Women’s Foundation Announces $950,00 in New Grants

Today, the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota (WFM) announced $950,000 in new grants to support health, economic justice, and community response. The grants include $300,000 in Community Response Fund grants to 30 organizations, $400,000 in 12 multi-year girlsBEST (girls Building Economic Success Together)  grants and four seed grants, and $250,000 in Reproductive Freedom Fund grants to support reproductive justice. In all, the grants invest in 51 organizations. Not all partners are named; funded organizations give their consent to be included in public releases.

All Women’s Foundation grants support general operating expenses, which provide greater flexibility, crucial for organizations to build stability around community-sustaining programs.

Through the Community Response Fund, the Women’s Foundation responds quickly to organizations and programs that ensure women and their families are safer and healthier. This year, funding supports operations and capacity for organizations affected by a loss in funding and/or increased demand for services so they can be responsive to community needs. Applications are accepted by inquiry. For more information and eligibility, please contact the team through WFM’s community office hours.

The eighth cohort of girlsBEST (girls Building Economic Success Together) grantee-partners is receiving the first year of funding for a multi-year grant. Grants are renewed for up to three years, based on an annual review of progress toward their program goals. Each multi-year grant includes $5,000 for staff wellness. Seed grants support emerging programs or newly established organizations with a one-time, one-year investment.

Since 2002, girlsBEST has supported girl-led programs in Minnesota that increase the readiness of girls (ages 12-18) to achieve economic well-being. $6.8 million has been granted to 146 girl-led and girl-driven programs and engaged 54,176 young women and their families. In the current cohort, 12% of partners are based in Greater Minnesota.

Investing in reproductive justice, WFM’s Reproductive Freedom Fund supports organizations and programs providing essential healthcare, including the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities. The Reproductive Freedom Fund invests in each of these four components, in addition to work that advances systems change for reproductive justice as it intersects with race. New Reproductive Freedom Fund grants each include $10,000 to support staff wellness and development for organizational sustainability. 

girlsBEST Grantee-Partners:

Arts Us (Saint Paul) | $30,000 – To adapt and sustain the STEMpreneurs workforce and entrepreneurship initiative as a focused cohort for young women and gender-expansive participants. Participants build business and leadership skills through project-based learning, entrepreneurial thinking, teamwork, communication, budgeting, branding, and presenting ideas to others, and receive hands-on training in areas such as 3D design and fabrication, robotics, hydroponics, and other emerging technologies while also building workplace skills such as project management, collaboration, professionalism, and problem-solving.

Centro Tyrone Guzman (Minneapolis) | $30,000 – To continue Jóvenes Latinas al Poder (Young Latinas to Power) for Latina teen girls and gender expansive youth to build economic power, focusing primarily on three program tracks: academic, employment development, and advocacy. Centro Tyrone Guzman works together with Latine families to create culturally grounded solutions to address challenges and inequities.

Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES) (Saint Paul) | $30,000 – To expand CLUES’s work advancing economic security, opportunity, and leadership through programming with the Best Buy Teen Tech Center that integrates academic success, entrepreneurship, and employment development into a single pipeline approach that introduces girls ages 12-18 to financial literacy, career readiness, and early career exploration while building confidence and long-term economic awareness. CLUES is the largest Latino-led organization in Minnesota. Its mission is to advance the social and economic equity and well-being for Latinos by building upon strengths and cultures, uplifting their community, and activating leadership for systemic change.

Dakota Wicohan (Morton) | $30,000 – To continue the youth programming from middle school through college that helps Indigenous girls build confidence, strengthen identity, and develop the skills needed to thrive in school, future careers, and their communities through culturally grounded mentorship and leadership development. Across all groups, participants engage in Dakota cultural practices while building positive relationships and leadership skills.

Girls Dream Code (Saint Paul) | $30,000 – To support programming that engages girls ages 12-18 in STEM-focused programs that help them stay motivated academically while building a strong foundation for college and future careers through collaboration, presentations, and hands-on projects in order to develop communication, teamwork, and critical thinking skills that are essential for both college and the workforce. Girls Dream Code’s mission is to promote opportunities in technology, learn tech skills, decrease the gender & diversity gap in tech, increase inclusivity, and create a safe space for young girls to feel comfortable and excel in all that they do.

Hnub Tshiab: Hmong Women Achieving Together (Saint Paul) | $30,000 – To continue the Hmong Girls Enterprise program, which integrates financial literacy, entrepreneurship, leadership development, and business fundamentals to prepare participants to become confident entrepreneurs and financially empowered leaders, contributing to the long-term vitality of their families and communities. Hmong Women Achieving Together’s mission is to be a catalyst for social, cultural, and institutional change to improve the lives of Hmong women.

Hope Community Inc. (Minneapolis) | $30,000 – To continue the Career Pathways program for teen girls of color to build awareness about finances, develop agency in how they interact with the economic system, build pathways to strengthen their earning potential, and advocate for changes to strengthen economic potential for all women of color.

MIGIZI Communications (Minneapolis) | $30,000 – To provide the Indigenous Pathways (IP) program for Native youth to learn about media and communications and STEM/green energy careers and support youth in developing the soft and technical skills necessary to succeed in the workforce and pursue entrepreneurship or high-paying/high-skilled careers.

Pillsbury United Communities (Minneapolis) | $30,000 – To continue the Sisterhood Boutique, an integrated youth development and workforce readiness program for young women and gender expansive youth ages 14-21, blending sustainable fashion, entrepreneurship, leadership development, career exploration, mentorship, marketing/merchandizing and community leadership.

The Power of People Leadership Institute (Minneapolis) | $30,000 – To continue the Girls Taking Action (GTA) program, providing weekly, school‑embedded mentoring groups for girls in grades 6–12 with a structured curriculum focused on personal power, leadership, service‑learning, and career coaching delivered by positive female role models who expand students’ networks and aspirations. GTA plans to provide continued support for the core school-based GTA programs; expand STEM, career‑readiness, and internship opportunities; and support the expansion of culturally responsive community-based programs to Indigenous communities.

Project FINE (Winona) | $30,000 – To continue the Girls Reaching Above and Beyond (GRAB) program, designed to help girls ages 12-18 from refugee and immigrant families to build confidence, leadership skills, and pathways toward long-term educational and economic success through academic support, career exploration, financial education, mentorship, and goal-setting activities. Project FINE’s mission is to create an inclusive community by serving refugees and immigrants and building bridges across cultures.

Rainbow Collective for Change (Hopkins) | $30,000 – To provide monthly arts programming and entrepreneur exploration programming for Rainbow Clubs at 3 Minneapolis Parks and Rec recreation centers and to support Rainbow Club youth in preparing for and organizing a youth-led community art fair. Rainbow Clubs are positive youth development programs for LGBTQ+ youth and allies that aim to a) build social connection, peer and grown-up support; b) increase knowledge and understanding about identity, diversity, justice, and advocacy; c) provide opportunities for Rainbow Club youth to advocate for themselves and others;  d) engage with local LGBTQ+ and gender expansive entrepreneurs; and e) explore art mediums utilized to speak up and share unrepresented experiences with LGBTQ+ and gender expansive artists.

girlsBEST Seed Grantee-partners:

Cake Therapy Foundation (Plymouth) | $10,000 – To continue the Cake Therapy in Schools program, designed to integrate social-emotional learning, STEAME (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math, and Entrepreneurship), and financial literacy through hands-on baking experiences. Participants build confidence, teamwork, and practical skills while also learning about entrepreneurship, pricing, budgeting, and value creation, building early awareness and agency around financial systems and pathways to wealth.

Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center (Minneapolis) | $10,000 – To launch and sustain the Native Girls Leading Change community advocacy initiative to empower Native American girls ages 12 to 18 through leadership, advocacy, and cultural identity development. The program builds on Native girls’ strengths through activities like talking circles, leadership development, language revitalization, the arts, and youth-led action on issues such as MMIW, mental health, and educational equity.

Sisters-N-Technology (Saint Paul) | $10,000 – To support the Safe Voices Studio podcast and audio storytelling lab where youth learn to process experiences safely, build communication and technology skills, and share calming, community-centered messaging. Sisters-N-Technology focuses on after-school and summer programming in science, technology, and engineering for young women of color.

Victoria Theater Arts Center (DBA 825 Arts) (Saint Paul) | $10,000 – To support the Girls Create @ 825 Arts program, where young women and gender-expansive people ages 12-18 can create art, build friendships, share ideas, and lead projects among peers who share similar experiences. 825 Arts builds community power by providing a creative home that incubates the arts and amplifies the voices of people in St. Paul’s Rondo and Frogtown neighborhoods.

Reproductive Freedom Fund Grantee-Partners:

Funding Category: Bodily Autonomy

Family Tree Clinic | $50,000 (Minneapolis) — To reduce barriers to sexual and reproductive healthcare and education services that center the needs of youth, women, and trans and gender-expansive individuals by providing affordable, holistic, trauma-informed, patient-centered care; empowering and educating youth and families through comprehensive and inclusive sexual education programs; and expanding regional access to gender-affirming hormone care through the Midwest Trans Health Education Network. Family Tree offers services on a sliding scale, increasing access for communities most affected by gender-based structural harm.

Funding Category: The Right to Parent in Safe and Sustainable Communities

New Hope for Immigrants | $50,000 (East Grand Forks) — To aid new American parents as they navigate the United States healthcare and education systems and increase agency for new American women and girls. These services include help navigating immunization processes and mental health services, support for families with disabilities, resources like language classes and driver’s education for women and girls isolated by language and transportation barriers, conversations about healthy body image for new American girls, and connections with the East Grand Forks school system to allow new American families to take advantage of school resources and advocate for their children.

Funding Category: Systems Change

Our Justice | $50,000 (Minneapolis) — To advance policy solutions that will protect and expand Minnesota’s reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare ecosystem. Our Justice seeks to establish a strong financial infrastructure to support abortion providers by advocating for increased Medicaid reimbursement rates for abortion services and the establishment of a state-run grant program for abortion providers who have been historically excluded from public funding, in order to protect access to abortion in Minnesota and expand offerings for abortion services and gender-affirming care.

Community Response Fund Grantee-Partners:

Advocates for Reproductive Education (WeARE) (Brainerd) | $10,000 – To enhance organizational security and resilience planning, with a focus on risk management and strategic communications infrastructure. Funds will be used towards security and risk assessment and management, strategic communications support to counter misinformation and strengthen public messaging, and financial contingency planning to prepare for potential funding disruptions and diversify revenue strategies. WeARE seeks to advance reproductive justice in Minnesota’s Brainerd Lakes Area by expanding access to inclusive, affirming, and evidence-based sexual and reproductive healthcare and education.

The Arc Minnesota (Saint Paul) | $10,000 – To enable more extensive community and rapid response focusing on mutual aid and resource materials for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and to build relationships with other organizations in order to better support the immigrant disability community. Funds will support disability accommodations, the creation of needed resources, and self-advocate-led trainings and workshops.

Atlas of Blackness (Zimmerman) | $10,000 – To enhance staff safety and wellbeing as well as organizational security, prioritizing the health and wellness of staff by organizing a staff retreat focused on healing and collective care and providing access to culturally grounded wellness resources that support long term healing and resilience through Wellness Paradigm. Atlas of Blackness creates spaces where Black youth and community members can learn, heal, and build collective power through journalism, research, photography, and film.

Dress for Success Twin Cities (DFSTC) (Saint Paul) | $10,000 – To assess and respond to the needs of DFSTC clients, particularly in immigrant and refugee communities, through direct communication and phone surveys to better prepare staff and volunteers for the challenges faced by program participants.

Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia / United Renters for Justice (IX) (Minneapolis) | $10,000 – To support cybersecurity, legal services, and crisis communications, ensuring IX’s ability to withstand attack and continue building the power of tenants as a political constituency and economic force.

Justice North (Duluth) | $10,000 – To support continued financial planning, establish new systems and practices, and integrate finance and development areas following the recent merger with Legal Services of Northwest Minnesota. Justice North’s mission is to empower low-income and vulnerable individuals by providing equal access to justice and critical legal assistance.

The Link (Minneapolis) | $10,000 – To support comprehensive financial and programmatic scenario planning. This includes modeling potential funding loss scenarios, identifying stabilization strategies for housing and outreach programs, and developing contingency plans that protect critical services such as street outreach, housing, exploitation prevention, and culturally specific programming serving young women, girls, and LGBTQIA+ youth. Funds will also help to provide food, rental and utility assistance, transportation, and other stabilization supports that help youth remain safely housed and connected to school, work, and services.

MN350 (Minneapolis) | $10,000 – To address the growing and complex challenges faced by communities impacted by climate injustice and economic instability. Funds will support emergency assistance to families facing displacement, eviction, loss of income, and challenges brought on by immigration enforcement activity; accessible events, educational outreach, and leadership development; campaigns like Transit Justice, Clean Transportation, and Food Systems initiatives; and partnerships with local organizations to meet immediate needs and foster long-term solutions for housing, food, and environmental stability.

Program for Aid to Victims of Sexual Assault (PAVSA) (Duluth) | $10,000 – To sustain civil legal representation services and fund attorney and paralegal salaries and fringe benefits. PAVSA’s civil legal representation services are unique in a region where many survivors struggle to secure legal representation and do not have the means to pay out of pocket. PAVSA provides free and confidential services to survivors of sexual violence and their loved ones.

Violence Prevention Center (Grand Marais) | $10,000 – To build on over 1,200 continued and uninterrupted services to victims of domestic and sexual violence, ensure that the VPC can meet the growing demand to serve additional clients in 2026, and help the VPC build organizational resilience. The VPC provides a wide range of support, services, and guidance for victims of domestic violence, sexual violence, harassment, human trafficking, child abuse, and other forms of violence, including legal coordination and support, counseling and emotional support services, housing and food assistance, and healthcare support.

West Side Community Organization (WSCO) (Saint Paul) | $10,000 – To invest time and resources in contingency planning for all manner of attacks to the credibility and legal status of the organization, the immediate safety and the long-term care and healing of staff and stakeholders. This includes improvements to cybersecurity, legal services, financial infrastructure, and staff safety and wellbeing. WSCO organizes West Side residents to build collective power and advance housing, immigrant, racial, environmental, social, and economic justice through a place-based, people-centered, reparative, and systems-focused approach.

Women’s Initiative for Self Empowerment (WISE) (Saint Paul) | $10,000 – To sustain programming, retain staff, and support program participants affected by immigration enforcement activity. WISE’s mission is to support immigrant and refugee women, girls and those on the feminine gender spectrum in their journey of self-actualization through culturally responsive education, advocacy, systems change and resource development.