Minnesota Chill Foundation

The Minnesota Chill Foundation has been active in the community since 2011 and we are asking for your help to strengthen our impact, as the Twin Cities is needing support more than ever. 

Our mission is to provide high-quality academic and athletic programming for the purpose of educating student scholars for future success. Our programs strive to close education and opportunity gaps plaguing children of color in the Twin Cities. We aim to empower scholars and families, support culturally responsive educators, and improve lives in our community. 

We offer two programs to youth and families: Chill Basketball and CHILL Fitness for Kids. Our organization has evolved from a basketball program to include high-quality academic support. Our ultimate goals are to launch our third program, CHILL Academy. 

CHILL Basketball offers 7th-11th graders opportunities to hone their basketball and leadership skills through:

• Individual and group training/camps
• Competitions against elite athletes locally and nationally
• Academic support and college readiness support
• Community service-learning projects

CHILL Fitness for Kids provides K-12th graders with activities focusing on creating a healthier lifestyle through:

• Fitness training activities and goal setting
• Mindfulness activities to relieve stress
• Healthy behaviors coaching (tobacco use prevention, healthy choices)
• Nutrition education and food styling
• Team building and sports training
• Connecting families to services to address food insecurity

CHILL Academy will provide K-8th grade scholars with out-of-school programming that includes:

• Academic support, tutoring and homework help
• STEAM focused activities
• Culturally relevant curriculum modeled after the Seven Kwanzaa Principles
• Parent CHILL Nights to build community with families, better understand their needs and lead them through the Restorative Practices Circle process

We are seeking funds to support the expansion of all our programs and launch our CHILL Academy after-school program. The Academy’s overarching goals are to inspire academic excellence and guide our youth “scholars” and their families on a lifelong learning path, including higher education. Our desired outcome is to ultimately close the ever-widening educational achievement gaps/disparities, particularly, in math and reading, for African Americans and other students of color.

COVID-19 creates new and exacerbates existing challenges for communities of color. Summer of 2021 was the launch of our Health and Wellness Community event, which incorporated opportunities for families we serve to share their needs and wants for the community. We use the Restorative Practices circle process, which is a framework and way of being that supports equitable access to social-emotional learning and academics alike. We use restorative practices to add value to our program and allow our members to speak their truth and share their knowledge, experience, and culture while fostering a community of belonging. 

Minnesota CHILL stands for Community Helps Individuals Live & Learn. Creating and maintaining a safe space for our participants is imperative to our program's success and longevity, development of our young scholars, well-being of families, and connection with community members. 

Please support us in continuing to connect youth and families to community resources to and make a positive impact for successful futures.

Thank you,

Cindy and Chuck Hill