Focus Area: Early Childhood

Grant Amount: $15,000

Based in St. Paul, serves statewide. Begun in 1865, LSS is one of Minnesota’s largest nonprofit social service organizations, providing a comprehensive range of innovative services in all 87 counties. It recently merged with Lifetrack (a previous SAF grantee), incorporating that agency’s programs into its offerings. One of these programs is the Families Together Therapeutic Preschool in St. Paul, serving very low-income families in the Frogtown and East Side neighborhoods.

Grant supports adding to the therapeutic preschool occupational and speech language therapy for its students who have often experiences speech delays because of trauma in their lives. Adding these therapies to the preschool’s tools to address trauma will make a big difference in getting these children ready for school and life. LSS is committed to hiring staff that align with the backgrounds of the children they serve.