Women’s Foundation Awards $1.1 Million for Wealth-Building Initiatives

Women’s Foundation of Minnesota (WFM) announced $1,125,000 in community investments through its We Thrive fund to support wealth-building through education.

Grants support women obtaining certificates, associate’s, and bachelor’s degrees in programs that lead to jobs in high demand, which offer high wages, such as welding, information technology, auto mechanics, engineering, robotics, architecture, and other STEM-related fields.

WFM’s participatory grantmaking committee selected grantee-partners that demonstrated an intersectional lens to their programming and considered how the intersection of gender, race, class, and place affects their students.

We Thrive funding supports wealth-building to seed, nurture, and champion asset-building solutions for economic justice. Within WFM’s impact area of economic justice, the fund offers multi-year grants to help organizations with planning, building stability, and general operations for community-sustaining programs. In this fourth cohort of We Thrive funding, four of the five grantee-partners are in rural or Greater Minnesota. Partners emphasized the importance of student retention and students who hold staff positions in the programs.

Grantee-Partners:

Central Lakes College (Brainerd) | $225,000 – To support direct student scholarships, customized workforce training, leadership development through the Women in Trades Club, and the salary of a full-time WIN Coach who will guide students, facilitate mentorship, and coordinate programming.

Friends of Saint Paul College (St. Paul) | $225,000 – To support direct program costs including participant stipends, student support, events, and conferences as well as the We Thrive Program Coordinator position, which leads recruitment, partnership development, programming, and comprehensive advising.

Minnesota State Community and Technical College (Fergus Falls) | $225,000 – To support recruiting Peer Ambassadors and Near-Peer Advisors from a variety of programs and experiences, including former dual enrollment students to guide and recruit participants in technical programs and entrepreneurship pathways.

Rochester Community and Technical College (Rochester) | $225,000 – To support staff and deliver the Trades Discovery Series, offer trades scholarships for women and students, expand wraparound supports including childcare, transportation, and emergency funds, and coordinate Buzz Forward skill-based programming.

St. Cloud Technical & Community College Foundation (St. Cloud) | $225,000 – To support the Rising Stars, Star Supports, and Launchpad, which will focus on strategic recruitment into high-wage, high-demand fields through career and college exploration of the skilled trades and industry, nursing and health sciences, IT and cybersecurity programs with on-campus activities designed by faculty such as wiring doorbells, welding art, dissection, and cooking.