Way to Grow

“A copy of this return is reviewed by the finance committee of the board of directors. Then it is distributed to the board of directors for review and discussion. After the board of directors has reviewed the document, it is filed.”

“Way to grow monitors and enforces the conflict of interest policy annually.”

“The executive committee of the way to grow board of directors uses a process for determining compensation for the ceo that included all of the following elements: review and approval by the executive committee of the board of directors, the members of which are independent and without a conflict of interest as defined in regulation section 53.4958-6(c)(1)(iii), use of data as to comparable compensation for similarly qualified persons in functionally comparable positions at similarly situated organizations, contemporaneous documentation, substantiation and recordkeeping with respect to deliberations and decisions regarding the compensation arrangement the above described process and an assessment is performed at least annually for the ceo. The executive committee reviews and approves all compensation changes of the ceo in advance of the change.”

“All employees, key or otherwise are given a performance review annually and any salary adjustments are based on a formula within the review format. The performance review is given by their supervisor & approved by the executive director. The director's receive reviews by the executive director, and the executive directors receives her review by the board.”

“All governing documents of the organization, including federal form 990, conflict of interest policy and financial statements can be reviewed by contacting: way to grow at 201 irving ave n, suite 100, minneapolis, mn 55405.”

“While the 990 form information requires way to grow to show revenue of 3.7 million and income of 861,000 this is a combination of both restricted and unrestricted funds. The restricted funds are 786,000 and mainly represent capital campaign funds for future growth and operations and for endowment funds.”

“Way to grow has been working with communities to address disparities in education in minneapolis for 30 years. Since our founding in 1989, we have sought to reverse negative educational trends by building trusted, community-based supports for parents and their children. We formalized our health education program in 2005, launched a formal teen parent program in 2006, opened our nationally accredited, 4-star parent aware-rated preschool pals program in 2007, and in 2009, launched great by 8, which is now the cornerstone of our work. Great by 8 expanded our effective and statistically proven home visiting model to include children from kindergarten through third grade, in partnership with over 40 minneapolis public schools. In 2014, we opened a parent-child program for preschool- aged children and their families, parent child activities lead to school readiness (p.a.l.s.), which received 4-star parent aware accreditation in 2017. Both of way to grow's preschools are accredited by the national association for the education of young children (naeyc). In 2016 we launched an onsite hub for early childhood, elementary, and parent engagement programming at the lucy c. Laney community school in north minneapolis. Our innovative home visiting model has proven to be successful and scalable: in 2019, we provided 8,412 home visits to 1,737 individuals, including 980 children and 757 adults. Way to grow continues to develop outcome-based, year-round, culture-to- culture, language-to-language programming to best serve our clients. Way to grow's home visiting staff is collectively fluent in seven languages and culturally reflects the children and families we serve. Programming is implemented primarily through home visits, and we educate families on literacy development, math, health and nutrition. Our holistic, innovative approach begins with the parents to stabilize their family and connect them to basic needs services so that families can achieve success in our other program areas. Way to grow is succeeding in stabilizing the homes of disadvantaged families and working intensively with families to overcome their challenges and focus on their children's education. Our families are demonstrating strong results. In 2019, 87% of early education students enrolled in our programming were ready for kindergarten, and 92% of k-3 students demonstrated growth in reading level assessments. As a result of our programming, 98% of parents attended at least one of their children's parent-teacher conferences, and 98% of children attended school 90% of the time during the 2018-2019 school year. 96% of teen parents did not have a repeat pregnancy.”