Focus Area: Youth Development

Grant Amount: $10,000

Located in the Phillips neighborhood of south Minneapolis. Banyan is a faith-centered youth serving agency that works to strengthen Phillips by offering programs focused on developing youth, strengthening families, and creating community. It operates a successful out-of-school-time program that serves 150 children in grades k-college. Banyan makes a deep commitment to its families, supporting their children from kindergarten through college. In addition to its core programming, it also provides home visits and planning to get its children into quality schools, and then supports their application to college and continues to provide support to college students who attend local colleges.

Grant supports Banyan’s longstanding THRIVE program for 72 youth in grades K-5. The program provides year-round after-school and summer programming at no cost to the low-income families it serves. Programming includes academic support, social and emotional learning, and community engagement. Banyan has connected with the University of Minnesota Extension Service to offer parenting classes with an emphasis on resilience and mental health.