Local Initiatives
MACP’s Local Initiatives program provided funding for summer programming at PCYC Summer Freedom School, which offers a safe and restorative learning space that boosts motivation and provides support for parents and family members of students in grades 1-5. Funding was made through The Margaret A. Cargill Foundation Fund at The Minneapolis Foundation. KAM HERNDON
MACP’s Local Initiatives program helps address important issues in Minnesota that align with the organization’s mission and reflect guidance from our donor. In addition, the program provides flexibility to respond quickly to urgent community needs across the state. Local Initiatives supports initiatives developed and delivered by, for, and with communities that have been historically underserved, including Asian, Black, Indigenous, and Latine people, people with disabilities, and Rural Minnesotans.
Geographically, we prioritize the following areas.
- Twin Cities Metro Area Priority is given to work in the 12 Twin Cities neighborhoods that face the highest levels of poverty. These include Near North, Hawthorne, Jordan, Willard-Hayes, Folwell, Ventura, Phillips West, Cedar-Riverside, and Midtown Phillips in Minneapolis, and Frogtown/Thomas Dale, Payne-Phalen, and North End in St. Paul.
- Rural Communities Funding prioritizes communities with fewer than 5,000 people outside the 7-county Metro, particularly Native American communities and rural areas with limited access to philanthropic resources.
Within the prioritized geographies mentioned above, Local Initiatives funding in 2025 focuses on these three program priorities:
- Joy and Healing focuses on non-clinical and cultural mental health & wellness solutions by and for underserved communities to address toxic stress, harmful social isolation, racism, and/or intergenerational/historical trauma.
- Environment and Climate Change prioritizes climate action solutions that enhance the climate adaptation and resilience of underserved communities who have been disproportionately impacted by climate change, with a particular focus on rural farming communities and environmentally distressed metro areas as part of the Minnesota Climate Action Framework. This includes opportunities to fill gaps in philanthropic and public funding while supporting network building, collective learning/impact, and increased access to state and federal funding.
- Responsiveness Funding in response to urgent, time specific needs that disproportionately impact underserved communities in our prioritized geographies.
Please note that Local Initiatives funding for capital campaigns will be paused in 2025.
Funding inquiries are by invitation; questions can be directed to localinfo@macphil.org.
Program Stories:
Woven Together: Immigrant and refugee communities build connections