talent dividend : Featured Stories

The achievement gap between white and black students in Minnesota is real, and a cause for concern. But a Minneapolis schoolteacher adds nuance to the debate by pointing out that black students in Minnesota public schools  are doing better than black students nationally.

A proud "geek girl" from childhood, this globe-trotting scientist-businesswoman founded a local STEM-education program for elementary-school kids, moved away, then returned to find it still going strong. Now she's more committed than ever to strengthening science-and-technology training in our towns.

Art lives in the Twin Cities--and not just in the tonier parts of town. Thanks to initiatives like Twin Cities LISC's Building Sustainable Communities program, art and artists are taking major roles in helping some of our most challenged inner-city communities thrive.

Once the exclusive province of privileged young white men heading for law degrees, debate is flourishing in inner-city schools here, thanks to the Minnesota Urban Debate League. The disciplined, demanding, and fun "mind sport" is helping kids of color and of lower income develop study and thinking skills--and get into college.

About a third of college students today, writes John Van Hecke, are 25 or older, and they have very different issues from 18-to-22-year old "standard" college kids, including family responsibilities, time constraints, and special financial needs. Dealing with these concerns, he argues, is crucial for developing Minnesota's 21st-century workforce.

This serious-minded but light-hearted nonprofit tutors at-risk kids in the coolest possible way--by matching them up with adults in creative industries. The result: deep connections, academic achievement, and fun for everybody.

The education innovators behind this charter school are hoping to create a 21st-century fusion of classroom and digital space, where kids' fascination with technology helps them learn--at their own pace.

In the push for STEM-oriented education, are we underplaying the creative and communicative skills that 21st-century business needs just as badly as it needs math and science competence? Minnesota 20/20 communications director Joe Sheeran asks the question in a recent blog post.

The Dakota War of 1862, the survival of Native languages, Minneapolis' urban Indian heartland--these were the challenging themes that a group of young Native filmmakers took up this summer at an innovative media institute dedicated to reconnecting them with their roots.

The Talent Dividend Prize is a $1 million award being offered by the Kresge Foundation, CEOs for Cities, and the Lumina Foundation for Education--to be awarded to the city that shows the greatest number of post-secondary degrees awarded per one thousand residents over a four-year period. The Twin Cities (plus Bloomington) are in the running, along with 56 other cities. What's the prize all about, and why now? Read on.

The president and the research/policy director of the local think tank Growth and Justice are "business-oriented progressives." In the face of dogma to the contrary, they dare to assert that there's an unbreakable link between economic fairness and economic growth. And they're bringing that spirit to the most compelling economic issue of all: jobs.

With a new school year approaching, we take a look at three unique programs that show how Minnesota has become a "thought leader" in developing--and funding--positive alternatives for youth.

From books to documentaries to television appearances, Geoffrey Canada has earned accolades as an education reform leader and the head of Harlem Children’s Zone. Last week he was in Minneapolis to speak to a convention of youth and educators involved in the service-learning movement, where he told them "you never know when you'll be needed."

When the economic downturn derailed plans for a U of M North Minneapolis campus, university and civic visionaries created a unique alternative: a Northside research and outreach center that's the hub for a whole galaxy of town-gown partnerships in economic development and social betterment.

Often, says Concordia University economist and biz-school dean Bruce Corrie, our minority and immigrant communities are seen solely through the "problem" lens. Their struggles are real, but their contributions to our prosperity and potential for growth are greater than most majority Minnesotans realize. And Corrie's got the figures to prove it.