An Open Letter to the Community As we begin a new year, we are delighted to share with you the McKnight Foundation’s new Strategic Framework 2019-2021. Our board of directors unanimously approved the document last November. It reflects our shared sense of urgency given the societal and planetary challenges of our day. It also reflects …
How do families define family engagement in education? As embracing “the power of people to change systems, not the other way around.” Or in other words, shifting decisionmaking power toward families and communities. That’s a theme we heard from the nearly 30 community partners we gathered last November to explore the topic of family engagement, …
Huda Zoghbi was on her way to becoming a cardiologist when her encounters with children suffering from a rare brain disorder changed the course of her career — and deepened our understanding of how the human brain works. “People become scientists for all sorts of reasons,” says Dr. Zoghbi, a winner of the prestigious Breakthrough …
Just out of high school, Jay Petre got a job ripping down an old railroad depot near his home in rural West Virginia. “We were stacking up all this wood,” Petre recalls. “And this guy came by and said, ‘Can I buy it?’ I ended up getting an extra $10,000, and I knew I was …
Rural Communities Light The Way When Jim and LeeAnn VanDerPol and their son Josh started construction last summer on a new upgrade to their farm, their neighbors took notice. The VanDerPols, a three-generation family of organic cattle and pig farmers in Kerkhoven, Minnesota, are used to testing out new ideas and raising eyebrows in the …
Reflecting on My First Year at the Foundation This March, I marked a year of service at the McKnight Foundation. I came to the Foundation at a specific moment in time—an urgent moment. It was the middle of a pandemic, on the cusp of the George Floyd murder trial, six weeks before the senseless murder …
The McKnight Foundation is pleased to announce that Beyene Gessesse will join the International team as its program officer. Gessesse has extensive experience in rural development and food security initiatives, working with farmers, researchers, development practitioners, and funders. He will start his new role on November 29. “We are thrilled to welcome Beyene to our …
With our hearts full of gratitude for her service, we share the news that Kate Wolford, president of the McKnight Foundation, stepped down from McKnight in November. “We are incredibly grateful to Kate for her service to the McKnight Foundation,” said Debby Landesman, McKnight’s board chair. “We celebrate her many accomplishments and graceful leadership, and …
In Conversation with Therese Casey, Controller Our colleague Therese Casey recently celebrated her 30-year anniversary with the McKnight Foundation. To recognize this milestone, we sat down with Therese to ask a few questions about her time with McKnight. Therese is the longest-serving employee at McKnight! She joined the foundation in 1988 as an administrative assistant and …
It started in a small church in the Lyndale neighborhood of Minneapolis about three years ago. A group of 20 or so renters met to talk about their struggles navigating the housing system in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area. For Esperanza, a mother of three whom we agreed to identify by first name only, that …