More than one in six southwest Minnesota kids lives in poverty.

Not all of these kids—no matter how hard they try—will be able to reach their full potential.

Kids from low-income families have less access to everything from quality early childhood education to Advanced Placement courses in high school to sport and enrichment activities that provide mentoring, teambuilding and other life-long skills they need to be good citizens and good employees.

These kids are our future employees, entrepreneurs, community leaders, volunteers, homeowners and taxpayers. We believe that our region’s economy depends on their success. We need to break the cycle of poverty to help all our kids have the chance to succeed.

This work is economic development.

Our regional employers are facing an incredible workforce shortage. We need more southwest Minnesotans to get into the workforce and successfully stay there. Training workers starts long before walking through their company’s door. Employers need a workforce who shows up on time, knows how to do their job and produces quality results. Not all of our young people are equipped to do this, and it starts at birth.

This work is the right thing to do.

Despite challenges, research shows that our region is in a relative position of strength. Kids do better because of the resources we have here in southwest Minnesota, like:

• Quality education
• Safe neighborhoods
• Many two-parent households
• Strong support systems
• Access to enrichment activities
• Job opportunities
• And more!

Action now will preserve this advantage. We are taking a holistic approach to this work—from cradle to career—to help all our kids get the best start to life.