We are excited to announce eight of the twelve recipients chosen by co-op staff. The SEED program raises over $150,000 annually for local non-profits.
Every year, there are twelve SEED Recipients selected to designate for roundups each month throughout the year. Selection for our annual SEED recipients is led entirely by a committee of co-op staff, the majority of which are cashiers. The grant committee selects eight organizations to be Staff Pick SEED recipients. Below are short descriptions of the eight SEED Staff Picks, listed in alphabetical order. You can learn more about each by clicking on the name of the organization. A new window will open to the organization’s website.
Du Nord Foundation Community Market
Du Nord Foundation Community Market is a welcoming place for neighbors to find free healthy and fresh food for their tables and supplies for their homes.
Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia
Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia (IX) is raising funds for tenants to purchase five buildings in the Corcoran Neighborhood, known as Sky without Limits (SWL) or Cielo sin Limites Housing Cooperative, that will establish permanently affordable, democratically controlled housing for 69 families. As an organization, IX works to establish housing cooperatives as alternatives to the commonplace landlord-tenant relationship, which results in the extraction of wealth from low-income and BIPOC families–SWL is the first cooperative they have been able to establish!
Little Earth Residents Association
Funding from the Seward Community Co-op will support Little Earth’s Urban Farm Program. The farm provides culturally relevant food to 1,000 Native residents located in the East Phillips neighborhood.
Minnesota Transgender Health Coalition
The Minnesota Transgender Health Coalition (MTHC) provides harm reduction, health access, healing services, syringe exchange, shot assistance, and support groups. MTHC is committed to improving health care access and the quality of health care received by trans and gender non-conforming people through education, resources, and advocacy.
Plant Grow Share (PGS) – a project of the Central Area Neighborhood Development Organization (CANDO)
PLANT-GROW-SHARE (PGS) is a grassroots food justice program in the Central neighborhood that focuses on investing in neighbors through gardening, education, sharing food, and anti-racism work while community building. The SEED grant will provide PGS the stability to continue to serve 20 new BIPOC families every year and facilitate a community-led workshop series to help define what food justice looks like in Minneapolis.
Sabathani Community Center
Sabathani Community Center provides one of the largest food shelves in the South Minneapolis area. Families can also get free clothing, back-to-school supplies, and holiday support. 25,000 people a year gain food security and self-sufficiency through Sabathai’s donation programming.
Somali American Farmers Association (SAFA)
The Somali American Farmers Association (SAFA) was founded to support Somali and immigrant farmers who focus on culturally specific, organic produce and indigenous African farming practices.
Southside Harm Reduction Services
Southside Harm Reduction Services is a grassroots syringe exchange and harm reduction organization based in South Minneapolis that provides street outreach, mobile delivery, linkage to care, and many other services in the Twin Cities community. They work to advance the rights to autonomy and safety of people who use substances and hope to use these funds to purchase safer use supplies that support the greater goals of the organization.