Posted on June 25, 2012

McKnight Foundation Awards $8.2 Million in Grants

The Minneapolis-based McKnight Foundation has announced second-quarter grants totaling nearly $8.3 million to fifty-three nonprofit organizations.

The awards include $455,000 to four organizations working to promote economically vibrant neighborhoods marked by greater opportunity and integrated systems of support. The grant recipients include the African Development Center, which was awarded $120,000 over two years to provide economic development services to a community affected by self-sufficiency challenges; Dayton's Bluff District Four Community Council, which will receive $25,000 in support of its efforts to achieve and maintain affordable quality housing and education, a healthy and diverse business community, and other positive elements in St. Paul's Dayton's Bluff neighborhood; the Lake Street Council, which was awarded $110,000 over two years in support of its work to implement a cohesive strategy to create vital business and residential communities along the greater Lake Street corridor in Minneapolis; and the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs at the University of Minnesota, which will receive $300,000 over two years for the Minnesota Center for Neighborhood Organizing, a program that works to develop the skills of local leaders.

"Our region's vitality depends on the durability of the components from which it is built," said McKnight Foundation board chair Ted Staryk. "Metro area neighborhoods — and especially the families and businesses that call them home — are key elements in our regional well-being. McKnight is proud to support the organizations working to help them thrive."

For more information on the foundation's second-quarter grants, visit the McKnight Foundation Web site.