Alumni & Foundation receives $200,000 grant from Women’s Foundation of Minnesota

The Bemidji State University Alumni & Foundation was recently awarded a $200,000 We Thrive grant from the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota. This grant, awarded for a two-year period, will support critical programs at Bemidji State and Northwest Technical College, addressing barriers to education for underserved populations and advancing economic justice in northern Minnesota.

The grant will fund several key priorities, including a parent navigator role, enrollment efforts, the Wiisiniidaa (Let’s Eat) program to address food insecurity, and the North Star Promise Fund.

“Investments in these areas will help students in workforce development and develop pathways to wealth-building,” said Gwenia Fiskevold Gould, the BSUAF’s director of annual giving. “This grant addresses barriers that women and parents experience in different areas in higher education by addressing emergency childcare needs, targeted approaches to increasing women in the trades at NTC, investing in culturally responsive programing for American Indian students, and removing cost barriers for low-income students.”

The proposal, authored by Fiskevold Gould in collaboration with a team of university and college staff and faculty, aims to enhance programs that serve women, American Indian students and students facing financial hardship.

“The opportunity to work on my first grant allowed me to combine my current work at Bemidji State with my past policy work on improving the lives of women and parents,” Fiskevold Gould said. “We are grateful to the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota for believing in our vision of what an intersectional approach to holistic student support looks like in our region.”

One of the main beneficiaries of this grant is BSU’s parent navigator program, led by Sam Clauson, which provides resources and community-building initiatives for student parents. With funding, the program will conduct a campus-wide survey to assess childcare needs and establish emergency funds for childcare, parking and other parental resources. The grant will also enable financial literacy programming designed to help student parents manage family budgets while pursuing their education.

The NTC trades programs, supported by faculty member Gwen Oster, will also benefit from the grant. Women in trades programs currently face significant cost barriers, such as the high expense of tools and safety equipment. Funding from the We Thrive grant will help reduce these costs, enabling greater access for women entering construction and technical fields. The grant also aims to foster mentorship and community among women in trades to improve recruitment and retention.

Additionally, the American Indian Resource Center’s Wiisiniidaa program, led by executive director Chrissy Downwind, will receive funding to expand its culturally responsive initiatives that address food security and encourage community engagement among American Indian students.

Finally, the grant will provide comprehensive support for students needing assistance with the full cost of attendance, including housing, books and meal plans. Vice president for enrollment management Ben Hoffman emphasized that this holistic approach will enable more students to remain enrolled and thrive academically.

The Women’s Foundation of Minnesota awarded $1.1 million in total grants to six higher education recipients. For more information, visit www.wfmn.org.

The BSU Alumni & Foundation remains dedicated to creating transformative opportunities for all students and is proud to partner with the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota to create pathways for success.