Impact and Programs
Accomplishments
East Side currently operates over 20 programs, so it is difficult to summarize impact in this space. These include the Northeast Child Development Center, which provides day care and early childhood education; Youth Out-of-School Time Programs at five school-based and two community-based locations; a Youth Employment and Career Development Program; Menlo Park Academy, a Minneapolis Public Schools alternative high school; Camp Bovey, a residential youth camp in Wisconsin; Adult Employment and Training; our Family Violence Prevention Program; Senior Programs, including Transportation Services, Friendship Center Adult Day Program, our Senior Community Service Employment Program; and our Food Support programs, which include two site-based food shelf programs and a mobile food shelf serving 39 sites Metro-wide. Demographic data for the agency as a whole has yet to be compiled for 2017, but we anticipate the population served will be comparable to 2016, when we served 8842 unduplicated individuals through our core programs. Of these, at least 47% of our clients were people of color or Hispanic/Latino and 26% were white. (For 27% of clients, no data on race or ethnicity was available.) At least 79% were low income, including 36% below 100% of poverty and 45% between 100 and 200% of poverty. Clients over 200% of poverty represent 4% of those served. (For 15% of clients, no data on income was available.) Additional demographics including age and gender are provided in our Annual Report, which includes representative service statistics, strengths and accomplishments for all core programs in the previous year.
Current Goals
East Side’s mission and goals are consistent from year to year. Our mission is to foster the healthy development and well-being of individuals and families while strengthening our diverse community. Our programmatic goals are to
• Help young children (0-6) become school ready;
• Support the ability of youth (6-19) to succeed in school and in life;
• Assist adults (especially seniors) to meet basic needs, in particular food security, while obtaining optimal levels of self-sufficiency; and
• Develop employment and life skills that support income and family stability, healthy relationships, and increased civic engagement.
Since 2015, a number of initiatives began or were expanded to address these goals over the new few years. These include:
• A partnership that will enable Northeast Child Development Center to administer the drop-in child care center at the Hennepin County Central-Northeast Regional Service Center
• Our Youth Out-of-School Time programs received funding to intensify use of creative arts therapy and trauma informed practice to change knowledge and behavior that will allow youth greater success in school and in life.
• Future Connect, a youth employment and career pathways program; and Climb On!, a fast track employment training program for low income Minnesotans;
• Project EVA, or Empowering Vital Aging, which will connect seniors to enriching opportunities, services and supports which allow for improved health outcomes and vital aging.
Our High Rise Mobile Food Shelf program continues to expand services to new sites and expects to increase services at sites with room to grow.
Community or Constituency Served
Low income and marginalized individuals and families in need, of all ages.
Geographic Area Served
We serve 18 Minneapolis neighborhoods, primarily on the East Side. In the last decade we have grown significantly. Many of our programs now serve clients throughout Hennepin County. Others draw participants from the seven county urban ring of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Statistical Area.
