The Bridge to Prosperity.
Established in 2017, Mind the G.A.P.P. (MTG) is a multi-faceted workforce development initiative that was created to improve the quality of life of unemployed and under-employed African Americans by improving their employment outcome and developing individual earnings potential. Built on the premise that work transforms lives, MTG's programs not only help individuals generate incomes sufficient to support their families but also aggressively promote long-term change via career advancement support, financial stabilization services, and solid community connections.
Simply put, our mission is focused on creating pathways for individuals to close the gap to prosperity.
MTG serves, equips, and empowers unemployed and under-employed African American Minnesotans to take their place in the workforce and build strong futures as engaged, productive, and contributing community members. Our current focus is addressing the racial and economic inequalities in Minneapolis, Minnetonka, Hopkins, St. Louis Park, Plymouth, and Golden Valley, but we work to address the overall inequities persistent in Minnesota and even the country.
We have program participants from Minneapolis, urban Minnesota, and surrounding states such as Wisconsin. We primarily utilize social media and our partnerships to locate and engage possible program participants. Now that we are in the recovery portion of the pandemic, we are also working on two pop-up opportunities in Minnetonka for walk-ups to discuss MTG. Additionally, MTG will be adding previous MTG program graduates to our board of directors and will invite previous program participants, our partners, and community members to develop an advisory committee to ensure we are providing the services and support our clients need. Finally, MTG will be partnering with Mayor Brad Wiersum and Chief of Police Scott Boerboom to address the disparity issues that exist in Minnetonka. According to DataUSA, there are approximately 450 Black residents living in poverty in Minnetonka, which equates to 16% of the total poverty population of Minnetonka. However, Black people only make up 5% of Minnetonka’s total population, meaning 17% of Black people in Minnetonka live in poverty. We will be engaging our clients, stakeholders, and community as we discuss solutions to this glaring disparity.
Join Our Mission Today.
Bridging the gap to prosperity through educating, equipping, and empowering individuals. Creating a world where everyone thrives.
An equitable Minnesota for all people to thrive.
Mind the G.A.P.P. and our Driving Beyond Barriers program partners with the community by working hand-in-hand with other African American serving and leading organizations and groups. We collaborate to heighten public awareness of the needs of the African American community in employment, education, housing, and reentry to build and support cohesion around needs. Our work with our partners and funders strengthens the services that will improve the quality of life in the African American community and ensure that our services reflect the community we serve.
Our partners include Interstate Truck Driving School, Masjid An-Nur, North @ Work, and the Center for Economic Inclusion. We collaborate weekly to provide information sessions on opportunities for the community, resources, and referral sharing. Together we work in partnership to connect African American men and women to sustainable, meaningful living-wage jobs. Our partnerships reduce systemic barriers to employment and economic opportunity by offering unique interventions and a collaborative approach that aims to employ African American men and women in North Minneapolis and Minnetonka.
Additionally, we partner together to improve economic conditions in North Minneapolis and Minnetonka for marginalized populations. In addition to training and providing career support services, we engage employers to eliminate workplace bias, expand access to credentialed training that is tailored to work opportunities, and engage trusted community-based partners to provide outreach, assessment, training, placement, and coaching support.
327
Participants Served
$0
Cost For Qualified Participants
87%
Success Rate
Life-changing Initiatives.
Goal 1
Provide more online support with our Financial Literacy and Capability Program. We hope to obtain through direct funding sources, support dollars to build out our Program virtually as well as in person. We’ve been able to have viewers on our YouTube “Money Management Mondays” videos during the pandemic and launched the Financial Literacy and Capability Program in 2021 and have had successes in as little as over 50 participants completing the in-person program or Budget training and implementation to 4 participants becoming homeowners in the past 2 years.
Goal 2
Enroll and serve more women including women of color in all of our different tracks, especially our Driving Beyond Barriers Program. We plan on using funds to support the women based on the target population of the funding sources. Earlier on our funding streams target populations only focused on African American males who live in the North Minneapolis area.
Goal 3
Fundraising is one of the organization's top priorities, next to providing excellent quality training services. We purposely plan to continue to serve the 4 neighboring cities of Minnetonka which include St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Golden Valley, and Edina with the services we offer through our programs.