Focus Area: Advocacy in Early Childhood

Grant Amount: $15,000

Based in St. Paul, serves statewide. Children’s Defense Fund of Minnesota is the Minnesota branch of the national organization founded in 1973 by Marian Wright Edelman. CDF-MN is dedicated to equity and is the home of the Voices and Choices Coalition for Children that focuses on young BIPOC children and their families. It publishes the Minnesota edition of Kids Count, an annual collection of data about Minnesota children.

Grant supports raising the presence and power of voices of Black, Indigenous, and families of color in early childhood care and education advocacy. CDF-MN will build on its engagement work with families from low-income households and BIPOC communities across the state to ensure that community voices are actively informing coalitions that impact early childhood policy. CDF-MN will conduct listening sessions to connect to BIPOC parents, advocates, and providers. It will provide advocacy training, context setting, and support for BIPOC families to engage in dominant culture settings such as telling their stories to elected officials.