Focus Area: Youth Development
Grant Amount: $10,000
Based in Northfield, serves the 32 counties covering southern Minnesota. This is Me believes every young person within the foster care system deserves to see themselves reflected in a world full of possibilities. They are on a mission to empower youth through mentorship, creative expression, and community connection.
Grant supports one-to-one trauma-informed mentoring for 130 foster youth ages 7–12 across 32 counties in Southern Minnesota, matching youth and mentors not by availability but by shared interests, personality, and lived experience. This Is Me's rural reach, intentional matching model, and partnerships with county child protection systems give it access to youth who rarely appear in philanthropic pipelines. SAF's investment will be matched through Minnesota Youth Intervention Program funding, doubling the impact.