Focus Area: Youth Development

Grant Amount: $8,000

Located in Minneapolis. Hospitality House is a 60-year-old institution in north Minneapolis. It runs the Urban Learning Center, a year-round Christian-values-based after-school program usually supporting more than 230 low-income students, although this year they had to cut back to 60 because of Covid-19 restrictions. The program focuses on supporting academics and athletics, as well as arts and volunteer opportunities for youth.

Grant supports continuing the new Read to Succeed Book Club, a strong addition to its existing Urban Learning Center academic program. It will continue to use the curriculum provided through the Read to Them “One School, One Book” program, which provides books, implementation packets, title specific book packets, and expert guidance and support. Students will complete 5 books, adding the option of audio books so that students can listen to the book being read. The reading program will be balanced out by programming addressing the trauma that many of the youth have experienced in their lives.