Healthy Community Initiative

By Mariana Cruz, Néepa Hyde, and Byrd Lenzen as Guest Columnists for the Northfield News Over the course of 10 years, Northfield YouthBank has granted $200,000 to nearly 80 youth-led projects. Continuing the program’s dedication to uplifting the voices and ideas of young people in Northfield, the local YouthBank chapter launched a grant round in […]

In fall 2025, the Healthy Community Initiative (HCI) worked with Rice County Public Health’s SHIP program to install a lactation pod at the Northfield Community College Collaborative (NCCC). This new space gives student parents, staff and visitors a private and comfortable place to nurse or pump breast milk. NCCC offers many services like academic advising, […]

PRESS RELEASEFor Immediate Release December 15, 2025 Rice County Family Services Collaborative Accepting Grant Applications [Rice County, MN] – The Governing Board of the Rice County Family Services Collaborative is accepting grant applications for its upcoming two-year grant cycle (July 1, 2026-June 30, 2028). The mission of the Rice County Family Services Collaborative is to […]

YouthBank is an innovative philanthropy program in which a team of trained youth grant-makers awards funds to youth-led projects that will improve the quality of life in Northfield. The 2025-2026 grant round is centered on adding youth-centered third spaces to Northfield. “Third spaces” are places outside of home, school, or work where people can gather, feel welcome, […]

Healthy Community Initiative (HCI) recently received a $72,980 grant from the Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC) to fund Sound and Sight Explorers, a new project to support 1,000+ youth in Rice County with no-cost art and music exploration experiences. Youth involved in PRIMEtime programming, HCI’s out of school time network initiative, are expected to benefit from […]

By Chloe Kucera for the Faribault Daily News There’s no better way to get acquainted with a community than to take a tour of some of its unique businesses and organizations. The new President and CEO of the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, Benya Kraus, has been getting to know the communities she will be serving. […]

HCI staff from a variety of programs and systems change initiatives attended the WINGS 2025 grant celebration on June 16 at the Northfield Community Resource Center. Representatives from TORCH, Growing Up Healthy, Northfield Community College Collaborative, and Youth Engagement provided information on the important services being supported in part by WINGS. Jen Barrientos, manager of […]