Focus Area: Early Childhood

Grant Amount: $10,000

Located in south Minneapolis. Established in 1966, Joyce Preschool is a bilingual preschool serving newly arrived Latinx families and American-born families, many of whom adopted children from Latin America. It is a local leader in developing programs to promote family literacy in both English and Spanish and is sharing its model with other childcare centers and the MN State Legislature.

Grant supports continuation of the home visiting element of Joyce’s programming for low-income families. This has been a staple element of its programming and has proved to be key to helping Joyce support its families during the pandemic. In addition to helping with academic and school-related issues, the home visitors have been helping families connect with food and other critical services. The program refers families to a bilingual mental health provider when that is appropriate. A new service offered to families is the part-time bilingual mental health professional to help address the growing stress and trauma of both families and staff.