346 Years of Community Trust. Four Legacy Institutions. One Collaborative for the Future of the Twin Cities.
The Legacy Stabilization Collaborative launches a new model for strengthening the institutions communities have relied on for generations.
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 Legacy Stabilization Collaborative strengthens long-term institutional health through shared strategy, peer learning, leadership development, operational planning, and flexible funding that allows organizations to plan beyond immediate needs.
The Collaborative will also produce the Legacy Stabilization Blueprint — a practical field guide documenting what institutional health looks like for legacy organizations, which stabilization strategies work, and how communities and funders can invest differently. What begins in the Twin Cities is designed to travel, offering a replicable model for sustaining trusted institutions in communities across the country.
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.
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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 Legacy Stabilization Collaborative is a peer-led initiative convened by Aurora St. Anthony Neighborhood Development Corporation in partnership with Hallie Q. Brown Community Center, Phyllis Wheatley Community Center, and Urban League Twin Cities. For more information, visit [website URL].
Media Contact Tatiana Freeman President, Aurora St. Anthony Neighborhood Development Corporation tatiana@aurorastanthony.org