Catalyst Funded Organizations

American Indian Family Center
The American Indian Family Center will work to decrease health inequities for Native American men and families through culturally based physical activities. Participants of the Ombi’ayaa Anishinabe-Ininiiwug Father & Men’s program will learn how to lead a healthier lifestyle through activities such as wild rice harvesting, men’s drum circle and cooking demonstrations.

City of Bloomington
The City of Bloomington will engage local community members in the process of developing a first-in-the-state Smoke Free Multiunit Rental Housing Ordinance. This project will ensure that tenants who have been impacted by secondhand smoke exposure have a role in shaping policy that directly affects them.

Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES)
Using a choice model food shelf experience, CLUES will launch a 12-month pilot project to host weekly, community-driven, pop-up food distribution events in East Saint Paul. CLUES will utilize a model, which promotes participant choice and access to healthy, appealing and culturally appropriate foods.

Department of Public Transformation
The Department of Pubic Transformation will offer free classes and programing at their YES! House facility in downtown Granite Falls. The YES! House, a multi-use community gathering space, promotes social connection and provides equitable opportunities for people in the community to be physically active.

East Side Table
East Side Table will expand its healthy, culturally appropriate Make-At-Home Meal Kit program to more families and begin offering meal kits at community-based retailers on St. Paul’s East Side. This program serves low-income individuals and families who have limited access to healthy, local food. East Side Table will also offer monthly cooking classes to promote the meal kit program and encourage well-being through healthy food choices.

Family Pathways
Family Pathways will host three regional engagement events to change the narrative on food access and health equity in East Central Minnesota. With support from partner organizations and organizers, Family Pathways will bring together community members impacted by health inequities to identify strategies to improve the local food system.

Friends of the Mississippi
Friends of the Mississippi River will host various community engagement activities to gather north Minneapolis residents’ feedback on how to improve connections for people to bike and walk to the river. Through collaboration with the City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, and MnDOT, this feedback will be included in planned future road and bridge improvements.

Frogtown Farm
Frogtown Farm will catalyze youth leadership in the Frogtown neighborhood on issues related to farming and food justice. Local community leaders will help to develop youth leadership programs that incorporate classroom curriculum, field trips to Frogtown Farm and securing locally grown food in school lunches.

Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment through Research (HACER)
HACER will work with the Latino community of St. James, MN to identify existing but under-utilized health assets and incentivize healthy physical activities. HACER will work with local community members to design three Latino community initiatives that foster culturally based physical activity.

HOPE
HOPE will provide a safe environment for people who identify as Black, Indigenous, People of Color and women, trans, femme to enjoy the health benefits of Twin Cities bike trails and the Minneapolis parks system. Along the way, riders will learn about the history of these spaces and current community-led initiatives to make them more welcoming and accessible for all people.

Metro Blooms
Metro Blooms will host engagement events with tenants in four affordable housing communities to co-create a redesign of their landscape to improve outdoor quality of life and increase green spaces. This placemaking program centers the voices of people most impacted by decisions made about their environment and encourages outdoor physical activity.

Minnesota Community Health Worker Alliance
Minnesota Community Health Worker Alliance will develop a toolkit and train a network of 60 Community Health Workers from across the state to equip them with the knowledge, skills and practice to improve equitable health outcomes. The toolkit will focus on healthy eating, physical activity, and reducing commercial tobacco use.

Nokomis East Neighborhood Association
Nokomis East Neighborhood Association will partner with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board to create a pilot project providing twenty opportunities for residents to experience and give feedback on indoor programming during the cold weather months. The project will serve the residents of the Bossen area in the Wenonah neighborhood, with special emphasis on inviting Somali, Latina, and Black/African American women and their families to participate.

North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems
North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems will launch programming in the first Indigenous Food Lab in Minneapolis, which will house an indigenous restaurant and training center. Programming at the Indigenous Food Lab will include curriculum and educational resources to increase knowledge of and access to local, Indigenous foods and reconnect Native peoples with traditional food systems to improve health.

OutFront
OutFront’s Youth Leadership Council, which is comprised of LGBTQ student leaders across the state, will launch a health equity campaign focused on commercial tobacco use. The student-led campaign will use social media platforms to educate young people about the harms of commercial tobacco use and e-cigarettes, how to decrease commercial tobacco use, and advocate for school tobacco policies that include counseling and education.

PartnerSHIP4Health
PartnerSHIP4Health will work with community members to develop a pedestrian and bicycle plan for the City of Pelican Rapids. This project will ensure that diverse voices are represented and included in the plan and propose recommendations for future improvements to make Pelican Rapids more accessible for people with disabilities, as well as improving places to walk and bike.

People Responding in Social Ministry
People Responding in Social Ministry (PRISM) will create a Participant Advisory Council to ensure that PRISM food shelves are representative of the people they serve. The Participant Advisory Council will also work with staff to design initiatives that support community members to make healthy choices for their families.

Project Food Forrest
Project Food Forrest will expand their edible food forest in Rock County, Minnesota and host free workshops to educate the public on plant identification, harvest, and usage. The food forest is a free resource for all community members to access and gather healthy foods and learn how to grow wild edible plants.

Southern Minnesota Independent Living Enterprises & Services
Southern Minnesota Independent Living Enterprises & Services (SMILES) will organize ChalkFest – a two-day, free, interactive pedestrian safety event featuring 3D sidewalk chalk artists whose art encourages walking and safe physical activity. Participants will also learn safety laws and experience navigating sidewalks, curb cuts and intersections in wheelchairs for a new perspective.

Success Academy
Success Academy will build a winter greenhouse on their school campus in Bloomington, MN. Fresh vegetables grown in the greenhouse will be served in the school cafeteria and extra yield will be sent home with students to support families in accessing healthy local foods. Additionally, the greenhouse will fit into Success Academy’s hands-on STEM curriculum.

Twin Cities Street Soccer
Twin Cities Street Soccer will provide youth from underprivileged communities with free access to soccer leagues, practices and leadership development programs on a weekly basis. This initiative will help to eliminate barriers that exist in refugee and minority communities in providing equitable access to physical activity. Activities will also include culturally appropriate anti-tobacco curriculum for all youth participants.

West Side Community Organization
West Side Community Organization will work to ensure that all future development projects support an inclusive and healthy community by strengthening their Equitable Development Scorecard. The Scorecard requires developers to address environmental health, community engagement, transportation, equitable housing and land use in all future projects.