Incubation of Ideas
The economic challenges facing many today have forced us to dig deep. We began looking outward, as much as inward, to understand our particular hurdles, their origins and trends; and to identify like-communities across the nation who have begun to turn those trends in their own cities, around.
Urban areas that have seen pockets of deeply entrenched poverty devolve, experience constrained educational, social and economic opportunities. Out of those crises, were born thought leaders with an untethered determination to give back to their communities once they found a way out their own destitution.
Inwardly, we found a resilient community, eager to be an instrument of progress and rise to the demands that positive change will require of them. As we listened to those people, we imagined, and returned to our white board to draft the program areas we would develop to help those individuals prepare themselves to do their part.
Northway Community Trust is committed to organize and support the long-term
collaborations necessary to:
1. Reduce the rate of unemployment in North Minneapolis
2. Improve high-school graduation rates for Northside students
3. Increase the number of businesses owned and operated by Northside residents.
Engaging Partnerships
Recognizing the success of Manchester Bidwell Corporation in Pittsburgh, we began the year in earnest with feasibility studies to determine the need and readiness of our community to replicate successfully, a center for arts and technology on the Northside. A partnership agreement outlined the roles and responsibilities of the collaborative team during the feasibility phase of development of the Twin Cities Center for Arts & Technology, counting on NorthWay to convene the partners.
Inspired by the Harlem Children’s Zone® project, which sought to create a tipping point in the neighborhood so its children would become surrounded by an enriching environment of college-oriented peers and supportive adults, we developed our own Northside Achievement Zone. “NAZ” went into planning and program design to provide comprehensive resources to North Minneapolis families and youth with a focus on education and family engagement. NorthWay made national news recently when The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported on the program. The Chronicle lauded NorthWay for providing $500,000 in funding to support NAZ efforts and other resources to foster collaboration among groups providing services on the Northside.
NorthWay Community Trust leveraged its resources to support the local partnerships that remain critical to the success of Northway efforts:
Achieve!Minneapolis, Emerge, Grassroots Public Policy Institute, Plymouth Christian Youth Center (PCYC), PEACE Foundation, Subzero Collective, Urban Works, W Broadway Coalition, Woman Venture. |
