[#mnrising Dispatch] June 2022

The personal is political, always and again. This month we marked 50 years of Pride even as historic legal and political decisions diminished the rights and agency of women and people with regard to privacy, bodily autonomy, and reproductive health. These decisions will result in deepened health disparities, exacerbated for Black, Indigenous, communities of color, and/or low-income communities already hardest hit by the pandemic. To preserve remaining protections and advance health equity, support organizations improving access to care and reproductive health, mobilize for the mid-term elections at all levels of policymaking, and of critical importance, recognize that it's okay to not be okay and take time for nurturing personal care.

Neighborhood Leadership Program

Applications for the 2022-2023 NLP cohort are now open – apply by July 6, 2022! The Neighborhood Leadership Program (NLP) is a seven-month program that brings a cohort of 15 people together who are interested in sharing and learning stories of how people engage the tenets of self-awareness, working across differences and value-based action to create new counter-stories (transformation) in the places where they do life. Participants will spend the next seven months organizing their personal and shared knowledge/stories to clarify the narrative they want to enliven to shape future mindsets, relationships, power dynamic, practices, policies, and resource flow. [Read more.]

Elizabeth Kearney Women's Leadership Program

In 2022, YWCA Mankato is offering a 10-month program that begins in September and ends in June 2023. The program meets in person once a month from 8:30am - 4:30pm. Elizabeth Kearney Women's Leadership (EKWL) is a strengths-based leadership program with a gender and racial justice lens open to all women. The program takes a cohort of women through professional and personal leadership development. Participants identify their strengths, build skills, learn about civic engagement, network, hear from guest speakers, and leave prepared to address common leadership challenges facing women. [Learn more.]

PRISM Grants

PRISM (Promoting Rural Interconnections for Sexual Minorities) grant support rural LGBTQ+ organizations from across PFund’s five-state service area. PRISM grants are a new initiative being piloted by PFund in 2022 and made possible in part due to funding from the Northwest Area Foundation. The first application period for PRISM grants will run from June 1 - August 31, 2022. To apply for a PRISM grant, groups must meet the following qualifications:
-Organizations must be based in a rural community or serve rural populations (defined as small and mid-sized towns under 50,000 people).
-Registered as 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with the IRS. Informal groups with a nonprofit organization serving as a fiscal sponsor are also eligible to apply.
[Learn more.]

"We Are Water MN"

"We Are Water MN" builds networks of people who protect and affect water, hosts a traveling exhibit that shares messages about water in Minnesota, and designs public programming that builds relationships with and responsibilities to water. The "We Are Water MN" partners seek applications for a new cohort of host communities. Selected communities may receive contracts of up to $10,000 with the Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC) to offset project-related costs. MHC encourages organizations in small and suburban communities to apply. This funding is available through support of the Clean Water Fund of the Minnesota Legacy Amendment. Proposals due: 11:59 p.m. July 22, 2022. [Read more.]