Built to Last: On America's 250th Anniversary, Four Legacy Institutions Launch a Coalition to Strengthen the Communities They've Served for Generations
As the nation marks 250 years, four of the Twin Cities' most enduring community institutions are choosing the moment to invest in the future they've spent generations building. Institutions that have strengthened their communities for nearly a century deserve the stability to keep doing so for the next.
SAINT PAUL & MINNEAPOLIS, MN —Four of the Twin Cities' most enduring legacy institutions today announced the Legacy Stabilization Collaborative — a peer-led initiative focused on strengthening the long-term sustainability, leadership, and operational resilience of organizations that have served as anchors in Minneapolis and Saint Paul for generations.
Together, the founding institutions represent 346 years of combined community leadership, economic development, advocacy, youth engagement, and neighborhood investment across the Twin Cities:
Aurora St. Anthony Neighborhood Development Corporation (est. 1980) — Saint Paul
Hallie Q. Brown Community Center (est. 1929) — Saint Paul
Phyllis Wheatley Community Center (est. 1924) — Minneapolis
Urban League Twin Cities (est. 1925) — Minneapolis
For decades, these institutions have stood at the center of community life, helping families navigate economic hardship, housing instability, educational barriers, and generational inequities while creating pathways toward opportunity and long-term stability. They have remained trusted not because the work has been easy, but because communities have continued to depend on them.
Now, these organizations are coming together around a shared belief: institutions that have carried communities for generations should have the infrastructure, investment, and long-term support necessary to continue leading into the future.
A Different Conversation About Community Investment
The Legacy Stabilization Collaborative is rooted in a challenge many community institutions across the country continue to face.
National research shows Black-led nonprofits often operate with significantly fewer unrestricted financial resources and smaller long-term reserves than comparable organizations, despite decades of measurable community impact and deep neighborhood trust. The result is that organizations doing some of the most essential community-centered work are forced to spend valuable leadership capacity managing instability instead of building long-term impact.
The leaders of this Collaborative believe it is time for a different approach, not charity, not short-term intervention, but investment in what already works.
"Legacy invokes history, durability, and irreplaceability. That is what these institutions are, and that is what this Collaborative is designed to protect. We are not building something new. We are finally giving something essential the foundation it has always deserved." — Tatiana Freeman, President, Aurora St. Anthony Neighborhood Development Corporation
What the Collaborative Does
The Collaborative delivers on three interconnected commitments: flexible working capital flowing directly to each institution, a structured curriculum that moves all four through a shared sequence of assessment and stabilization planning, and an active partnership that unlocks something none of these institutions could achieve alone. When anchor institutions across Saint Paul and Minneapolis coordinate — sharing referrals, aligning services, and building shared infrastructure families are served more deeply. A family navigating housing instability, workforce barriers, or economic hardship doesn’t fall between organizations. They move through a coordinated network of institutions that have served the Twin Cities for 346 combined years.
Investing in Institutions That Communities Already Trust
Phase One of the Legacy Stabilization Collaborative represents a $960,000 stabilization strategy focused on strengthening organizational infrastructure, leadership continuity, operational resilience, and long-term sustainability across participating institutions. More than half of those resources flow directly into participating organizations as flexible operating support.
"The legacy preservation work done through the LSC initiative is significant because it creates a framework to better understand the significant and historic contributions of black community innovation, enterprise, and social service. This collaborative provides legitimacy and evidence to our radical black past, which informs our vision for a radical black future, a future where we lead, serve, and solve critical needs for all humanity and in a way that honors our culture, which is globally influential." –– Benny Roberts, Executive Director, Hallie Q Brown
Early Investment
The Legacy Stabilization Collaborative has received early support from the Bush Foundation, the Knight Foundation, and the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation — investors in the belief that trusted legacy institutions are essential to the long-term economic and social health of the Twin Cities.
About the Legacy Stabilization Collaborative The Collaborative is convened by Aurora St. Anthony Neighborhood Development Corporation, with Hallie Q. Brown, Phyllis Wheatley, and Urban League Twin Cities as active partners each working together around shared stabilization priorities, shaping the learning agenda, and holding shared accountability for each other’s progress.
Media Contact Tatiana Freeman President, Aurora St. Anthony Neighborhood Development Corporation tatiana@aurorastanthony.org