2006 Grant Recipients

1. Steele County Transitional Housing Inc. is a non-profit organization based in Owatonna, MN that provides financial assistance and case management services to individuals and families who are homeless. The Finnegans grant will support the purchase of gas vouchers, grocery coupons and gift cards as rewards for families moving toward self-sufficiency.

2. Mesabi East Early Childhood Coalition is a non-profit based in the Iron Range in northern Minnesota that serves families living in poverty. The Finnegans funds will be used to provide educational materials for families that otherwise could not afford to purchase such materials.

3. Central Community Housing Trust (CCHT) is a private, non-profit, community-based provider of affordable housing in the Twin Cities. The Finnegans grant will help with the implementation of the CCHT Literacy Initiative to promote reading and general literacy among its very low-income and formerly homeless residents.

4. Opportunity Partners is a Minnetonka based nonprofit that trains and empowers people with disabilities and other barriers to self-sufficiency. Opportunity Partners serves 1,300 individuals at 31 separate facilities. The Finnegans funds will be used to support trainee wages for a document imaging training program for people with barriers to employment that are working to transition from welfare to financial independence.

5. The Campus Kitchen at Augsburg College is a school based hunger relief organization lead by student volunteers whose goal is to address both the immediate needs and the long-term effects of hunger by providing meals and educational opportunities to the local community. The Finnegans grant will be used for educational materials for the Culinary Job Training program. The Culinary Job Training program provides valuable foodservice and life skills training and employment assistance to underemployed men and women in the Minneapolis area.

6. Bolder Options a Twin Cities based non-profit with a unique mentoring program that matches at-risk youth with caring adults to run, bike and work on educational goals. Nearly 350 youth have benefited from Bolder Options’ services since 1998. The organization has an 80% success rate with participants not re-offended since completing the program.

7. Cromwell-Wright School District – Kids Plus After School Program, This program offers a safe and structured place for youth to go at the end of the school day until their parents get home from work.

8. Project G.E.M, a Mankato based non-profit which offers innovative educational outreach services for at risk youth by using applied learning in art, creative writing and music to increase reading and writing skills. College students who are education majors at area colleges are hired to teach these youth which offers them career and life experiences.

9. HIRED, a Plymouth based non-profit organization helps adults and youth get back on their feet with employment support and training. The Finnegan’s grant will support their newest youth-driven entrepreneurship training program that gives at-risk students at Broadway Community School a chance for hands on training in a student-run breakfast café.

10. The Link, a Minneapolis based non profit organization dedicated to transforming the lives of trouble youth and their families by providing Health Realization training, case management, role modeling and life skills training. Finnegan’s is supporting their ‘Women Educating Women’ program, a support and empowerment group for at risk teenage girls. 

11. Our Saviour’s Housing, a Minneapolis based non-profit organization that provides emergency shelter, transitional housing and supportive services for homeless men, women and families. Finnegan’s funds will be used to support the case management services to help move the homeless into independent living.

12. Page Education Foundation is a Minneapolis based non-profit whose mission is to increase the participation of Minnesota’s youth of color in post-secondary education. The Finnegan’s grant will be used to provide financial assistance to youth of color for college in exchange for their volunteer service to school-age children. ($1,000)

13. YouthCARE is a Twin Cities based non-profit organization that provides successful multicultural youth development services to Twin Cities youth, 7-18 year old. Finnegan’s funds will be used to benefit the Young Women’s Mentoring Program. This program focuses on facilitating opportunities for young women to build leadership and self-sufficiency sills as they mentor younger girls who live in their same low-income publicly subsidized neighborhoods.