Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation Awards More Than $3.4M to 16 Nonprofits
EAGAN, MINN. (July 31, 2024) — The Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation has awarded more than $3.4M in grants to 16 nonprofit organizations in Minnesota, as part of its focus on improving access to and quality of early childhood care and education supports, particularly for vulnerable young children and their caregivers.
Thirteen grants were awarded through the Foundation’s recent Healthy Start funding opportunity. These grant awards are for one or two years and range from $22,500 to $100,000 per year.
“Ensuring that kids have a healthy start in life has been a focus of the Foundation for more than 20 years,” said Bukata Hayes, chair of the Blue Cross Foundation board, and vice president of racial and health equity and chief equity officer at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. “The connection between education and health is well known, and quality early childcare and education helps pave the way for the youngest Minnesotans to live their healthiest life. We’re proud to support our grantee partners in this work and in their efforts to advance racial and health equity across the state.”
The following organizations were selected to receive Healthy Start grants:
- African Economic Development Solutions, St. Paul
- Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, St. Paul
- Children’s Defense Fund Minnesota, St. Paul
- Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES), St. Paul
- First Children’s Finance, Minneapolis
- Greater Twin Cities United Way (Start Early Funders Coalition), Minneapolis
- Lower Sioux Indian Community, Morton
- Minnesota Home Visiting Coalition, Minnetonka
- Northland Foundation, Duluth
- Northside Achievement Zone, Minneapolis
- Northwest Minnesota Foundation, Bemidji
- SPARK, St. Paul
- Voices for Racial Justice, Minneapolis
Three organizations were also awarded Healthy Generations grants to improve early care and education. These grant awards are for three years and range from $125,000 to $150,000 per year:
- Healthy Community Initiative, Northfield
- La RED Latina de Educacion Temprana, Richfield
- Way to Grow, Minneapolis
The Healthy Generations designation represents grants to organizations that are uniquely positioned to work toward shared racial and health equity goals across generations and issue areas, as well as deepen advocacy work and advance systems change.
Read more about the grants here.