activities can be found here.
30,000 Feet is focused on addressing educational disparities faced by African American students in St. Paul, ensuring that all students are able to achieve their full potential. The legislative direct appropriation primarily focuses on providing individualized services to youth ages 14 through 24 and supports 30,000 Feet’s partnership with Ramsey County to provide job opportunities to youth who have contact with Juvenile Delinquency system.
The Minnesota Legislature appropriated funds to Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities to provide work readiness, employment exploration, and skills development for youth ages 12 to 21 in the Twin Cities, central Minnesota and southern Minnesota.
The one-time direct appropriation for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Minnesota is to fund one year of free full-service programming for a new program in Waite Park and for planning and design for a new multiuse facility for the Boys and Girls Club of Waite Park and other community partners.
CLUES programming supports the expansion of culturally tailored programs addressing employment and education gaps for working adults and underserved youth by providing new job skills training to stimulate higher wages for low-income individuals, family support systems designed to reduce intergenerational poverty, and youth programming to promote educational advancement and career pathways.
The primary goal of the CCP Initiative is to provide year-round educational and experiential learning opportunities for Minnesota youth and young adults, especially females and individuals of color, as they consider, navigate, and prepare for careers in the construction industry.
The direct appropriation supports the operation of the Cedar-Riverside Opportunity Center and its on-site partners to address employment and economic disparities for low-income unemployed or underemployed youth and adults who are primarily East African.
This project is dedicated to enhancing employment opportunities for East African youth in the Twin Cities by providing them comprehensive workforce development services. The primary goal is to facilitate equitable access to meaningful employment with fair wages, while enabling employers to tap into a skilled workforce for in-demand positions.
This Direct Appropriation supports the Career Academies initiative at Greater Twin Cities United Way. The program works to unite public education and employment systems so all students have access to purpose driven, wealth-building careers. Strategies include, increasing participation of students of color and students experiencing poverty in dual enrollment and rigorous coursework and eliminating barriers and expanding opportunities for students to engage in high-quality work experiences.
The direct appropriation helps to increase the number of high schools and high school students participating in the ProStart and Hospitality Tourism Management Program (HTMP) throughout Minnesota. This education program helps young people advance careers in the hospitality industry and address critical long-term workforce shortages in the hospitality and tourism industry.
Youth apprentices, aged 14-21, receive college-level creative and technical training, gain professional experience through work on client projects and internships, and positively impact the built environment of North Minneapolis. Participants are employed as apprentices in JXTALabs, the organization’s creative workforce development program.
Teens and young adults work for the MPRB in jobs focused on the outdoors, immersed in parks and nature, with exposure and a path to green careers, including employment with the MPRB and other agencies. Funds expand and enhance Youth Employment and Training Programs including Teen Teamworks, Mississippi River Green Team, Garden Crews, Power Crews, Youth Design Team, and pilot a new program for ages 18 to 24, Minneapolis Park Corps.
The Minnesota State Legislature appropriated funds to the Minnesota Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs to administer a statewide project of youth job skills and career development. The project, which has career guidance components including health and life skills, is designed to encourage, train, and assist youth in: early access to education and job-seeking skills; work-based learning experience including career pathways in STEM learning, career exploration, and matching; and first job placement through local community partnerships and on-site job opportunities.
The Minnesota Legislature appropriated funds to the Minnesota Grocers Association Foundation (MGAF) for “Carts to Careers” (CTC), a statewide initiative to promote careers, conduct outreach, provide job skills training and grant scholarships for persons interested in pursuing careers in the retail food industry.
SciTechsperience is a statewide internship program that connects college students in STEM majors (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) with paid internships in small to mid-sized Minnesota companies. SciTechsperience provides qualified employers with a 50 percent match on the intern’s wages in the form of a one-time reimbursement of up to $2,500 per intern.
The Pillsbury United Communities Career Pathways program prepares underserved students for successful careers in Minnesota’s future workforce. Programming is designed to provide students, ages 16-24, with the occupational, academic, and higher-order thinking skills needed to function effectively in a globally competitive marketplace and an information-based economy.
Project Restore Minnesota provides youth with a pathway program for careers in the culinary art.
The Sanneh Foundation’s Workforce Development Program for Youth combines career exploration with local employers, tangible work experience, social capital building developmental relationships, and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) into a comprehensive year-round youth workforce development program, benefiting diverse youth and emerging adults and increasing their employability and opportunities.
Ujamaa Place delivers its “Theory of Transformation” gender and culturally specific program within a community environment that assists African and African American men (18 -30 years of age) with stable housing and re-engagement with their families, work, and life skills essential to self-sufficiency with a strong focus on education and work-entry programming, specific employment skills training, employment retention, and personal management curriculum.
White Bear Center for the Arts Studio Repose Internship Program is an artist-centered, paid internship program for high school students. Through this internship, students will learn the importance of leadership, teamwork, and critical thinking while obtaining critical and marketable job skills in a creative and supportive arts environment.
Through this Direct Appropriation the YMCA of the North will address employment disparities and increase equitable outcomes for underrepresented youth and young adults via high-quality employment readiness services, workforce trainings, post-secondary and career exploration/planning, and support services to put youth on a path towards in-demand, high growth employment and careers.
Funds for the East African Youth Economic Development Grant project, appropriated to Youthprise, are to "give grants through a competitive process to community organizations to provide economic development services designed to enhance long-term economic self-sufficiency in communities with concentrated East African populations."
