A couple of years ago we went through a rebranding exercise at Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF) and settled on the tagline, “collaborating for regional vitality,” as a simple way to represent our work. This phrase gets to the heart of everything that we do, whether in early childhood, economic development or community vitality, and it really comes alive for me … [Read more...]

Several months ago, I was pleased to see my hometown of Kiester join forces with five nearby towns to create a new community foundation called Our Town USA. At Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF), we support communities in capturing and retaining philanthropic wealth through community foundations like this. This has become increasingly important as $7 billion is … [Read more...]

An event I look forward to each year is Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation’s (SMIF) Annual Bus Tour. SMIF staff, board and colleagues spent the day visiting partners who are making a difference in their community. We use this time to hear from stakeholders and listen to community leaders. This is the fourth year of our bus tour and we traveled to the center of our … [Read more...]

Summer is here which means families are finally able to enjoy the outdoors after a long winter. As campfires burn out and kids get ready for bed, many parents will pull out a book and read a bedtime story. This is important because studies consistently show that reading at a young age drastically improves a child’s educational trajectory. According to Minnesota Compass, the … [Read more...]

In 2016 Minnesotans were alerted to the fact that there is a serious lack of child care slots in our state leading to a “quiet crisis,” according to a report that year from the Center for Rural Policy and Development. It is clear two years later this crisis is no longer so quiet. A recent article from Minnesota Public Radio highlighted real stories from providers who are … [Read more...]