Focus Area: Youth Development

Grant Amount: $7,500

Based in St. Paul, serves 52 cities in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa. Established in 1971, CommondBond is the Midwest’s largest nonprofit provider of affordable housing with services. More than 10,000 people live in CommonBond housing, more than 2,800 of whom are children.

Grant supports CommonBond’s Study Buddies program, which serves youth in grades 1-6 in Commonbond’s family housing communities in the Twin Cities metro area. Youth are paired with volunteer mentors who meet weekly to develop reading, literacy, and social emotional skills. The goals of study buddies are that youth improve their reading skills, are positively engaged in their learning, and that they build trusting relationships with caring adults. For youth who have experienced learning loss as well as trauma during the pandemic, the program is an important support and a steady presence in their lives.