ECMC Group is laser-focused on its mission to help students succeed, from its philanthropic grantmaking and impact investing to its support of organizations focused on uplifting underserved learners. For the past 30 years, ECMC Group has championed learners, particularly individuals from historically under-resourced communities, to find postsecondary education pathways that offer career paths with the potential for ongoing advancement and a family-sustaining wage.
A new investor in the GREATER MSP Partnership, ECMC Group is a Minneapolis-based nonprofit that provides financial tools and services, as well as funding for innovative programs to help students achieve their academic and professional goals. ECMC Group’s chief of staff, Heidi Johnson, has worked closely with ConnextMSP for the past year to support Black youth across the metro region, with a specific focus on leveling the playing field for equitable education and career onramps. Heidi also recently joined the ConnextMSP Leadership Council.
We asked Heidi about the recent decision to invest in the work of the GREATER MSP Partnership.
What makes ECMC Group unique?
ECMC Group has touchpoints to students and workers at each step in their education and career journey through a unique combination of philanthropy, investing and operations. Our philanthropic arm, ECMC Foundation, distributes more than $60 million in grants each year in support of initiatives like addressing basic needs insecurities in food, housing and mental health; supporting career and technical education leaders; removing barriers for men of color and single mothers pursuing education; enhancing the ability for students to successfully transfer their earned college credits; and our most recent effort, to support rural learners. Our Education Impact Fund also puts $250 million in impact investments to work to support entrepreneurs building training, education and workforce tools. We also operate college-access centers that provide free resources to help students and families navigate the postsecondary education landscape, support more than 200 minority-serving colleges and universities and offer financial counseling to assist borrowers in successfully determining the best way to repay their student loan debt.
Why did you become an investor?
Through our work with ConnextMSP to support Black youth in our region’s communities, we gained a deeper understanding of the work GREATER MSP does and recognized the synergies between our missions. We are excited to participate in the important efforts taking place across the region to connect future employees to the postsecondary education pathways that are needed to help them move into good jobs. We agree with GREATER MSP that this is an economic imperative and that, to thrive, our region must find solutions that benefit all residents.
What do you hope ECMC Group will get from investing?
Our goal is to contribute to the regional education and workforce ecosystem by committing our financial and intellectual capital to issues that intersect with our organizational focus and mission.
What inspires your team at work each day?
Our employees embrace the work we do to improve the lives of students while enhancing the communities where we are located. ECMC Group also has a robust community outreach strategy to support local nonprofits. Many team members have been with the organization for decades.