Focus Area: Early Childhood

Grant Amount: $10,000

Based in Minneapolis, serves 11-county metro region. Established in 1983, ACTG provides brain-centered programs and services that help children and adults, from those with developmental and learning difficulties to those who experience common learning struggles, reach their highest potential.

Grant supports expanding SMART Steps, the latest version of ACTG’s SMART program, a child-centered, trauma-informed wrap-around environment, currently being used in hundreds of schools throughout the Twin Cities and beyond. It is an innovative learning readiness program, and the training for it is a self-paced virtual system that teaches providers about brain development and how to integrate SMART Steps activities into their daily routines. Currently, providers from 31 of Minnesota’s 87 counties are enrolled, and the goal is to train 150 more this year. The funding secured for SMART Steps means that FCC (Family Child Care) providers can receive this training at no cost.