Northwest Area Foundation awards $1.9M in grants to combat poverty

The St. Paul-based Northwest Area Foundation http://www.nwaf.org/Home.aspx has awarded $1.9 million in grants to the University of Minnesota and six other state universities to expand work aimed at combating rural poverty across some 260 communities.

Foundation officials said Monday the grants are coming under Horizons, an 18-month leadership development program for rural towns with at least 10 percent poverty rates and populations of 5,000 or fewer people.

Higher institutions receiving grants of $200,000 or $300,000 are the University of Idaho, Washington State University, Iowa State University, Montana State University, North Dakota State University and South Dakota State University.

By SCOTT CARLSON

Full Story: http://finance-commerce.com/2010/07/northwest-area-foundation-awards-19m-in-grants/