Leadingage Minnesota Foundation

Programs: The foundation continued its work supported by the margaret a. Cargill philanthropies (macp) to advance workforce solutions in aging services. Key initiatives include: 1) development of an affordable, high quality and asynchronous online nursing assistant training program: this program addresses the delays and barriers in accessing cna training, increasees the quality of the curriculum and training provided, and meets all testing requirements. With a 90% pass rate, state exam results are 6% higher than the statewide average. 2) funding of workforce solutions grants: funded member grant projects to increase the quality, quantity and capacity of our caregiving workforce. Grants totaling $1m were awarded in 2017. Among the results reported by grantees are a 45% decrease in open positions, a 33% increase in applications, a 69% decrease in nursing assistant turnover, and a 70% reduction in staff injuries. 3) expansion and evaluation of the health support specialist (hss) apprenticeship program: the foundation manages the statewide hss program which provides nursing assistants access to an online curriculum of nine college credits delivered by three minnesota state colleges and a 2,500 hour registrered apprenticeship program recognized by the minnesota department of labor. In 2008 the foundation began developing curriculum and on-the-job processes. Today services include implementation coaching and student support. In 2017, the program grew to 27 organizations serving over 130 apprentices.

scholarships:leadership development is one of the signature priorities of the foundation. To support this work, the foundation provides scholarships to the leadership academy so that financial limitations are not a barrier for leaders within our membership to access the benefits of this leadership development program. The foundation provided $6,000 for leadership academy scholarships in 2017. The foundation offers scholarships to help caregivers from our member organizations advance their professional development. Recipients are selected through a review process and approved by the board of directors. In 2017, 20 scholarships totaling $28,600 were awarded.

silos to circles:silos to circles is working to catalyze more integration, connection and effectiveness across the health services continuum through rural integration and coordination. To pilot this effort, silos to circles partnered with four rural communities to facilitate a process that identified community assets that enable people to thrive in their rural communities as they age. A 30-month grant will fund the implementation of community plans and the documentation of strategies for replication and scaling.