Healthy Community Initiative

Healthy Community Initiative (HCI) recently received a $72,980 grant from the Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC) to fund Sound and Sight Explorers, a new project to support 1,000+ youth in Rice County with no-cost art and music exploration experiences.

Youth involved in PRIMEtime programming, HCI’s out of school time network initiative, are expected to benefit from this grant. More than 10 sites across Northfield and Faribault that provide free programming to youth will be able to use these funds to support art and music education, including Northfield Community School, Faribault Community Schools, and the Northfield Union of Youth. 

“As school district and other sources of funding are being cut, this grant allows for youth to continue to enrich their learning through engaging in music and art activities,” said Amy McBroom, HCI’s Network Impact Coordinator for Rice County PRIMEtime. “Numerous studies show the importance of music and art in the development of young people, which is why this grant is so important, especially for those without access because of cost, transportation or other factors.” 

This work is funded in part by the Minnesota Humanities Center with money from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund that was created with the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.