GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn — The TEGNA Foundation, the charitable foundation sponsored by TEGNA Inc. (NYSE: TGNA), and KARE 11, TEGNA’s NBC affiliate in the Twin Cities, awarded 12 area nonprofit organizations community grants totaling $70,000.
KARE 11 and the TEGNA Foundation have given over $473,000 in local grants since 2015.
KARE 11 is working to effect positive change in our community, including through charitable contributions, reporting and raising awareness of urgent issues, and employee volunteerism.
The grant recipients and programs funded include the following:
Quality Education
- Lucy Craft Laney School: Supports student education in the north Minneapolis community. KARE 11 also released the film “Love Them First” about the challenges this school faces, which is available to stream now on YouTube or Amazon Prime.
- Hands on Twin Cities: Promotes and facilitates volunteerism while improving the community’s ability to create a greater impact with volunteer time. KARE 11 also highlighted a different organization each month in celebration of Hands On Twin Cities 100th anniversary.
- Federated Foundation: Provides youth mentoring so young people at risk can have a significantly greater chance of one day becoming productive members of society.
- Youth Cultural Appreciation and Racial Equity (YouthCARE): Offers job readiness, leadership training, and a year of part-time employment through the Young Women’s Mentoring program.
- TreeHouse: Provides youth programming, including one-to-one mentoring and peer support groups, for at-risk teens in a safe and supporting environment to overcome these challenges and chart a pathway to a promising future and healthy adulthood.
- The Link: Supports middle and high schoolers who are truant from school and at the greatest risk of dropping out by providing one-on-one case management through the School Matters Program.
Hunger Relief
- Second Harvest Heartland: Provides hunger relief to the one in 11 people and one in eight MN kids in our region who are at risk of being hungry. In 2019, KARE 11 organized a friendly competition with the morning and 10 p.m. anchors to raise the largest amount of food in a single day during the KARE 11 Food Fight. In total, that drive raised over 1.4 million pounds of food.
- Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery: Offers a residential shelter open 24 hours/365 days per year for at-risk children whose parents are in crisis through the Children’s Services program.
Health and Well Being
- Health Fair 11: Improves community health and stability by connecting with people who lack access to basic health information, providing health checks, and working with them to re-engage with their health care journey.
- Pinky Swear Foundation: Provides financial assistance to families facing a childhood cancer diagnosis and treatment through the Orange Envelope Program. KARE 11 also supports Perk’s Mess Fest every year, which raised $39,000 for the Pinky Swear Foundation in 2019
- Angel Foundation: Offers support to adult cancer patients needing greater access to health care through the Emergency Financial Assistance program.
- Great River Greening: Restores urban parks, wildlife habitats, shorelines, and prairies to protect Minnesota’s natural legacy for generations to come. KARE 11 meteorologist Laura Betker and Grow with KARE host Bobby Jensen are passionate about this organization and both serve on their board.
- Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery: Cares for children who are at risk of abuse or neglect through the Children’s Services program, a residential shelter open 24 hours/365 days per year for at-risk children whose parents are in crisis.
“KARE 11 is proud to partner and support some outstanding nonprofit partners who are doing good in our community,” said KARE 11 President and General Manager John Remes.
TEGNA Foundation Community Grants are distributed within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal framework, with the majority of grants supporting four categories: Good Health and Well Being, Quality Education, Zero Hunger, and No Poverty.
Since 2015, TEGNA Foundation and stations have distributed more than $7.5 million in community grants. A summary of the TEGNA Foundation’s 2019 grant awards can be found here.
