Advancing Opportunities with Young Women in Minnesota

In 2017, the Young Women’s Initiative of Minnesota published a Blueprint for Action to create and advance opportunities for and with young women in Minnesota. The Blueprint’s 20 recommendations map a pathway forward to achieve equity in opportunities and ensure that all young women can thrive.

Designed to be as participatory and inclusive as possible, two core committees help drive the Blueprint forward: Young Women’s Cabinet and Young Women’s Initiative Council

Through the WFMN Innovators program, the Women’s Foundation provides one-time microgrants of $2,500 directly to young women (ages 16-24) to support their leadership and to drive their ideas and solutions that advance recommendations in the Blueprint for Action. 

Young Women’s Initiative of Minnesota grants support front-line organizations working in the intersecting areas of economic opportunity, safety, and leadership with and on behalf of young women and girls to advance Blueprint for Action recommendations.

Measuring Progress

The Initiative will also feature an index to measure and evaluate the progress made over time in Minnesota toward equity, and will continue to produce research to better understand the lives of young women in communities, identify assets and barriers, and fund solutions across the state.

National Partnership

The Women’s Foundation is the founding member and host of the National Philanthropic Collaborative of Young Women’s Initiatives. Women’s foundations across the country are leading young women’s initiatives in their communities so young women of color everywhere can thrive.