Focus Area: Youth Development

Grant Amount: $10,000

Based in St. Paul, serves the Twin Cities area. BBBS matches youth facing adversity with positive volunteer mentors to positively impact the youths’ lives. After Free Arts MN dissolved in 2017, BBBS adopted its curriculum and hired three of its staff. Free Arts of BBBS uses arts as a tool to support social-emotional development, providing arts education and mentoring for youth facing homelessness, mental health treatment, and therapy for abuse and extreme poverty.

Grant supports implementing the Free Arts program with more than 18 partner organizations, adding an additional Free Arts staff member, and recruiting and training more than 100 volunteer mentors. The program will have 3 sessions per year, each lasting 12 weeks. High-quality teaching artists and disciplines will be identified that reflect the interests of youth and partner sites.