The Minneapolis Community And Technical College Foundation Inc

I have been a Minneapolis College Foundation volunteer and donor for nearly two decades. I am proud to support the work of the Foundation and College. I observe caring support for Minneapolis College's students through its carefully constructed programs that offer encouragement and stimulation. Student need is the topmost consideration in developing services, programs and an environment to empower our students to succeed.

Important programs such as Power of You have encouraged well more than 2,000 students to attend Minneapolis College over the past decade. Many of our students struggle to pay for their basic needs. Inability to pay for food, rent, childcare or transportation can force students to quit school. Sometimes, students can’t afford the books they need for their classes. Whatever their struggles, Minneapolis College Foundation scholarships and emergency grants enable students to stay in school.

I am impressed by the network of community partners the Foundation and College has formed over the years. These relationships offer students opportunities to interact with professional individuals and organizations, preparing students for their own careers.

The work of the Minneapolis College Foundation makes a difference in the lives of people who are working hard to create better lives for themselves and their families. At the same time, they are building a stronger community for all of us. Again, I am proud to be associated with and support the Minneapolis College Foundation!

As a long time member of the Minneapolis College community, it is a privilege to contribute to Faculty and Staff Giving. I also contribute via the AmazonSmile program.

My work in the college's student enrollment one stop allows me to serve students facing financial barriers to education. I communicate directly with the students who benefit from the scholarships offered by the Minneapolis Community and Technical College Foundation.

I am particularly proud of the STAR Scholarship program. This scholarship helps eligible undocumented students pay tuition and fees not covered by state grants. I have seen first hand how this scholarship transforms individual lives. It is heart warming to see STAR Scholars develop agency as they achieve the academic rigor of this program. STAR scholars also build social capital and civic engagement through community service. They are a source of pride and valuable members of the Minneapolis College community.

The Minneapolis Community and Technical College Foundation is mission-driven and directly connected to students. An excellent way to support the goals of higher education.

We believe strongly in the role educational opportunity can play in helping broad groups in our community to succeed in rewarding careers and achieve economic security. Minneapolis College serves an unusually broad and diverse part of our community, particularly including the economically disadvantaged and immigtrant community. The importance of this service to our society and the need to support this mission seems clear!

As a former Minneapolis College student, a recent employee and a Foundation donor, I am immensely proud of the Minneapolis College Foundation's work to concretely help specific students advance in life through needed resources including dozens of amazing scholarship opportunities. The Foundation has an amazing Director, staff members and Board who live out the Foundation's mission every day. The students selected for scholarships are shining stars that need a few extra resources to accomplish their goals. The Foundation contributes to the stability and vibrancy of the Minneapolis's only public community college and to the economic and social flourishing of the city.

The Srok Memorial ESL Scholarship, in honor of my Croatian immigrant grandfather was created 20 years ago, and has been investing in the futures of students each year. Their dreams to become artists, engineers, teachers, nurses, accountants, and more materialize into journeys that are awe inspiring! With just a little support to get there, all of our futures look brighter with these young people prepared to make a difference in the world.

I have had the pleasure to experience the life changing work of the Minneapolis College Foundation as both a recently retired faculty member and a newly appointed program coordinator. In my classrooms, I encountered students who benefited from the support of the Foundation. Whether Power of YOU or Star Scholars, first generation international students studying nursing or African-American males from MPS who are supporting a family full-time, the Minneapolis College Foundation helps to alleviate burdens of circumstance and undue financial strain in order to materialize dreams for brighter futures and better tomorrows. As the new AME coordinator, I have witnessed first-hand the Foundation's responsiveness to articulations of need: two new scholarships (an unsung hero award and AME service award) were funded from the Foundation's vault of donor generosity and civic responsibility. If Minneapolis College is here to get you there, then the Minneapolis College Foundation builds the scaffolding, infrastructure, and highways of opportunity necessary for successful travels. The work of the Foundation benefits us all. --Charles Watson, Ph.D.

I am proud to be a donor to the Minneapolis College Foundation. The foundation helped me develop the guidelines for a scholarship given to someone that has lost a parent. The recipient(s) of the education provided through this scholarship continue to demonstrate the power of funding an education to students that deserve the opportunity. The foundation communicates with me and the recipient to make me feel a significant part of the wider College Community.

Through foundation events, I've had the privilege of hearing scholarship recipients speak, including our scholarship recipient. The students' powerful presentations make it clear both that: the students lives are being positively affected by the scholarship and the education; AND that our donations are bettering the students, the college, and the broader Minneapolis community.

Throughout the process the foundation has communicated with me and made me feel a significant part of the process of improving the lives of the scholarship recipients and the community at large. I am proud to donate to the students of Minneapolis College and the College Foundation

The Foundation is taking on a vital project: Children’s Book Express.

Since 2000, when CBE started, it has given away over 30,000 children’s books. Faculty, staff, and students at Minneapolis Community and Technical College donate the books, and students take them home to their children and young friends. In recent years, we have grown the project to include three elementary schools and one high school.

With the Foundation’s new work beginning in 2019, we plan to see the project grow into many more schools throughout Minnesota and even across the nation.

Phil Martin
Children’s Book Express
Retired MCTC English Faculty

The Minneapolis College Foundation has improved so many lives. The Foundation through their continued efforts has greatly increased the amount of scholarships available to our campus community. As an employee of Minneapolis College for the past 18 years our Foundation has never been stronger. I am proud of the excellent work they do and because of the Foundation's excellence I have doubled the amount I contribute to our wonderful students.