Kandiyohi County wins Sauer Family Foundation planning grant to assess family resource center

Kandiyohi County Health and Human Services Director Caroline Khan told the board on April 1 that the county was awarded a Sauer Family Foundation grant to conduct an explore-and-assess process to study a Family Resource Center model.

Khan said the planning grant — about $96,000, as noted in the meeting packet — will pay for a nine-month community assessment and co-design process starting in May and running through February 2026. The county will partner with Creating Communities Consulting to facilitate monthly “momentum” meetings, engage co-designers from diverse community networks and compile quantitative and qualitative data about local needs in housing, childcare, employment, health, education and food security.

Khan described several planning goals: conduct a community needs assessment, collect a broad set of voices (a “bold” target of 10,000 voices through surveys and outreach), map resources and produce a recommended model and implementation roadmap. The co-design team would include county staff, commissioners, school and health partners, community foundations, faith groups, businesses and residents with lived experience; Khan said she would work with County Administrator Kelsey Baker to propose a 10–12 person co-design leadership team.

Khan said the grant includes funds for a public-health coordinator role to lead implementation of the planning process and to cover consultant fees, survey distribution and translation/interpretation where needed. She emphasized that the planning phase does not obligate the county to operate a future center; the county may decide the model is not right after the assessment.

Commissioners asked about county staff time and future costs; Khan said the grant will cover the coordinator’s time for the planning phase, that some county involvement would be in-kind (brief standing updates at monthly meetings) and that any future, long-term implementation funding would require separate decisions by the board and potential external funding applications. Khan noted that the Sauer Family Foundation has a later implementation funding opportunity and that participating in the planning phase preserves the county’s eligibility for implementation grants.

Commissioners expressed support for involvement and said they expected to be briefed monthly; Khan offered to return with a recommended co-design list and bring major findings back to the board for later decision-making.