Capacity Building Initiative for Greater Minnesota

From time to time Propel Nonprofits has the opportunity to develop and manage capacity building initiatives to provide one or more services for a group of nonprofits. Each initiative is designed to meet a specific need in a community and to help nonprofits build their knowledge, skills, and capacity to thrive. Capacity building initiatives are generally targeted to a specific type of nonprofit, a community or region, or a pre-selected cohort.

The intent of Capacity Building Initiative for Greater Minnesota (CBI-GM) was to help expand the capacity of organizations in Greater Minnesota to advance their mission and goals. In 2021, 24 organizations in Greater Minnesota worked on capacity building projects including strategic planning, financial planning, board development, and change management.

Anishinaabe Agriculture Institute
Anishinaabe Agriculture is an Indigenous-led organization, dedicated to the restoration and vitality of Indigenous agriculture, and promotion of the hemp economy.

Bagley Area Arts Collaborative
The Bagley Area Arts Collaborative’s mission is to offer a variety of arts experiences that are affordable and accessible to all ages and abilities to stimulate the arts vibrancy in their area by encouraging local artists to realize their talents and share them both locally and regionally.

Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial
The Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial, Inc. was formed in June 2000. It was a culmination of years of individual people keeping the stories of the lynching of Isaac McGhie, Elmer Jackson, and Elias Clayton alive in their way.

Creative Healing Space
Creative Healing Space, Incorporated was founded in 2019 to create a safe, community-centered space that utilizes art as a form of healing.

Community Health Service Inc.
Community Health Service Inc. prides itself in delivering quality, patient-centered healthcare and services with professionalism and passion, collaborating with community partners to promote health equity.

Department of Public Transformation
The Department of Public Transformation is an artist-led organization that works locally and relationally to develop creative strategies for increased community connection, civic engagement, and equitable participation in rural places.

Diversity Council
Diversity Council’s purpose is growing equitable communities rooted in compassion where all facets of human identity are understood and respected, and where every individual acts conscientiously and with courage.

Duluth Folk School
Duluth Folk School’s mission is to build a more joyful, engaged, and skilled community through accessible, hands-on crafting education. They provide everyone the opportunity to take affordable classes with master craftspeople and people passionate about their craft, so that traditional as well as practical handcrafting skills can be learned.

Ely Folk School
Founded in 2015, the mission of the Ely Folk School is to build community by providing learning experiences that celebrate the wilderness heritage, art, history, culture, and craft of the people of northern Minnesota.

Grand Marais Art Colony
The Grand Marais Art Colony serves as a catalyst for the arts in the Great Lakes region, supporting artists through residencies, intensive and mentoring classes, and signature events.

Harm Reduction Sisters
Harm Reduction Sisters (HRS) provides a feminist, trauma-informed response to syringe service programming (SSP) by utilizing innovative harm reduction principles and practices to address the gaps that exist for people who use drugs.

Headwaters Music and Arts
Headwaters Music and the Arts opened in 1992 and offers private instruction in a wide range of musical instruments along with art programs for all ages. Their programs are designed to fulfill their mission to enrich the arts education of children and to unlock the creative potential of teens and adults.

Intercultural Mutual Assistance Association
Intercultural Mutual Assistance Association (IMAA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 1984 as a community response to the needs of refugee and immigrant families resettling in Olmsted County. The mission of IMAA is building bridges between cultures by empowering individuals to create a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable community.

Mewinzha Ondaadiziike Wiigaming
Mewinzha Ondaadiziike Wiigaming (Long Ago Women Birthing in Lodge, Home or Hospital) is a Native American nonprofit organization that is located in the heart of Bemidji, Minnesota. Mewinzha Ondaadiziike Wiigaming is an all-female Anishinaabe organization that is committed to providing community-centered holistic care for all women, children and families.

New York Mills Arts Retreat
The New York Mills Arts Retreat and Regional Cultural Center is a multidisciplinary arts organization that has been dedicated to expanding the cultural and creative opportunities for rural Americans for more than three decades. Their mission is to be a rural hub for creativity, community vitality, and lifelong learning in the arts.

Northwest Indian CDC
Northwest Indian CDC is a native-controlled 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1989 that reorganized in 2011 as a community development model, offering a wide range of Anishinaabe-informed services to more effectively meet the needs of Indigenous people, families, and communities.

Ogema Organics
Ogema Organics is an indigenous-led tribal entity that comes from over 25 years of agricultural and community organizing work on the White Earth Reservation. Their work has focused on Anishinaabe arts and culture, indigenous agriculture, cannabis research and development, and policy making. Their mission is to support and encourage the health and wellbeing of life on the White Earth Reservation.

Parenting Resource Center
The Parenting Resource Center, Inc. has operated since 1977. Their mission is to provide resources, services, and prevention education to families within the communities that they serve.

Red Wing Arts
Red Wing Arts (RWA) has been a cornerstone of the arts in the Red Wing, Minnesota community and throughout the region since its inception in 1952. Their mission is to build a vibrant community fueled by the arts.

Renewing the Countryside
Renewing the Countryside (RTC) connects people with resources, information, and support that helps them activate change. They share stories and tools to inspire cultural shifts and systems change. And they leverage their partnerships to make sure their reach expands. Their mission is to empower people to build healthier rural places where economic, social, and environmental wealth abound.

Somali American Social Service Association
Somali American Social Service Association (SASSA) was established for the purpose of rebuilding the immigrants of Olmsted County through education, health, and programs that promote success. Their mission is to establish the initiatives of sustainable development programs such as public health, public education, advocacy, empowering women, and small business support.

Somali Community Resettlement Services
Somali Community Resettlement Services (SCRS) was formed in Rochester in 1999 by a volunteer network of Somali refugees to directly respond to the needs of Somali refugee and immigrants. The Mission of SCRS is to promote and advance the social well-being and welfare of immigrants by providing much needed community and resettlement services.

Unite Cloud
#unitecloud provides education and actionable steps to resolve tension and restore dignity to all people in Central Minnesota.

YWCA Duluth
YWCA Duluth was formed in 1893 and today provides early childhood education, parenting classes, youth development programming, and transitional housing to young mothers. Their mission is to eliminate racism, empower women, and promote peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all.