The
Center for Early Education and Development is playing a lead
role in the
University Northside Partnership, a community-university
collaborative effort to enhance the social and economic
environment in North Minneapolis.
The
University of Minnesota, and many others, including
NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center, the
City of Minneapolis,
Hennepin County, and Northside community organizations are
working in unison to brighten both the present and future of
North Minneapolis. CEED faculty, staff, and graduate students
have been working in North Minneapolis for some time to build
upon both new and existing relationships between the community
and the University, initially through work on several
federally-funded demonstration projects (including Early
Reading First and
Early Learning Opportunities Act grants) related to early
childhood development, early literacy development, and
children's mental health.
We are specifically interested in
focusing research, training, and outreach on the Northside in
ways that contribute directly to families', professionals',
and agencies' goals of better outcomes for children. As part
of that commitment, CEED is working with
Folwell Center for
Urban Initiatives, the Minneapolis Youth Coordinating
Board, and the Strategic Initiatives and Community Engagement
Department of Hennepin County – as well as other individuals
and agencies interested in services to young children and
their families – to design and initiate “Five Hundred Under
Five.”
Five Hundred Under 5 (FHu5)
is a collaborative, multidimensional effort focused on two
residential areas in North Minneapolis.
