2023 SEED Recipients

The Seward Co-op SEED program is a way in which we reach our Ends. The SEED program is a simple yet powerful community giving opportunity that allows customers to “round-up” their grocery bill for recipient organizations that share our commitment to a healthy community. All funds donated at the register are given directly to the recipient organization at the end of each month. Pre-pandemic it was not uncommon for monthly SEED round-ups to total $20,000 or more. Since the onset of the pandemic, we have noticed a decline in monthly SEED totals. Please consider rounding up your purchase or tacking on any extra dollar amount to support the work of our SEED recipients.

Community Choice SEED Results

A Seward Co-op staff-led committee chose eight of the twelve SEED recipients from a pool of applicants. During the 2022 Annual Owner Meeting we announced the 2023 SEED recipients selected by the staff-led committed–listed below–, our People Powered Perks recipient and the result of the Community Choice vote. This year’s People Powered Perks grants recipient is Full Cycle Bike Shop.

Seward Co-op owners and customers are invited annually to select four of twelve SEED recipients in Community Choice voting. All SEED Community Choice finalists receive a $1,000 grant through the Seward Community Fund. The four organizations selected as the 2023 SEED Community Choice recipients are Division of Indian Work, RECLAIM, Hmong American Farmers Association (HAFA), and Sisters’ Camelot. Thank you to all those who voted!

Learn more about all of the 2023 SEED recipients below.

The Aliveness Project

A group of people wearing red and posing for a photo

The Aliveness Project works to advance equitable access to transformative HIV care. They provide prevention care through programming, community building, advocacy, and health and wellness services. Founded in 1985 as a community center for and by people living with HIV, the Aliveness Project supports people living with and at greatest risk of HIV to access transformative resources that lead to healthy, self-directed lives. In addition to their THRIVE Clinic, which provides free and confidential testing, counseling, and PrEP prescriptions, the Aliveness Project offers free access to a meal program, food shelf, housing support, and much more for its members. SEED funds will support core Aliveness Project services.

Learn More

2023 SEED Recipients:

The 2023 SEED recipients are listed below by the month they will be featured. The Community Choice recipients are listed in purple.

January

Cultural Wellness Center

Dreamland on 38th will be a 7,500 square feet commercial building at 38th street and 3rd avenue–directly across the street from the Seward Co-op Friendship store. This space will be an incubator for African American food entrepreneurs focused on culinary heritage. It will include a commercial kitchen and dynamic event space with programming and support from Cultural Wellness Center. The project will support African American entrepreneurs to build the cultural, social and financial capital that will support the development, growth and long-term success of their small businesses–the very businesses that Seward Co-op seeks to support through the Community Foods program.

February

Tamales y Bicicletas

Tamales y Bicicletas is an urban farm and grassroots organization that mobilizes low-income communities of color around cultural resistance and empowerment through food justice and sustainable transportation in the East Phillips neighborhood for over 15 years. We work to center Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and People of Color through decolonizing and localizing our food system, sustainable transportation, and urban farming skills.

March

Sisters’ Camelot

Sisters’ Camelot is a collectively-run nonprofit founded in 1997 that is focused on food justice, waste reduction, sustainable living, community building, and youth education.
They distribute nearly 8,000 pounds per week of free organic groceries to people, food shelves, and community kitchens.
They also serve free healthy prepared food from a vintage bus that has been converted to a licensed commercial kitchen. All of the food Sisters’ Camelot distributes and cooks is rescued from the waste stream.

April

KRSM Radio

KRSM Radio is a low-power community radio station in South Minneapolis. Their tag line is “Radio for All”, meaning to provide a platform for elevating the voices, narratives, and cultures of those historically erased by traditional media.
SEED funds will be used to expand KRSM’s programing and equipment to increase their capacity to serve youth and underserved communities, as well as to archive their content, history, and voices of these content creators.

May

Sabathani Community Center

Sabathani Community Center provides one of the largest food shelves in the South Minneapolis area. In addition to culturally-specific food and resources, families can also get free clothing, back-to-school supplies, and holiday support. Over 30,000 people a year gain food security and self-sufficiency through Sabathani’s donation programming.

June

RECLAIM

RECLAIM provides financially accessible, specialized mental health care to queer and trans youth ages 12-25. Funds will be used to support a BIPOC therapist consultation group and will support the addition of a therapist to their team.

July

826 MSP

826 MSP is a Minneapolis-based after-school program whose mission is to amplify the voices, stories, and power of K through 12 BIPOC students through writing, publishing, and leadership programs. SEED funds will be used to host Outdoors Outspoken, a youth writing and literacy day camp focused on environmental justice.

August

Hmong American Farmers Association

The Hmong American Farmers Association (HAFA) advances the economic prosperity of Hmong farming families in Minnesota by addressing racial and economic disparities in our local food systems. They support Hmong farmers in growing more profitable businesses while also building community wealth, encouraging sustainable agriculture, supporting equitable food access, and making fresh, locally grown produce available to residents in the Twin Cities area.

September

Southside Harm Reduction Services

SHRS provide harm reduction services in South Minneapolis, promoting human rights to health, safety, autonomy, and agency for people who use substances, and are often unhoused. These funds will allow them to deliver their core services including syringe exchange, overdose prevention, and HIV testing.

October

Little Earth Residents Association

The Little Earth Urban Farm produces the Four Native Sacred Medicines: Sweetgrass, Sage, Tobacco, and Cedar for 1,200 Little Earth Residents. SEED program funding will be utilized to support our Youth Workforce Development program, a paid internship program for children ages 6-17 for the growing season. During the program Little Earth youth plant, grow, and harvest crops that create Native Food Sovereignty in the Twin Cites.

November

Division of Indian Work

Division of Indian Work’s programming is culturally-based and includes their Horizons Unlimited Food Shelf, a vibrant Youth Leadership Development Program, and their Minozekwedaa Traditional Foods Program, which provides healthy Indigenous meals to program participants, staff, and community.

December

The Aliveness Project

The Aliveness Project is a community center for people living with HIV. They provide meals, groceries, case management, and prevention efforts for all Minnesotans living with and at-risk of HIV.