Focus Area: Early Childhood

Grant Amount: $7,500

Based in Minneapolis, serves the Twin Cities area and southern Minnesota. Change Inc is the product of a merger in 2019 of two community-based organizations that had been collaborating for more than a decade: Guadalupe Alternative Programs and Change Inc., both originally founded to serve underserved individuals and address the challenges of systemic poverty and racism that prevent Twin Cities families from achieving their full potential. More than 60% of Change’s staff represent communities of color, come from many different cultures, and speak more than 10 languages.

Grant supports expanding to southern Minnesota the Family, Friends, and Neighbor (FFN) program, which provides training and support for Latinx providers of home-based childcare and parents of children in FFN childcare. The program will recruit FFN providers in southern Minnesota counties to join a Latinx support network; train providers to improve and promote children’s health, safety, and development; connect providers and families to community resources; and more.