University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
EN-13: Community Stakeholder Engagement

In regards to avenues for external stakeholders to provide feedback about the institution's role and impact within the community, the University District Alliance is an initiative that involves communities, learning institutions, and the City of Minneapolis that strives to capitalize on resources, provide a vibrant, safe, healthy, and sustainable community, and is a preferred place for people to live, work, learn, do business, and visit. They facilitate communication and cooperation among the residents, businesses, institutions, and public sector entities by hosting committee meetings, where representatives from surrounding neighborhood associations are present as well as business community members. These meetings provide a safe and welcoming atmosphere for feedback to be provided to the university.

The Metropolitan Engagement Zones initiative is the University's plan for identifying and engaging underrepresented groups. This initiative develops and tests a set of models and strategies for advancing the coordination of the University of Minnesota’s community partnerships within particular geographic neighborhoods or regions. Specifically, the initiative will support, facilitate, and expand on efforts to coordinate university-community projects that are operating within a particular metropolitan neighborhood or region.

180 Degrees, Inc., Resiliency Program of Ramsey County: Uses a strength-based and restorative justice approach to help youth involved in the juvenile system to address their needs, develop their own identity, and build self-confidence and esteem. Abbott Northwestern Hospital: Provides comprehensive health care for patients and their families. Academia Cesar Chavez: Provides a dual-language K-6 education which prepares bilingual and bi-literate learners by advocating Latino cultural values in an environment of familia and community. AccessAbility Inc.: Provides programs and services to meet the needs of patients with disabilities and economic disadvantages, including finding work, social involvement, and engagement in the community. AccountAbility Minnesota: Offers free tax preparation and accounting assistance to thousands of low-income individuals and small businesses and encourages them to build assets to improve long-term financial security. ACES: Seeks to close the academic achievement gap for at-risk urban youth through its after-school tutor/mentor program. Achieve Mpls: Works to help students succeed in their education while providing programs that support the students' career goals and their becoming productive members of the community. Aeon: Develops and manages quality housing for people with low or moderate incomes. Strives to support successful residency and create thriving communities. Ain Dah Yung Center: Provides a continuum of care for American Indian youth and families to thrive in safety and wholeness, including emergency shelter, housing, and support services. Alaska Wilderness League: Furthers the protection of Alaska's amazing public lands by engaging citizens and decision-makers, sharing resources, collaborating with other organizations, and educating the public. Alexandra House: Offers comprehensive services to victims of domestic and sexual violence. Works to prevent future violence by engaging with youth and families in schools and the community. Aliveness Project, The: Encourages self-empowerment and provides direct services for people living with HIV/AIDS. America Reads: Reaches out to the community to provide reading programs to improve children's reading skills. American Cancer Society: Empowers and mobilizes communities to prevent cancer, save lives, and diminish suffering. Works to eliminate cancer as a major public health problem through voter education, awareness activities, and issue campaigns. American Lung Association of Minnesota: Works to improve air quality indoors and outdoors, support people with lung disease, and eliminate tobacco use. American Red Cross: Provides relief to victims of disaster and helps people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies. American Swedish Institute: Serves as a gathering place for people to share stories and experiences around universal themes of tradition, migration, craft and the arts, all informed by enduring ties to Sweden. Amicus: Partners with inmates, ex-offenders, juvenile offenders, and communities to build successful lives and stronger communities. Animal Rights Coalition: Works to end the suffering, abuse, and exploitation of non-human animals through information, education, and advocacy. Arc Greater Twin Cities, The: Provides people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families the opportunity to realize their goals of where and how they live, learn, work and play. Ascension Place: Provides transitional housing and a supportive environment for women to build opportunities and explore options for their future. Asian Economic Development Association (AEDA): Provides micro-entrepreneurs and small businesses in low-income Asian Minnesotan communities access to business information, resources and, advocacy. Asian Media Access: Uses multi-media and technology as tools for social change, providing education and communication to mobilize communities and young people about Pan Asian issues. Asian Women United of Minnesota: Works to end violence against Asian women and children by building stronger and safer communities. Augsburg Fairview Academy: Prepares high school students, grades 9-12, for college, career, and life through an intense program of rigorous study and real-world connections to health care, education, and other human services. Bakken Museum, The: Inspires a passion for science and its potential for social good by helping people explore the history and nature of electricity and magnetism. Banaadir Academy: Provides K-8 education to 300+ Somali students in a charter school setting Be The Match: Provides the largest listing of potential marrow donors and donated cord blood units and raises funds to help provide transplants to all patients. Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities: Matches adult volunteers and children to develop positive relationships that have a direct and lasting effect on the lives of young people who are facing adversity. Bolder Options: Uses one-on-one mentoring, engaging youth and mentors in goal setting, physical activity, tutoring, and community involvement to build confidence, maximize potential, and encourage healthy life skills. Boys and Girls Clubs of the Twin Cities: Provides programs for youth in sports, fitness and recreation; education and career; the arts; health and life skills; and character and leadership development so they can realize their full potential. Breaking Free: Educates and provides services to women and girls who have been victims of abuse and commercial sexual exploitation (prostitution/sex trafficking) and need assistance escaping the violence in their lives. Breakthrough St. Paul: Helps highly motivated, under-resourced middle school students from Saint Paul Public Schools succeed in rigorous honors coursework and get to college. Brian Coyle Community Center: Serves the Cedar-Riverside community by providing economic and legal assistance, immigrant advocacy, educational help, food shelf, bookmobile, youth programs, and more. Bridges to Safety: Joins advocacy programs, community organizations, and governmental agencies in one location to provide safety for domestic violence victims in Ramsey County. Casa de Esperanza: Mobilizes Latino communities to end domestic violence and to eliminate violence against women and children. Catholic Charities: Offers low-income families and the homeless support, food, a safe haven, healthcare, and opportunities for growth. Catholic Tutor Corp: Places tutors in Catholic K-8 schools in urban areas of the Twin Cities. Volunteers work with students of all grades and in all subjects. Cedar Riverside Adult Education Collaborative: Teaches adults the skills and provides the support necessary to pursue personal educational and employment goals. Center for Asian and Pacific Islanders (CAPI): Assists refugees and immigrants in gaining access to jobs, housing, food, health education, and youth and senior social services to promote economic independence and self-determination. Center for Hmong Arts and Talent (CHAT): Strengthens the Hmong community by connecting them to the engaging and empowering benefits of art. Nurtures and develops Hmong artists to enhance the community and to create a place for the arts in daily Hmong life. Center for Victims of Torture, The: Works to heal the wounds of torture on individuals, their families, and their communities and to stop torture worldwide. Central High School: Empowers an ethnically and racially diverse set of high school students through a multitude of college preparatory programs and extracurricular activities. Centro: Serves the Latino and Chicano community to minimize and eliminate barriers for self-sufficiency. Offers support programs in education, health, culture, and wellness. Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha: Encourages workers to build power to lead the struggle for fair wages, better working conditions, basic respect, and a voice in our workplaces. Cherokee Heights Elementary: Serves students in Pre-Kindergarten through Sixth Grade. Cherokee Heights offers a Spanish Bilingual Program option in grades K-2. Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota: Provides family-centered pediatric services and works to meet the special healthcare needs of children and their families. Children's Dental Services: Provides dental care for children whose families cannot pay, as well as for children with insurance. Clean Energy Resource Teams: Helps community members connect with the technical resources needed to identify and implement community-scale energy efficiency and clean energy projects. Clean Water Action Minnesota: Works to empower people to protect water from pollution. Organizes strong grassroots campaigns about environmental and community problems. Cleveland Neighborhood Association: Works to strengthen Minneapolis' Cleveland neighborhood through neighborliness, urban appeal, and safety. Cleveland Neighborhood Association: Works to strengthen Minneapolis' Cleveland neighborhood through neighborliness, urban appeal, and safety. CommonBond Communities: Provides affordable housing with on-site services for families, seniors, people with disabilities, and other barriers. Builds stable homes, strong futures, and vibrant communities. Communities United Against Police Brutality: Empowers local people to end police brutality. Community Action Against Racism:: Forms a united and multiracial front representing people of all backgrounds working to end hate speech on the U.S. airwaves. Community Action Partnership of Ramsey and Washington Counties: Mobilizes community resources to reduce poverty through programs like energy assistance, energy conservation, Head Start, and self-sufficiency. Compassionate Action for Animals: Inspires respect for animals and promotes vegetarianism through outreach, education, and community building. Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES): Provides linguistically and culturally appropriate services for the Chicano/Latino community, including mental health, chemical health, employment, education, and elder wellness. CornerHouse: Maintains an intervention system for children alleged to be victims of abuse and violence by investigating, coordinating forensic interview services, and providing training for professionals to prevent child abuse. Cornerstone: Prevents violence and provides comprehensive services to victims of domestic abuse and their children. Council on Crime and Justice: Develops effective responses to the causes and consequences of crime by providing research, advocacy, and services. Courage Center: Provides medical rehabilitation and health, fitness, and sports activities for people with disabilities and complex health conditions. Crisis Connection: Provides 24-hour crisis counseling by telephone, relying on trained volunteers and paid staff who answer calls 365 days per year. Cristo Rey Jesuit High School: Integrates college preparatory academic and professional work environments, thereby preparing students from under-resourced families for success in college and life. Crossing Barriers: Develops the leadership skills of low-income youth and community members to improve education, address community based issues and be agents for change Cycles for Change: Provides space to educate and empower people to use bicycles as transportation by refurbishing bikes, teaching bike mechanics, and helping to build a sustainable environment and community. Dakota Communities: Partners with people with disabilities to realize their goals and potential though residential and non-residential support services. Dakota County Community Corrections: Implements probation and treatment programs for juveniles and adults using restorative justice concepts. Designwise Medical: Creates child-appropriate health products that allow them to live life to its fullest. Dignity Center, The: Brings support, opportunities, and resources for people in transition as they regain stability and move toward self-sufficiency through a three morning a week outreach ministry program Do It Green! Minnesota: Educates Minnesotans about going green and living sustainably, and promotes building healthy local communities. Domestic Abuse Project: Promotes safe and healthy family relationships through education, advocacy, and therapy services. Dorothy Day Center: Provides hot meals served by volunteers, mental health services, medical care, and much more to people experiencing homelessness. East African Education: Works to bridge the gap between secondary and higher education among first and second generation East African immigrants East Side Learning Center: Works to unlock each child's potential through the foundation of reading. Provides one-on-one tutoring for grades K-4 students. East Side Neighborhood Services: Fosters the healthy development and well-being of individuals and families while strengthening their diverse community. Services include family violence intervention, senior, youth, employment, and food stability programs. Ebenezer: Partners with Fairview Health Services to provide senior housing, care centers, and adult day services that make sure senior citizens live more independent, healthful, and meaningful lives. Edison Senior High School: Focuses on innovation through academic challenge, career preparation, arts and athletic programs, and extracurricular activities that build well-rounded, engaged and prepared students. EMERGE: Serves individuals and families by helping connect people who need jobs and housing with the sources they need to be successful in all aspects of life. Eureka Recycling: Demonstrates in its programs, services, and advocacy that waste is preventable through reuse, recycling, composting, waste reduction, and producer responsibility. Experimental College of the Twin Cities: Offers the opportunity to take or teach free classes through a collective dedicated to supporting community initiated educational opportunities as a means for social change. Family Partnership, The: Builds strong families, vital communities, and better futures for children through counseling, education, and advocacy services for children and families. Family Place, The: Provides support services, meals, and youth enrichment in a day center for families living without permanent housing. Family Tree Clinic: Cultivates a healthy community through comprehensive sexual health care and education FamilyWise: Promotes social change by providing family strengthening and support services to help parents improve their parenting skills, assist children to reach developmental milestones, and help families build safe, positive, and healthy relationships. Farnsworth Aerospace Magnet School: Educates Pre-K through grade 8 students by providing challenging academics that will prepare the next generation of explorers. Franklin Learning Center: Provides instruction and tutoring to adults who are studying English, math, science, social studies, technology, and life skills, and who are preparing for the GED and U.S. citizenship exams. Fraser: Serves children and adults with special needs through comprehensive education, healthcare, and housing services. Fred Wells Tennis and Education Center: Empower youth to be successful on and off the court, through tennis and education opportunities that guide and challenge them mentally, physically, socially and academically. Free Arts Minnesota: Uses art and mentorship to teach children to build their self-esteem and express their emotions in a safe and productive way. Friends of the Mississippi River: Works to protect the Mississippi River and its watershed in the Twin Cities area through land conservation, watershed protection, and river corridor stewardship. Return to top of page Gardening Matters: Serves as a central clearinghouse for community gardeners interested in the resources and expertise of the local gardening community. Ginew/Golden Eagle Program: Helps inner-city Native American youth develop skills they need to make positive life choices by strengthening their cultural identity. Girl Scouts Council of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys: Offers girls unique opportunities to give back to their communities, try new activities, and feel proud of their accomplishments. Goodwill/Easter Seals of Minnesota: Assists people with barriers to education, employment, and independence to achieve their goals and prepare to work. Provides job preparation and placement, skills training, and support. Great River Greening: Leads and inspires community-based restoration of prairies, forests, and waters to preserve natural areas, protect clean air and water, and increase urban residents' access to natural areas and sustainable open space. Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery: Works to end child abuse and neglect and create strong, healthy families. Supports families in crisis 24 hours a day, 365 days a year through free, voluntary services. Guild Inc.: Provides psychiatric rehabilitation services that are essential to support recovery for those experiencing mental illness of a severe nature so they can lead quality lives. Harrison Neighborhood Association: Fosters the quality of life within the Harrison community by educating residents about effective procedures for resolving problems, initiating neighborhood improvements, and raising and acting on issues of common concern. Heading Home Hennepin: Aims to end homelessness in Minneapolis by 2016 by using grassroots activities to brings together federal, state, and local government representatives, businesses, nonprofits, faith and philanthropic communities, and homeless citizens. Hennepin County Community Corrections and Rehabilitation: Delivers sustainable correctional services to over 36,000 adult and juvenile offenders to achieve community safety, community restoration, and reducing the risk of re-offense. Hennepin County Libraries: Offers resources such as employment, reading, art, and academic help for its communities. Hennepin County Medical Center: Provides the continuum of health care services necessary to improve the health status of all Hennepin County citizens in the context of a public teaching hospital. Highland Park Middle School: Serves students from across Saint Paul in grades six, seven, and eight. Hmong American Partnership (HAP): Provides social services and community development to the Hmong community including education, employment, elderly, family, and economic development programs. Hmong Cultural Center: Promotes the personal development of children, youth, and adults through Hmong cultural education while providing resources that enhance cross-cultural understanding between Hmong and non-Hmong people. Hmong International Academy: Provides K-8 students with daily opportunities to engage in activities that enhance their understanding of the Hmong culture and language. Home Line: Provides free legal, organizing, educational, and advocacy services so tenants throughout Minnesota can solve their own rental housing problems. Hope Community: Builds a sustainable neighborhood model through community organization, education, leadership, and affordable housing development. Hope Lodge: Offers cancer patients and their caregivers a free, temporary place to stay when their best hope for effective treatment may be in another city. Provides a variety of resources and information about cancer and how best to fight the disease. Hubbs Center: Provides education services to adults wishing to improve their basic skills, earn a GED, prepare for employment or post-secondary education, or learn English. Interact: Provides artists with with disabilities opportunities for creative expression, artistic growth, professional performance, exhibition, and opportunities to earn income from their work. Intermedia Arts: Uses art as a tool to build understanding among people while premiering multicultural and multidisciplinary work. Empowers artists and community leaders to use arts-based approaches to solve community issues. International Education Center: Offers English language courses, adult basic skills, citizenship and math courses to students of an international origin. Jackson Street Village: Provides site-based permanent housing for 24 previously homeless families in a supportive housing community through Amherst H. Wilder Foundation. Jane Addams School for Democracy (JAS): Provides a democratic space where people of diverse backgrounds can come together to contribute their energy and wisdom to the public good. Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies: Archives the history of the GLBT community internationally. Provides research opportunities for community members and historical exhibits about all aspects of GLBT culture and history. Jefferson Community School: Serves K-8 students in the heart of Uptown, where children are nurtured and encouraged, where creativity and kindness are cherished, and kids are held accountable and mentored to find their gifts and paths to success. Jeremiah Program: Assists single mothers and their children to break the cycle of poverty. Provides safe affordable housing, child care, life skills programming, individual coaching, and empowerment training. Jewish Community Action: Brings Jewish people from diverse traditions and perspectives together to promote understanding and take action on social and economic justice issues. Joyce Preschool: Provides Spanish-English immersion early education to children with a strong emphasis on kindergarten readiness, second language acquisition, parent involvement, and development of early literacy skills. Junior Achievement: Empowers young people to own their economic success through volunteer-delivered K-12 programs that foster work-readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy skills. Kaleidoscope Place: Provides a creative, educational, and nurturing environment for children to learn and grow in the Phillips community through after school and summer youth development programs. KFAI Radio: Broadcasts information, art, and entertainment programming for an audience of diverse racial, social, and economic backgrounds to foster the values of democracy and social justice. La Oportunidad: Provides bilingual and bicultural family-centered educational and supportive programs to help Latino children, youth, and adults achieve greater capacity, develop practical skills, nurture healthy relationships, and build a stronger community. Lab, The: Inspires, encourages and empowers students in special education to discover, understand, and share their voices and the truth of their lives through creative and experiential opportunities. Land Stewardship Project: Fosters an ethic of stewardship for farmland; promotes sustainable agriculture and communities. Laura Jeffrey Academy: Educates girls in grades 5-8 using a learning and teaching model that provides girls with the experiences and skills that result in academic and personal success. LDA Minnesota: Provides community-based programs for children, teenagers, and adults with learning difficulties including assessment, diagnosis, and interventions. LEAP High School: Serves English language learner immigrants and refugees in an alternative learning center setting. Students earn a high school diploma that prepares them for entry into higher education. Learning in Style: Provides quality education in English, math, computers, and citizenship to adult immigrants and refugees. Lifetrack Resources: Works to develop the strengths within children, families, and adults facing challenges. Serves people overcoming physical and mental disabilities, poverty, lack of education, trauma, and isolation. Lifeworks Services, Inc.: Serves the community and people with disabilities as they live and work together. Provides customized services for people with disabilities that help them to live full and meaningful lives. Linea Legal Latina: Provides efficient advice and referrals to Spanish-speaking individuals who have little or no access to legal advice through Volunteer Lawyers Network. Link, The: Builds a supportive community network that links youth and their families to their inner strength through life skills, education, advocacy, supportive housing, and a dynamic network of social services to transform lives. Listening House: Provides hospitality and practical assistance in an inner city drop-in center for people who are homeless, disadvantaged, or lonely. Little Brothers/Friends of the Elderly: Works to reduce social and emotional isolation, loneliness, and mental health difficulties among seniors while promoting well-being and independence. Living at Home/Block Nurse Programs: Provides and arranges support, through Neighborhood-based programs, to help elders stay healthy while living in their own homes for as long as possible. Lyngblomsten: Serves as a resource to older adults and their families by providing home and community-based services, senior housing, and skilled nursing care. Return to top of page Mano a Mano: Creates partnerships with impoverished Bolivian communities to improve their health and increase their economic well-being by building clinics, schools, and housing. Marcy Open School: Offers a learning climate where the student is the center, emphasizing academic achievement as well as personal development that promotes lifelong learning and individual goal setting. Minneapolis Parks and Recreation: Provides places and recreation opportunities for all people to gather, celebrate, contemplate, and engage in activities that promote health, well-being, community, and the environment. Minneapolis Public Schools Adult Education: Specializes in teaching workforce skills, promoting community engagement, and educating parents and adults. Minneapolis Public Schools Area Learning Center: Offers a variety of alternative programs to help students increase academic growth, recover credits, explore career options and make the right decisions that will lead to graduation and a brighter future beyond. Minneapolis Public Schools K-12: Serves the needs of more than 34,000 students. With over 70 schools across the city, there are innumerable opportunities for community members to get involved and make a difference. Minneapolis Urban League: Links African descendants and other people of color to opportunities that result in economic success and prosperity. Advocates for policies that eradicate racial disparities. Minnesota AIDS Project (MAP): Leads Minnesota's fight to stop HIV through prevention, advocacy, awareness, and services. Minnesota Alliance with Youth: Works with youth and organizations that serve youth to network, share resources, and collaborate on innovative strategies that promote youth leadership and advocacy to ensure that all youth can achieve success in life, Minnesota Arms Spending Alternative Project (MN ASAP): Builds political support to shift federal spending priorities from war to meeting essential needs using a simple resolution process. Minnesota Brain Injury Alliance: Works towards a world where all avoidable brain injuries are prevented, all non-preventable brain injuries are minimized, and all individuals who have experienced brain injury can maximize their quality of life. Minnesota Children's Museum: Provides playful learning experiences and environments where children, families, school, and community groups discover and explore their world through participatory, interdisciplinary exhibits and programs in the arts, sciences, and humanities. Minnesota Circles of Support and Accountability (MnCoSA): Uses a restorative justice model to support people convicted of sexual offenses as they reenter the community and lead responsible, productive, and accountable lives. A program of the Minnesota Department of Corrections. Minnesota Council of Churches: Provides case management, education, and employment services for refugees and asylees to assist them on the path to self-sufficiency. Minnesota GLBTA Campus Alliance: Unites statewide students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community members working for change on college and university campuses about GLBTA issues through events and programming. Minnesota Internship Center Charter High School: Provides academic and career resources to students least likely to be served by other programs in alternative school settings. Minnesota Literacy Council: Works to improve literacy throughout our state by offering literacy services for adults, at-risk children, native-born citizens, and recent immigrants. Minnesota Pollution Control Agency: Monitors environmental quality, offers technical and financial assistance, and enforces environmental regulations in Minnesota. Minnesota Public Interest Research Group (MPIRG): Advocates for social justice, good government, consumer rights, and environmental protection. Trains and teaches students the skills of activism in order to accomplish advocacy goals. Minnesota Transgender Health Coalition - Shot Clinic: Helps individuals who receive doctor recommended hormone injections with administration and supplies. Mississippi River Fund: Strengthens the enduring connection between people and the Mississippi River. Builds community support for the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, a national park. Murray Middle School: Serves seventh and eighth graders from the entire city of Saint Paul in a math and science magnet school setting. NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota: Uses education, training, organizing, legal action, and public policy to support and protect the fundamental right of woman's freedom to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices. Neighborhood Healthsource: Provides high quality primary health care for people regardless of health insurance status. Neighborhood House: Works to break the cycle of poverty in a multicultural, multilingual community center with programs in basic needs, youth leadership, education, and community building. New Millenium Academy: Serves the Hmong community, helping K-8 students learn mainstream culture and language while implementing a curriculum that reinforces values similar to those at home. Northeast Community Education Beacons Program: Provides free educational, recreational, and leadership development activities for middle school students after school and in the summer. NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center: Strives to improve the physical and socio-economic health of the North Minneapolis community through an integrated model of multi-specialty medical, dental and mental health services as well as human services. Occupy Homes MN: Works with homeowners facing foreclosure to help them stay in their homes by building public support around their cases and putting pressure on banks to negotiate in good faith. Open Arms of Minnesota: Prepares and delivers nutritious meals to people living with HIV/AIDS and other illnesses. Open Eye Theater: Creates original figure theatre, animating the inanimate on an intimate scale; trains the next generation of figure theatre artists; and advances adventurous, artist-driven programming. Ordway Center for the Performing Arts: Hosts, presents, and creates performing arts and educational programs that engage artists and enrich diverse audiences, serving as a catalyst for the artistic vitality of our community. Our Saviour's Community Services: Provides essential services in the Phillips neighborhood. Works to eliminate homelessness by providing shelter, support and a chance to start over. Assists immigrants and refugees to study English, math, computers, and prepare for citizenship exams. Out for Equity: Works to reduce harassment and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students, staff, and families in Saint Paul Public Schools. Out4Good: Works to create safe and supportive schools for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students, families, teachers, and staff in Minneapolis Public Schools. OutFront Minnesota: Provides resources to eliminate homophobia and heterosexism by delivering programs and services to the GLBT and allied community through public policy, anti-violence, education, training, and the law. Pangea World Theater: Illuminates the human condition, celebrates cultural differences, and promotes human rights by creating and presenting international, multi-disciplinary theater. Patrick's Cabaret: Supports artists in their growth and development by serving the needs of local performing artists, artists of color, GLBT/queer-identified artists, and those with disabilities. PEASE Academy: Provides a high school education in an alternative setting for students recovering from drug or alcohol use. People Serving People: Provides emergency shelter assistance to families by offering a safe and sober environment while promoting self-sufficiency and responsibility. Perspectives Family Center: Breaks the cycle of at-risk families and children through supportive housing, an extended day learning program, supervised visitation for non-custodial parents, and an extensive summer program for children. PFund: Provides vital resources and community builders for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and allied communities by providing grants and scholarships, developing leaders, and inspiring giving. Phalen Lake Hmong Studies Magnet School: Offers K-6 students the opportunity to explore the culture, language, history, traditions, literature and art of the Hmong People, along with Core Knowledge Curriculum. Phillips Eye Institute: Dedicates itself to the diagnosis and treatment of eye diseases and disorders and is the third largest eye specialty hospital in the country. Phyllis Wheatley Community Center: Provides programs in life-long learning, child development and family support to empower individuals to succeed in families and the community. Pierre Bottineau French Immersion School: Offers full-immersion kindergarten, full-immersion first, and French-enriched second/third grade classes in a Minneapolis public elementary school. Planned Parenthood MN/SD/ND: Provides confidential, affordable health care services and comprehensive sexuality education. Plymouth Youth Center: Serves youth and families who are facing significant barriers in life through education, cultural arts, human services, and community building. Prairie Adult Care: Offers adults with disabilities an opportunity to socialize, participate in an adaptive recreation, and receive medical services in a stimulating yet protective adult day program. Pratt Community School: Serves grades PreK–5 within the Minneapolis Public Schools system. Strives to prepare students to be creative problem solvers, critical and independent thinkers, caring, empathetic and productive citizens in a global society. Pro-Choice Resources: Provides a range of reproductive health services, particularly in disadvantaged communities, through education, advocacy, financial assistance, and outreach. Project Footsteps: Promotes social change and youth development by providing learning environments for young people of all ages that foster self-exploration and community advancement. Project for Pride in Living: Assists lower-income families toward self-sufficiency through housing, employment training, support services, and education. Project Get Outdoors: Connects children to nature exploration and outdoor learning during the out-of-school hours to help develop healthy kids and increase environmental stewardship behaviors Project Success: Works with students throughout middle and high school years. Provides in-school goal-setting workshops, an innovative theater program, and special services to help students develop the skills to plan their futures. Protect Minnesota: Provides education on prevention of gun injuries and deaths and works to prevent illegal access to guns. Quatrefoil Library: Collects, maintains, documents and circulates gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer materials and information in a safe and accessible space. Rainbow Health Initiative: Advances the health and wellness of the LGBTQ communities through education, research, and advocacy. Rainbow Rumpus: Offers informative and entertaining articles, stories, reviews, and more in an online magazine for kids with GLBT parents. Ramsey County Community Corrections: Provides a structured and positive environment for the development of responsible youth and adults who are in the corrections system. Builds safe and healthy communities through interventions that promote personal change and accountability. Rape and Sexual Abuse Center: Provides caring, competent, and affordable services to survivors of sexual abuse and assaults. Educates professional colleagues and the general public about sexual trauma. Raptor Center: Rehabilitates more than 700 sick and injured raptors each year, while helping to identify emerging environmental issues related to raptor health and populations. Rebuilding Together Twin Cities: Brings together volunteers and communities to improve the homes and lives of low-income homeowners. Ensures that these homeowners live independently in homes that are safe, warm and dry. Regions Hospital: Provides healthcare services in St. Paul and its surrounding communities and is the primary safety net hospital for the East Metro. RESOURCE: Empowers people to achieve greater personal, social, and economic success. Provides employment, training, mental health, and chemical health services and strives to undo racism and promote diversity. Restorative Justice Community Action, Inc.:: Works in Minneapolis neighborhoods to enhance offender accountability for urban livability crimes by empowering local citizens to participate directly in the justice process and employing restorative practices. Robbinsdale Area Schools: Serves 47,000 households in the northwest suburbs of Minneapolis. Volunteers enhance the learning experience in Kindergarten through grade 12 and in all Community Education programs. Rock Star Supply Company: Brings volunteer tutors (aka Rock Stars) to Twin Cities high schools to provide support to teachers so they can more effectively engage their students. Ronald McDonald House Charities Upper Midwest: Creates, finds and supports programs that provide a caring community for families with seriously ill children while increasing children's access to health care services. Return to top of page Saint Anne's Place: Provides short-term housing for up to sixteen homeless women and their children. Programs are geared towards developing strong and stable families through support services for parents and youth activities for children. Saint Paul Central Touring Theatre: Maintains a safe space for youth to create, perform, and tour original theater works to diverse audiences. Diverse members engage in vigorous theater training that helps them to learn about each other and to transform their communities. Saint Paul Early Childhood Family Education: Offers parent and early childhood education for families with children between birth and kindergarten age. Saint Paul Parks and Recreation: Facilitates the creation of active lifestyles, vibrant places, and a vital environment by managing more than 170 parks and open spaces. Saint Paul Public Housing: Helps families and individuals with low incomes to achieve greater stability and self-reliance by providing safe, affordable, quality housing, and links to community services Saint Stephen's Human Services: Offers shelter, housing and employment services, outreach, advocacy, and recovery support to people who are experiencing homelessness or poverty. Sanneh Foundation, The: Uses the appeal of sports to unite diverse communities, helping at-risk youth develop into leaders and experience success. Science Museum of Minnesota: Provides a place for the community to learn about science. Hosts and runs educational programs geared at schools, small groups, and families. Second Harvest Heartland: Collects and distributes astounding amounts of food to community partners that directly serve the hungry. Sexual Violence Center (SVC): Works to eradicate sexual violence through direct services, prevention education, and system change. Shades of Yellow (SOY): Works to provide support, education, advocacy, and leadership development to Hmong LGBTQ and allies; committed to providing support and education all across the nation. Sholom - West Campus: Provides a broad continuum of residential, social service, and health care services primarily for older adults and within a Jewish environment. Shriners Hospital for Children: Treats children with a host of orthopaedic and neuro-musculoskeletal conditions in an environment designed to put children at ease. Sierra Club - Northstar Chapter: Advocates to protect Minnesota's environment through educational programs and political activism. Simpson Housing Services: Provides shelter and affordable housing with support services to homeless men, women, and children. Southeast Como Improvement Association: Works to maintain and enhance the physical, social, and economic environment of the neighborhood. Strives to foster a sense of community and to promote the neighborhood as a vibrant place to live and work. Southeast Seniors: Coordinates health care, transportation, household, and other services to help seniors 65 and older remain independent and safe while still living in their homes. Southside Family Charter School:: Educates K-8 students using a social justice curriculum to become independent-minded citizens who respect themselves and others. Special Olympics Minnesota: Offers children and adults with intellectual disabilities year-round sports training and competition. Store to Door: Shops for and delivers groceries directly into the kitchens of homebound seniors, helping to make it possible for elderly people from all income levels to age in place. Sustainable Resources Center: Creates healthy and efficient home environments in partnership with families and communities. Programs include weatherization, lead hazard education and control, and training. TakeAction Minnesota: Unites the power of diverse individuals, communities, and organizations in active grassroots democracy that builds social, racial, and economic justice. Three Rivers Park District: Promotes environmental stewardship through recreation and education in its 27,000 acre park system in the west suburbs of Minneapolis/St. Paul. Trans Youth Support Network: Seeks to address the root cause of injustice and oppression that queer, trans, and gender non-conforming youth face through organizing, education, advocacy, and youth leadership development. Trinity Lutheran Safe Place Homework Help: Offers after-school tutoring to meet the needs of youth in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood. Tubman: Tubman: domestic and family abuse by offering shelter and counseling services for families in need. Twin Cities RISE!: Anti-poverty organization that offers a comprehensive work-skills training program for low-income adults. University District Alliance: Works to make the area surrounding the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis one that capitalizes on its resources; is vibrant, safe, healthy, and sustainable; and is a preferred place for people to live, work, learn, do business, and visit. University of Minnesota Medical Center Fairview: Provides health care across the continuum. Comprehensive services range from primary and emergency care to the delivery of thousands of babies each year. University of Minnesota ReUse Program: Collects surplus office furniture, supplies, equipment and parts from throughout the Twin Cities Campus and makes them available to University departments or individuals for purchase. Upstream Arts: Integrates individuals with cognitive, developmental, emotional, behavioral, and physical disabilities into arts programming designed to develop social and communication skills vital to success. Upward Bound: Works with low-income and educationally disadvantaged high school students on a long-term and intensive basis to help them generate the skills needed to succeed in post-secondary education. Urban 4-H: Partners with other youth-serving organizations to build sustainable programs that meet the unique needs of urban youth. Urban Arts Academy: Offers arts education programs to children and families in South Minneapolis through preschool, after-school, and summer arts programs. Urban Homeworks: Transforms and stabilizes neighborhoods by redeveloping properties, mobilizing volunteers, providing construction training for community members, and developing a group of engaged neighbors Urban Strategies: Helps residents and community stakeholders design and implement transformative projects in distressed communities that support strong, self-sustaining people, families and neighborhoods. Urban Ventures: Works with children, youth and adults in south Minneapolis to break the cycle of generational poverty through education, parenting, mentoring, and job readiness programs. Volunteers of America-Minnesota: Offers a wide variety of health and human services for children, adolescents, families, older adults, persons with disabilities, and ex-offenders. Programs include senior support, housing, mental health services, and education. Waite House: Provides human services and community building activities to the Phillips Neighborhood. Facilities available include a kitchen, gymnasium, classrooms and meeting space, and a food shelf. Walk-In Counseling Center: Provides a variety of services which address unmet mental health needs without the barriers of price, paperwork, process or appointment. WATCH: Works to make the criminal justice system more effective and responsive. Improves the way the courts handle cases of violence against women and children by training volunteer court monitors to observe hearings. We Win Institute: Instills pride, confidence, academic, and social skills in children by giving them knowledge and experiences through mentoring and activities which honor and celebrate their cultural roots. Wellstone International High School: Provides accelerated English language development and an accredited high school curriculum for students ages 14 to 21. West Suburban Teen Clinic: Provides basic medical care, reproductive health care and education, and mental health counseling in an environment that is comfortable and welcoming to teens and young adults. Wildlife Rehabilitation Center: Provides quality medical care and rehabilitation for all injured, sick and orphaned wildlife, and shares its knowledge with the people who care about them. WISE Charter School: Educates K-8 students while emphasizing academic achievement, cultural awareness and responsible citizenship. Women Against Military Madness (WAMM): Creates a system of social equality, self-determination, and justice through education and the empowerment of women to dismantle systems of militarism and global oppression. Women of Nations: Provides domestic abuse shelter services, crisis intervention, and advocacy for Native American and all families in Minnesota. Educates the public on domestic abuse issues. Women's Advocates: Provides shelter, advocacy, personalized support, education, and resources in a safe place where battered women and their children can escape domestic violence. Women's Initiative for Self Empowerment (WISE): Provides opportunities for women and girls from immigrant communities to achieve their full potential and to increase their skills towards economic success. Women's Prison Book Project: Provides women and transgender–identified persons in prison with free reading materials covering a wide range of topics from law and education to fiction, politics, history, and women's health. WomenVenture: Assists women in securing their own economic success and prosperity by providing micro-loans, working capital, education and on-going consultation. Yinghua Academy: Serves students in grades K-8 in a bilingual, bi-cultural and bi-literate English (American) and Chinese educational experience. YMCA University Branch: Seeks to develop the ethical leadership capacities of students in a context of social issues by combining cross-cultural and community-based experiences with reflective learning. Youth Farm and Market Project: Nurtures relationships between urban youth and their families, communities, and the earth around them. Engages youth in growing, cooking, eating and selling healthy food, setting them on the road to lifelong health. YouthCARE: Directs educational, employment and leadership programs and services for urban youth from diverse backgrounds who face social and economic barriers. YouthLink: Provides services to meet the multiple needs of homeless and precariously housed youth, guiding, encouraging and advising them toward self-sufficiency, self-empowerment and healthy connectedness. YWCA Saint Paul: Offers programs and service in housing & supportive services; youth development; health & wellness; and skills for life & work that empower people to reach their goals and improve their quality of life.

2013: The University of North Carolina system models its metrics system for community engagement after the University of Minnesota's Public Engagement Metrics Framework. 2012: More than 2,000 U of M Twin Cities students participate in service-learning courses offered across more than 30 departments.