The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) honored Growing Up Healthy in October for its innovative, collaborative work in improving early education and childcare access for children and families in Northfield and Faribault, particularly children of color. Growing Up Healthy and Austin Aspires received the 2023 Commissioners Circle of Excellence Award for their “Tri-City Connections” […]

Two new childcare centers opened in Northfield this month under an unusual business model: instead of being located in a person’s home or in a standalone daycare facility, both private businesses are housed in the city-owned Northfield Community Resource Center, located at 1651 Jefferson Parkway. Little Stinkers and Thinkers Child Care LLC is operated by […]

In early June, Northfield Promise became only the fourth Cradle to Career Network in the country, and the first in Minnesota, to earn StriveTogether’s Systems Transformation designation. We are grateful to all the community members who participated in the evaluation process and are excited to continue the work to transform systems in Northfield so they […]

TORCH staff assisted more than 400 middle school and high school students during the 2022-23 school year, and the program’s graduating seniors received more than $18,000 in local scholarships to pursue postsecondary education. Northfield High School TORCH Director Tessa Kiesow shared those and other highlights with the Northfield Shares board at its May meeting at […]

In the former Greenvale Park Elementary School media center where students used to sit and read The Magic Tree House books, a giant treehouse now stands. The treehouse is part of an interactive, fully accessible play space that was designed by the Minnesota Children’s Museum for the building’s new tenant, the Northfield Community Education Center […]

Eighty student leaders from Northfield and three other school districts — Faribault, Tri-City United, and Waterville-Elysian-Morristown — gathered at Carleton College in December to discuss data related to graduation rates, school connection, mental health and well-being, and substance use. Substance use and school connection data came from the Minnesota Student Survey, and graduation rates and […]

In an increasingly digital world where electronic communication is the default for today’s elementary students, kids at the Bridgewater and Spring Creek Elementary Schools are learning how to connect the old-fashioned way — by writing letters in a pen pal club.  Erin Hall, a first-grade teacher and Community School volunteer at Bridgewater, came up with […]

The Northfield Community College Collaborative (NCCC) launched a new pathway this fall for people interested in becoming emergency medical technicians. The EMT program is offered in partnership with Northfield Hospital + Clinics. Students can become certified as EMTs in one year, after completing two courses and passing a national exam. “The program is unique compared […]

Izzy Hessian remembers what it’s like to be a busy teen juggling homework, after-school activities, and social time with friends. As a 2019 graduate of Northfield High School and a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota, she’s drawn upon her not-too-distant memories of high school life as she’s helped create a new hangout space […]

Angelica Linder loves to make people feel welcome at the Northfield Public Library. But she’s learned during the past five years as the library’s outreach coordinator, and her twenty years of living in Northfield, that the downtown location does not meet the needs of everyone in the community. Getting to the library when it’s open […]