Special Projects
MN-ICECI Special Projects Fund
In March 2026, MN-ICECI launched the Special Projects Fund to support short-term, community-led projects that strengthen early childhood systems for families with children prenatal through age three and advance health integration within those systems.
The fund invited MN-ICECI Ambassadors and Community Advisory Council members to propose flexible projects that responded to community-identified needs, piloted practical ideas, strengthened Ambassador services, or built leadership capacity in ways that benefit families and systems.
Projects could focus on one or more of the following priorities:
- Improve families’ access to, or experience with, early childhood and health supports.
- Strengthen early childhood systems or health integration efforts.
- Build the skills, capacity, or leadership of Ambassadors and Community Advisory Council members.
Funded Projects
Project Safe Seats
Purpose: Project Safe Seats will help Pregnancy and Family Health staff become certified in car seat safety so they can provide accurate, hands-on guidance to families.
Key activities: Staff will complete certification, learn to support families with different car seats and vehicles, and work with clinic staff to identify guests who need car seats or safety training.
Intended impact: Families will receive practical support that helps ensure children are safely secured during travel.
Contact: Isabella Walters, MPH, Manager of Health Initiatives, NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center
Email: [email protected] Web: northpointhealth.org
Structured, Community-Centered Space
Purpose: Structured, Community-Centered Space will create a supportive forum where African American families with children prenatal through age three can share lived experiences and define what support, care, and well-being should look like for their families.
Key activities: The project will convene families in a structured, community-centered setting to gather insight that can inform more responsive early childhood and health supports.
Intended impact: Family voices will help shape services and systems so they better reflect community priorities and lived experience.
Contact: Dominique Buffett, MN-ICECI Family Health Ambassador
Email: [email protected] Web: mn-iceci.org
Think Different–Do Different Fellowships
Purpose: Think Different–Do Different Fellowships will launch a third cohort of NdCAD’s fellowship model, which helps providers understand and apply culturally rooted principles that support African American families.
Key activities: The project will hold three training workshops and one reflection and learning session focused on NdCAD’s family education and literacy model.
Intended impact: Providers will strengthen services and policies that affect African American families by applying seven operating principles rooted in culture and family stabilization.
Contact: Gevonee E. Ford, Executive Director, Network for the Development of Children of African Descent
Email: [email protected] Web: NdCAD.org
These projects reflect MN-ICECI’s commitment to flexible, community-informed strategies that strengthen supports for families and improve early childhood systems.