Past Grant Winners - Linden Hills Neighborhood Council

Each year, the Linden Hills Neighborhood Council awards grants to people, projects and programs that make Linden Hills a better place to live and work. Below are the winners from the latest round of grants. For more info on how to apply, visit the Grants page.

Spring 2024

Art Shanty Projects: $500

To support the Art Shanty Projects’ 2025 public programming on frozen Lake Harriet / Bde Umán.

Lake Harriet Lower PTA and My Very Own Bed: $500

For Lake Harriet Community School’s fleece blanket tying events supporting My Very Own Bed organization.

Southwest High School Garden Group: $500

To purchase plants, soil amendments, and mulch for the major improvements to the gardens around Southwest High School.

Minneapolis Community Education’s Festival of Nations: $500

To help fund the Festival of Nations event, which celebrates the rich cultural diversity of Minneapolis.

Linden Hills Chamber Orchestra: $500

To support scholarships for members, purchase music for upcoming concerts, and payment to the LHCO concertmaster.

Southwest High School Laker Locker: $900

To support the Laker Locker program, which is a free student store where students can go to get the necessities they need.

Spring 2023

Minneapolis Pops Orchestra: $1000
To support MPO’s 2023 Summer Concert Season at Lake Harriet Bandshell.

Minneapolis Community Ed: $1000
To support an "Earth and Sky" program, with two events hosted at Lake Harriet Community School + Hall Elementary in Near North, Minneapolis.

Minnesota Streetcar Museum: $500
To support American Sign Language interpreters for two events on the Como-Harriet Streetcar Line in 2023.

Lake Harriet Community School PTA: $500
To support the 3rd grade annual Dulcimer Project, which acts as a capstone project to the school's Science of Sound unit.

Eric Peterson Scholarship Winners
Each Spring, LHiNC also awards $1000 scholarships to two Southwest High School graduates who show dedication to community service. Congratulations to 2023 winners, Jack Bode and Karlie Taney.

Spring 2022

Minneapolis Pops Orchestra: $1000
To support MPO’s 2022 Summer Concert Season at Lake Harriet Bandshell (10 concerts).

Overdressed Duo: $1000
To support Opera Under the Stars, an event at Linden Hills Park to introduce more people to opera in a welcoming and inclusive way.

New Gild Jewelers: $1000
To support 2022 Wine and Stroll, a June 2022 event designed to get people out on foot in the business district in a fun atmosphere.

Alex Ekstrand - chosen for her contribution to supporting diversity and inclusion at Southwest by starting the school’s Neurodiversity Club and volunteering at a local food shelf and thrift store.
Jozie Rutton - chosen for her leadership and dedication to the community of Southwest through her involvement in the student mentoring program, student council and creation of a student-led newsletter.

Fall 2021

Lake Harriet Community Schools: $1,000
For books that address diversity, to be made available to students K-5 and teachers in media centers and classrooms. LHiNC awarded an additional $1,000 for books for Lake Harriet’s sister school Nellie Stone Johnson School.

Linden Hills Chamber Orchestra:$1,000
To increase the accessibility of LHCO membership and concerts, including orchestra member scholarships and music for bandshell concerts.

Minneapolis Pops Orchestra: $1,000
To support MPO’s Summer Concert Season at Lake Harriet in 2022 (includes 10 concerts).

Spring 2021

Carondelet Catholic School: $1000
To purchase diverse and antiracism books for both campuses to put more books featuring diverse characters into the hands of children.

Minneapolis Pops Orchestra: $1000
To support its 2021 Summer Concert Season at the Lake Harriet Bandshell.

Fall 2019

Minneapolis Pops Orchestra: $1000
This $1000 grant will support the Minneapolis Pops Orchestra’s Summer Concert Season at Lake Harriet in 2020. The MPO continues to provide this community, as well as people from across the Twin Cities Metro, with free access to the arts through their concerts at the Lake Harriet Bandshell and beyond.

Southwest High School Prime Time: $1000
This $1000 grant will support the continued development of Prime Time, an after-school program for Southwest High School. The mission of Prime Time is to encourage diverse students to fully engage in the Southwest High School (SWHS) community by participating in the life of the school via after-school activities. Prime Time reduces barriers to participation such as distance from home, nutritional needs, or need for academic or personal support to maintain grades.

The 3-Strings, Southwest High School: $2000
This $2000 grant supported a trip to Orlando for 17 special needs student musicians from SWHS, support students, support staff, and family members to perform at the National Association for Music Education Keynote address. “The 3 Strings” is the name of their band. Through adapted instruments and adapted music, special needs students are able to play instruments successfully.

Spring 2019

Eric Peterson scholarships: $2000
Each spring, LHiNC awards a $1000 scholarship to two SWHS seniors selected by the school for their dedication to community service, in memory of a past board member who dedicated his life to serving others.

Kairos Alive: $500
To help fund an Intergenerational Dance Hall™ in the Linden Hills neighborhood. The mission of Kairos Alive is to transform lives through dance and story.

Midwest Food Connection: $800
To support the organization’s work providing culinary, nutrition, and gardening education to elementary school students in the Linden Hills neighborhood.

Minneapolis Pops Orchestra: $500
To support the orchestra’s 70th Summer Concert Season at the Bandshell.

The Neighborhood Choir: $600
To fund scholarships to choir members who cannot afford membership. The Choir’s mission is to provide members with a welcoming environment and an opportunity to develop and improve musical and performance skills, and to enrich the community.

Study Buddies: $500
To fund after-school snacks for the Southwest High School student tutors for the “Study Buddies” tutoring program that pairs SWHS students with grade school students at Lake Harriet Lower campus.

Fall 2018

Prime Time at Southwest High School: $1000
This grant will provide healthy and nutritious meals to students participating in the after-school Prime Time program at Southwest High School. The mission of Prime Time is to encourage diverse students to fully engage in the SWHS community by participating in after-school activities. The goal is to assist students to connect, achieve, and thrive personally as SWHS and Linden Hills community members.

SHINE Program – RUBIES Robotics Team, SWHS: $820
This grant will fund a STEM outreach program created by the RUBIES, an all-girls, Linden Hills-based robotics team. The SHINE program is an initiative to promote access to STEM education for all students regardless of race, gender, or socioeconomic background. SHINE accomplishes its mission by engaging students from underrepresented and diverse areas through enriching STEM activities.

The Southwest Lakes Community Choir: $960 –
This grant will fund scholarships for Southwest Minneapolis residents who would like to participate in the choir but cannot afford the registration fee. The Southwest Lakes Community Choir’s mission is: 1) to provide choir members with a welcoming environment and an opportunity to develop and improve musical and performance skills, and 2)to enrich the community through choral performance.

Spring 2018

Lake Harriet Lower and the STEAM program: $1200
This grant will support the elementary school’s library/media classroom in its transition to a “Makerspace model”, an approach that allows students to develop skills in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math). The grant will specifically go towards games and furniture that support and encourage exploration, discovery and teamwork in those areas.

Midwest Food Connection: $800
This grant will support the work of Midwest Food Connection, providing interactive lessons on local and global cuisine to elementary school students in the Linden Hills neighborhood. This group educates students on topics such as nutrition, agriculture and gardening, and the historical and cultural context of food.

Southwest FTC Robotics: $1000
Inspired by the RUBIES (the all-female, high school robotics team that we have funded in the past), this group wants to make robotics more broadly available to local middle school students. Through this program, students design, build, and program a robot to compete in a sports-like event. Students gain valuable teamwork experience through real-life applications of science and technology, as well as experience in marketing, public speaking, and community outreach.

Georgia Pharris – Georgia is attending Smith College and is currently undecided on her intended major. Since kindergarten, she has been involved in Girl Scouts and has grown to be a leader for her troop. She has co-led “Encampment,” a weekend-long camp for the last 4 years, planning activities and co-facilitating. She has moved into facilitating troop meetings for Daisies and Brownies and, after completing training to be a Girl Scout counselor, Georgia will work at Camp Northwoods this summer.

Spencer Rasmussen – Spencer is attending St. Olaf in the fall and plans to major in biology. In addition to being an excellent student, Spencer has volunteered for a program called Circle of Friends, a program that partners students with another who has developmental disabilities, for the past 4 years. He has found this experience to be extremely rewarding, sharing that he has learned “no good deed is too small.”

Fall 2017

Linden Hills Bocce Club: $1000
To help build two regulation-sized bocce ball courts at the southwest corner of Linden Hills Park, which will be donated to the Minneapolis Park Board. The Linden Hills Bocce Club’s mission is to bring the exciting, low-impact, accessible game of bocce to the residents of Linden Hills.

Linden Hills UCC: $1000
To help renovate the entry to its sanctuary and education wing so that it meets ADA requirements. The church is a community resource and used by many groups on a weekly basis for meetings and events, such as community pancake breakfasts, blood drives, community forums, meetings for 5 different recovery groups, and community classes, such as yoga, dance, music lessons, and meditation.

Minneapolis Pops Orchestra: $1000
To support its 2018 concert season at the Lake Harriet Bandshell. During the month of July, the MPO will perform ten concerts at the Lake Harriet Bandshell (Saturdays at 7:30 and Sundays at 5:30). Programs will include a mix of light classics, movie music, popular songs, marches, waltzes, Broadway medleys and music by Minnesota composers.

Rubies Robotics Team: $1000
To build a competition robot for the 2017-18 FTC season. The RUBIES is an all girls, Linden Hills-based robotics team; they were also the only all-girls team with members attending an urban public high school to compete at the FTC World Championships in St. Louis in 2017. They will also bring the robot to community events to increase awareness of robotics and STEM amongst students and the greater community.

STRUT Guitar Festival: $1000
To help fund the STRUT Guitar Festival 2018 at Southwest High School. The festival is May 18th and 19th, 2018 and features a smorgasbord of music activities in which students can compete, study and entertain. The mission of STRUT is, “Building Confident Musicians: One Guitarist at a time”.

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