The Northside Achievement Zone (NAZ)
The Northside Achievement Zone is one of Minnesota’s federal Promise Zones. Its goal is to permanently close the achievement gap and end generational poverty in North Minneapolis. Northside Achievement Zone operates as the backbone for a collaboration of 25 community-based organizations and schools to walk side by side with low-income families as they put their children on a path to college and create a culture of achievement on the Northside. Northside Achievement Zone has centered its work on the "scholar" since its inception. In more recent years, efforts have expanded to include parent-focused initiatives known as Family Academy to have a more coordinated approach to employment services through shared coaching, training, and co-located staff.
Prototypes
Local community organization grantees work with families to create innovative program designs called “prototypes”, which address racial disparities in human services and outcomes facing the families in their community.
Co-enrollment of families receiving services from both the Minnesota Family Investment Program and Northside Achievement Zone
This prototype connected and engaged families in Northside Achievement Zone programming as they worked with a designated Minnesota Family Investment Program employment counselor from HIRED. The organization offers support in the areas of early childhood, K-12 schools, college, housing, career, well-being, and Family Academy. Participating families are surrounded by their “team” of Northside Achievement and partnering staff who provide support and connections to reach their goals. Family Achievement coaches partner with families by instilling the belief that college is possible, helping them create family goals called Achievement Plans, connecting them to opportunities, and referring them to partner specialists who provide additional focused support in health, housing, and career. The work is supported by The NAZ Link, an online achievement planning and data collection system, which drives achievement, supports coordination across the organization, and tracks family and program data. With funding from the 2-Gen Network, Northside Achievement Zone piloted an initiative in partnership with Hennepin County and one of their employment service providers, HIRED, to target participating families receiving assistance from the Minnesota Family Investment Program to:
- Align roles of workers from Northside Achievement Zone and employment services to support transformational engagement
- Support parents to be ready for and successful in career training for employment at Hennepin County and other regional partners
- Provide integration of supports among Northside Achievement Zone, Hennepin County and partners based on Achievement Plans and data sharing for real-time progress
Alignment and effectiveness of the Child Care Assistance Program, the Minnesota Family Investment Program and employment services
Develop presumptive eligibility for Child Care Assistance to ensure child care subsidies for Minnesota Family Investment Program families with identified employment or training start dates prior to Child Care Assistance Program application approval.
Develop Minnesota Family Investment Program after-care extended services for parents leaving the program with employment. Northside Achievement Zone, Hennepin County and HIRED, a Minnesota Family Investment Program employment services provider, collaborated to create a prototype that provided services to families recently leaving the Minnesota Family Investment Program with earnings. Although these families leave the program with earnings and are no longer eligible, they are still well under 200% of federal poverty. They may need additional help in the months following their exit to ensure they can continue working and not return to the Minnesota Family Investment Program. This prototype was successful in helping the Department of Human Services and Hennepin County to clearly define policy for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and the services that could be provided without program participation months counting or the necessity of requiring paperwork for the federal Work Participation Rate. Hennepin County has now expanded Minnesota Family Investment Program aftercare throughout the county based on the knowledge gained from the prototype.
Engage practitioners across organizations (coaches, employment counselors, and eligibility workers) as learning partners to serve families holistically.
Where are they now?
Northside Achievement Zone continues to engage partner organizations to transform the Northside community using a collective impact approach, which brings together actors across various sectors with a common agenda. The Northside Achievement Zone FY22-24 Strategic Plan focuses on the path forward using these three areas of focus:
Going deeper
This involves expanding on what works, focusing on greater academic interventions, increased access to quality prenatal and early childhood supports, jobs, housing, social-emotional supports and more education and empowerment for parents and youth.
Going wider
By extending work into North Minneapolis through new and existing partnerships, Northside Achievement Zone seeks to engage more parents and scholars in the collaborative, moving from program to population-level results.
Expanding influence
Expanding influence across the city, county, and state to address socio-economic inequities and emphasize the systems change efforts by elevating parent and scholar voice, in addition to statewide partnerships and local coalitions focused on equity.
News and resources
Presumptive eligibility for child care assistance: A 2-Gen Network Prototype | Minnesota Department of Human Services
This brief highlights the presumptive eligibility for child care prototype developed and piloted by the Northside Achievement Zone 2-Gen collaborative partnership to expedite access to subsidized child care for some families participating in the Minnesota Family Investment Program. The Northside Achievement Zone 2-Gen partnership, which includes Northside Achievement Zone, Hennepin County Health and Human Services and HIRED employment services, collaborates with the Minnesota Department of Human Services through Minnesota’s 2-Gen Network to develop and test integrative multi-generational approaches to serving families.