State Policy Update: Minnesota

Minnesota’s Cross-Cultural Leadership Action Program brings cultural communities together to develop the capacity to promote school readiness through advocacy and civic engagement. Ready 4K, a nonprofit early childhood advocacy group, started the Hmong Leadership Development and Mentoring Program in 2005. In 2008, this successful program was broadened to create the Cross-Cultural Leadership Action Program (CLAP), a partnership between Ready 4K and the Early Childhood Resource and Training Center, which provides community-based education to support the healthy development of children. CLAP focuses on developing leaders from the Somali, American Indian, Latino, African American, and Southeast Asian communities in the Twin Cities area. The goal of the program is to equip leaders with the information and skills necessary to promote early childhood education and advocate for changes that improve the school readiness of young children in their communities.