Minnesota Afterschool Advance
Increasing access to afterschool enrichment
What is MAA?
Minnesota Afterschool Advance (MAA) is a powerful collaboration between Youthprise and Venn. The goal is to unlock up to $250 million per year in afterschool funding for ~125,000 low-income MN families and their children by helping them take full advantage of the MN Education Tax Credit (METC).
What is the METC?
Since 1997, the Minnesota Education Tax Credit (METC) has provided eligible families a 3-to-1 match on the dollars they spend on eligible afterschool services like music lessons and tutoring, up to $1,000 per child per year.
But families must pay for services up front and then wait to be repaid until they get their tax refund, sometimes more than a year later.
Many low-income families do not have the cash flow for this model to work. MAA eliminates this barrier by creating a loan pool to issue 0% loans to the families allowing them to pay for the activities.
How It Works
How you CAN Help
Make a PRI to Venn’s 2023 MAA Loan Fund. Venn will use your funds to make 0% loans of up to $1,000 per child to low-income students and families enrolled in 2023. The loan proceeds will pay for eligible afterschool services for participating students.
After families file their taxes in early 2024, the State of Minnesota will repay the loans directly to Venn. You can decide to recycle those funds for another year, join another PRI, or grant them to another nonprofit.
