Grow Your Own (GYO) Grant Program

Grow Your Own (GYO) Grant Program is sponsored by Minnesota Department of Education. Aims to diversify the teacher workforce by supporting local residents in becoming educators through partnerships between districts, charter schools, and teacher preparation programs.

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workforcecenter@state. mn. us Educator Workforce Specialist mde.

workforcecenter@state. mn. us Grow Your Own (GYO) programs are partnerships between districts, charter schools, service cooperatives or Tribally-controlled schools, and teacher preparation programs that help local residents—such as parents, school staff, and students—become teachers in their own communities, with a focus on diversifying the teacher workforce by prioritizing candidates of color and Indigenous candidates.

Districts, charters, cooperatives, and tribally controlled schools may apply for either adult, student, or both programs to support candidates to become teachers. Increasing the diversity of educators in the classroom benefits all students.

Some GYO programs assist adults who are interested in entering the teaching profession by providing stipends, scholarships, unique student teaching or field placement experiences, and other options to help them in pursuing a career in education.

In addition, many GYO programs create opportunities to help secondary students explore teaching as a profession through Introduction to Education courses, future educator clubs, and other activities that help them see teaching as a promising career field after they have completed their postsecondary education.

In the fall of 2022, New America released Grow Your Own Educators: A Toolkit for Program Design and Development , that they describe as “a collection of user-friendly research, policy, and practice resources for Grow Your Own practitioners and policymakers.

” The Toolkit includes dozens of links that cover a range of topics for those just getting started in GYO (such as their GYO 101 ) as well as those with years of experience (such as their Data and Evaluation materials). Staff at the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) created some Considerations for Developing Grow Your Own Programs .

This document is designed to be used as tool by districts interested in developing Grow Your Own programs to consider the working environment and other processes that should be available to help people of color and Indigenous people feel welcome and want to become educators.

The Minnesota Grow Your Own (GYO) Grant Program Having a diverse, qualified, and thriving teacher workforce for all students can be a challenge, so sometimes districts must grow their own! Minnesota began offering districts and charter schools the opportunity to receive state grant funds for GYO programs in the 2016-17 school year.

In past years, Minnesota’s GYO grant program offered districts, charter, Tribal contract schools, and cooperative units two pathways—one for paraprofessionals and other adults and one for secondary students. MDE has a grant program under Minnesota Statutes 2025, section 122A. 73 , for Grow Your Own (GYO) programs to support local activities that will increase and diversify the teacher workforce in the state of Minnesota.

Entities that are eligible to apply for GYO grants include Minnesota districts, charter schools, Tribal contract schools, and cooperative units. (Note: In order to participate in this grant program, a person must be an employee or a community member of a grantee).

GYO funds are available to Minnesota districts, charters, Tribal contract schools, and cooperative units for a grant for a teacher preparation program to establish a Grow Your Own pathway for adults to obtain their first professional teaching license.

The grant recipient must use at least 80 percent of grant funds to provide tuition scholarships or stipends to enable district employees or community members affiliated with a district, who are of color or American Indian and who seek a teaching license, to participate in the teacher preparation program.

GYO Pathway for Secondary Students GYO grant funds are also available to Minnesota school districts, charters, Tribal contract schools, and cooperatives to develop innovative Grow Your Own programs that encourage secondary school students, especially students of color and American Indian students, to pursue teaching.

To be eligible for this grant, an applicant must ensure that the percentage of students of color or American Indian students participating in the program be the same as or be greater than that of the district.

The funds must be used to: Support future teacher clubs or service-learning opportunities that provide secondary students with experiential learning that supports the success of younger students or peers and increases students’ interest in pursuing a teaching career.

Develop and offer postsecondary enrollment options for “Introduction to Teaching” or “Introduction to Education” courses consistent with Minnesota Statutes 2025, section 124D. 09, subdivision 10 , that meet degree requirements for teacher licensure.

Provide direct support, including wrap-around services, for students who are of color or American Indian to enroll and be successful in postsecondary enrollment options courses under Minnesota Statutes 2025, section 124D. 09, that would meet degree requirements for teacher licensure.

Offer scholarships to graduating high school students who are of color or American Indian to enroll in board-approved undergraduate teacher preparation programs at a college or university in Minnesota.

List of Grow Your Own Grantees This Excel file provides two worksheets – one listing all of the current Adult Pathway grantees who are serving paraprofessionals and community members seeking a teaching license and a second worksheet listing all of the Student Pathway grantees who provide various programs for secondary students interested in pursuing education careers.

Consolidated Annual Reports FY24 Grow Your Own Grant Program Report This public report summarizes the activities and outcomes of FY24 grant recipients and what was done to promote the sharing of practices. FY23 Grow Your Own Grant Program Report This public report summarizes the activities and outcomes of FY22-23 grant recipients and what was done to promote the sharing of practices.

FY22 Grow Your Own Grant Program Report This public report summarizes the activities and outcomes of FY22 grant recipients and what was done to promote the sharing of practices. Grant program offers two pathways for districts and charters to Grow Their Own excellent and diverse teachers Related offsite resources: Best Practices for High School Grow Your Own Teacher Programs Contact MDE : 651-582-8200 No English?

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