Our History

Youthprise was founded as a nonprofit philanthropic intermediary in 2010 by the McKnight Foundation with an original mission to champion learning beyond the classroom so that all Minnesota youth thrive. With guidance from an illustrious advisory committee and a founding Board of Directors, McKnight encouraged Youthprise to listen to the voices of young people, to give them a seat at the table, and to build programs and systems that are responsive to their needs — and guided by their ideas. Youthprise’s first President, Wokie Weah, was hired in April of 2011. A full leadership team was on board by November of 2011 and Youthprise publically launched in January of 2012.

Since launching, Youthprise has leveraged its financial, political, and relational capital and expertise in youth development to increase funding for Minnesota youth programming and promote innovation in how our communities work with youth. As a philanthropic intermediary, Youthprise is designed to invest more than just money. Youthprise partners with youth and youth service organizations to share knowledge, capture lessons learned, and spread best practices to advance outcomes for young people throughout Minnesota.

Youthprise has invested $55+million to support youth initiatives, provided training and technical support to over 100 youth organizations, successfully advocated for over $3.1 million in direct state appropriations to support key initiatives that advance our mission, and championed the inclusion of youth on boards and governing bodies, including our own. In 2017, Youthprise established a youth-adult co-chair model and increased the proportion of youth board members, ages of 16 to 25 to fifty percent.

Accomplishments

  • Raised and distributed over $55 million to support youth development initiatives statewide, emphasizing support to organizations led by people of color and small organizations that were doing excellent work but their growth was stifled because they lacked financial support from institutional funders;
  • Successfully petitioned the state for denying young people federally funded unemployment benefits, resulting in an over $30 million payout to thousands of youth throughout every corner of Minnesota. We continued this work by mobilizing a coalition of youth and adults to change a discriminatory state unemployment insurance law dating back to 1939.
  • Partnered with the City of Northfield to grow the number of young people on Mayor-appointed boards and commissions to over 90, which has produced the first person of color elected to the City Council in the city’s history;
  • Partnered with Ramsey County to contribute to a 65% decline in the number of children and youth in juvenile detention over a 10-year period. Also collaborated to co-invest in a wraparound service model that led to only a 6% recidivism rate among participants compared to over a 30% recidivism rate for youth involved in other interventions;
  • Distributed more than 4.2 million nutritious meals and snacks to over 60 sites across five counties in Minnesota since 2014, serving over 10,000 children weekly during the height of the pandemic.
  • Responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by providing millions in emergency grants to community organizations meeting pressing needs in their respective neighborhoods. 
  •  Facilitated access to technology and out-of-school time activities for more than 2,000 youth from low-income families in 70 counties across Minnesota since 2019. This includes thousands of hours of private tutoring, distribution of 2,000+ Chromebooks, and access to other enrichment activities.

Wokie Weah, Youthprise President Emeritus

In 2011, Wokie Weah became Youthprise’s Founding President providing executive leadership and vision and working in partnership with the board of directors to reduce disparities with and for Minnesota youth. Under her guidance, Youthprise became nationally recognized for its leadership in youth engagement and youth philanthropy. 

Under her leadership, Youthprise piloted the international youth-giving model, YouthBank, with eight sites in the state of Minnesota. Throughout her career, Wokie has upheld and promoted values around youth leadership, racial equity, and reducing disparities. 

After retiring from Youthprise in 2021, she founded Wokie Weah, LLC. As president and chief executive officer, she leads an organization that fosters opportunities for young people in Liberia, many of whom have been impacted by the country’s civil war.

Rewards and Accolades:

In 2016, Wokie was recognized as one of the “(Real) Power 50” by Minnesota Business Magazine;

In 2021, Wokie received the Facing Race Award;

In 2022, she was awarded the General Mills Martin Luther King (MLK) Recognition award;

She was also awarded the Annual Community Leadership Award from the Charities Review Council recently.

Wokie received her Master’s degree in Education Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and her Bachelor’s degree from Adelphi University in New York. She is an author and widely-traveled speaker, who has written extensively on service-learning and diversity and addresses audiences throughout the United States and Africa. 

A native of Liberia, Wokie Weah is married, the mother of five adult children, and the grandmother of 12 grandchildren.

 

The original Youthprise leadership team. From left – right: Maya Beecham, Karen Kingsley, Marcus Pope, Wokie Weah, Sheila Gothmann, Elizabeth Rau, Rudy Guglielmo