GHR is part of the the GroundBreak Coalition, a group of over 40 corporate, civic, and philanthropic leaders committed to an equitable and carbon-neutral future for all, as part of our Access and Opportunity program.

GroundBreak announced its first inaugural Executive Council and an enhanced project team that will support GroundBreak’s ambitious goals and increase opportunities for shared leadership during the remainder of the coalition’s design and development phase. The Council includes current GHR Board of Directors members Tonya Allen and Tim Welsh, and former member Jen Ford Reedy. 

Read more. 

From The Star Tribune:

"For more than a year, the Twin Cities nonprofit community, elected leaders and bankers have been working on a development initiative that may ultimately be valued around $5 billion, the largest in absolute dollars that the region has ever seen.

Called the GroundBreak Coalition and coordinated by the Minneapolis-based McKnight Foundation, approximately 40 banks, nonprofits and economic development agencies are tackling wealth and opportunity differences by race, something they've all tried before with varied success.
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The group last fall celebrated its first funding milestone. And 2024 is the "stand up year" when the hard process work is being done ahead of rolling out specific programs in 2025."

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​"Unlike a traditional joint fund, #GroundBreakMSP seeks to dramatically change how capital flows in the region, and who it flows to by creating a new financial system informed by community members to address historic wealth disparities that, for too long, have been researched and discussed, but not acted on in a systemic and transformational way. Over the next 10 years, GroundBreak intends to unlock $5.3 billion in capital to build Black wealth and close racial wealth gaps for good."

Senior Program Officer Kevin Bennett writes for MinnPost Opinion.

​"GroundBreak is about collective will and intentional action—building solidarity to address racial wealth and opportunity gaps." Senior Program Officer Kevin Bennett joined Almanac to discuss the GroundBreak Coalition and its ambitious 10-year vision to create a more equitable MSP region, following the announcement of nearly $1 billion in capital to expand wealth-building opportunities in MSP.

​Learn more about GroundBreak here. 

A few members of GHR’s team joined FADICA, a Catholic philanthropic network of foundations and donors supporting Catholic activities and initiatives, for a pilgrimage to Montgomery and Selma, Alabama. Part of FADICA’s 2023 Symposium, the trip focused on how Catholic philanthropy could be informed, transformed, and activated to address racism.
 
The trip included visits to The Legacy Museum and The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, sites “situated on lands occupied by Indigenous people for centuries, in a region that once held the largest population of enslaved Black people and would later become the heart of the Civil Rights movement.” The Legacy Sites offer visitors “a powerful opportunity to engage with history and begin an era of truth telling.”
 
The team’s journey proved transformational, with opportunities to engage with and reflect on the realities of racial injustice, violence and discrimination that have characterized U.S history. Team members left Alabama and its makers of civil rights with a deep understanding of why racial justice and equity cannot wait for another generation to manifest.

From MPR News:

"A coalition of more than 40 corporate, civic and philanthropic organizations in Minnesota announced Tuesday that it’s received pledges of nearly $1 billion to help build wealth in Black communities.

The GroundBreak Coalition was formed after the murder of George Floyd to help close racial wealth gaps in Minnesota, by expanding opportunities for homeownership, entrepreneurship and commercial development.
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​Kevin Bennett is senior program officer for the Minneapolis-based GHR Foundation. He said Tuesday the pledges of more than $1 billion mean “that these resources will start flowing abundantly, reliably — and most importantly, permanently. So that aspiring homeowners, small business owners, developers can pursue the type of transformation that we want in our community.”

Gov. Tim Walz called the effort “transformational.”

“It’s essential to our survival as a state, both morally and economically, that you’re successful,” he told the crowd Tuesday.​"

​Read more. 

GHR joins a coalition of over 40 philanthropic, private, and public institutions in support of GroundBreak, an ambitious 10-year vision to create a more equitable MSP region. Learn more in the press release:

"MINNEAPOLIS, MN – GroundBreak, a coalition of over 40 philanthropic, private, and public institutions working to create a more equitable Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) region, announced investments of nearly $1 billion ($926.75 million) to expand wealth building opportunities with a current focus on aspiring Black homebuyers, entrepreneurs, and commercial developers. This is a significant step toward the coalition’s goal of mobilizing $5.3 billion over the decade to expand equitable wealth-building through an innovative approach shaped by community members.

GroundBreak, launched in May 2022, aims to transform financial systems through a nation-leading effort to expand opportunity and shared prosperity. Unlike a traditional joint fund, GroundBreak is working to fundamentally change how capital flows within a region, building on proven financial tools and strategies, deep collaboration across philanthropic, financial, corporate, and public institutions, and collective investments.

Ahead of a Tuesday morning community gathering, the coalition released a report outlining its progress and detailing its early commitment of $926.75 million for financial tools and products that are expected to be available in the region by the end of 2024."

​Read more. 

GHR awarded Minnesota news nonprofit Sahan Journal $1.5 million over three years, to support their mission of advancing equity as an entrepreneurial publication covering communities of color. Our community has benefited greatly from Mukhtar's leadership and the ongoing dedication of the Sahan team. We’re grateful to be part of the organization’s journey and are excited for its next stage.

From Sahan Journal: 

"Mukhtar M. Ibrahim spent almost a decade reporting for legacy newsrooms before he made a leap to try something different. Mainstream journalism, he’d found, failed to cover immigrant communities like his own; when other news sites did publish stories about people of color, they often did more harm than good. 

Though Mukhtar had never worked as an editor or publisher, that realization inspired him to quit his job in 2019 and found his own digital news startup. He called it Sahan Journal, taking the name from the Somali word for “pioneer.”

After building the nonprofit newsroom from a solo endeavor into a 20-person operation with a $2.5 million annual budget, Mukhtar is stepping down as publisher and CEO. Mukhtar, 35, announced the leadership transition Monday, vowing to help start the search for a successor and to offer his full help and assistance to the new executive.

“I’m stepping down now because I believe Sahan Journal is in a very strong position in terms of staff, organization, and funding,” Mukhtar said. “This is the best time for the organization, and I want to give someone else the opportunity to lead one of the country’s most innovative nonprofit newsrooms.”"

Read more. 

About the Author: Kevin Bennett is a senior program officer and racial equity lead at GHR Foundation and serves with CEO Amy Goldman on the GroundBreak Steering Committee.

"GHR is committed to advancing racial equity in the Twin Cities and we have been intentional in making deeper investments locally. This has meant centering the Black community and communities who continue to experience systemic disparities as we look to create pathways to access and opportunity. Recent investments have supported local organizations creating a more inclusive and equitable region and economy, as well as community entrepreneurship with the University of St. Thomas. We’re now looking at focusing resources at the intersection of equity and Catholic Schools in the Twin Cities by cultivating models of excellence for under-estimated scholars, such as innovations underway at the Catholic Academy housed at Ascension School in North Minneapolis.

​We invite you to stand firm and determined with us at this historic time for action.  No organization can advance equity alone and GroundBreak Coalition offers a way to work together on bold solutions previously untried in our community.  With our commitment to GroundBreak over the next three years, GHR is continuing to expand on more than $15 million in investments made in the Twin Cities since 2020. This support mirrors how our foundation works with partners across our local, global, and biomedical domains—often providing early, flexible, multi-year funding that unleashes the limitless potential for good within partners and communities."

Read the full op-ed here. 

GHR is thrilled to welcome Tenzin Tseten as program associate for the Local domain at GHR. Tenzin’s unique gifts, skills and experience promise to sustain our ongoing commitment to supporting the essential work of our Local partners. As a program associate, Tenzin is responsible for supporting administrative coordination as well as quality grantmaking, documentation, and partnerships for the Local team.

Tenzin previously worked in various capacities at the State of Wisconsin. Most recently, she was a grant manager for the Wisconsin Fast Forward program, managing workforce development grants through their full grant life cycle. Tenzin has a background in grant and contract management, program evaluation and public administration, and has a passion for economic and community development.
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Tenzin has a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin and a master's from Central European University.