Saint Paul staff outline Rondo Frogtown Loop after-school van service for Ward 1 youth

City staff presented details of the Rondo Frogtown Loop, a new after-school transportation and program-access network funded through a Minnesota Department of Education after-school community learning grant, at a Saint Paul Public Library Board meeting.

The program will use a rented 15-person van that runs a continuous loop from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., stopping once per hour at each participating site to carry youth ages 10 to 18 between Rondo Community Library, four Ward 1 recreation centers (MLK, Jimmy Lee Oxford, Frogtown Community Center and West Minnehaha), the Black Youth Healing Arts Center and a pickup/drop-off at Skyline Tower. Callie Freeman, community services coordinator for the Rondo Frogtown Loop, described the service as a solution to transportation barriers identified in community listening sessions and surveys.

“The reason why we knew was because there is a barrier for safe, free, reliable transportation...That is something that we heard from our community,” Freeman said, describing outreach that informed the program design. Freeman said roughly a third of grant funds will pay for contracts with community organizations offering culturally affirming programs, and that community youth workers will both drive the van and provide on-route relationship-building and program outreach.

The loop is intended to connect existing programs rather than duplicate them. Freeman said staff will promote site-specific programs—such as homework help at Rondo’s homework center—and use the shuttle to increase access rather than recreate services at every location. Partner organizations already contracted include the Network for the Development of Children of African Descent (Sankofa Reading Program) and the Irreducible Grace Foundation’s Black Youth Healing Arts Center.

Director Hartman and Director Rodriguez emphasized the cross-department collaboration that produced the idea; Rodriguez called it “the most beautiful thing that can happen when your staff come up with a brilliant idea.” Hartman confirmed the program’s state grant funding and timeline: “It’s $1,500,000 that we got for this from the state...running from May 2024 through May 2027.” Board members pressed staff for additional details on cost and operations; staff said the main ongoing cost is vehicle rental and staffing for the drivers/youth workers and that they are renting rather than purchasing because equipment bought with the state grant would revert to the state at grant end.

Operational details presented to the board include: a 15-person van operating 3–8 p.m., one loop per hour at each stop, an initial age eligibility of 10–18, online and paper permission slips (paper retained for access), and early family nights (free dinner and activities) as outreach. Freeman said the first family night is planned at Frogtown Community Center and was created by the Saint Paul Youth Commission as an “impact project.” The program will also participate in the state’s continuous program-improvement and reporting requirements and use the Sprockets Out-of-School Time network for evaluation support.

Board members expressed strong interest in the program expanding beyond Ward 1 in the future if evaluation data and demand support it. Staff said current funding and staffing make the initiative Ward 1–focused for the grant period but that they hope evaluation results and stories will support broader adoption.

Staff invited board members and the public to sign up via saintpaul.gov; permission slips and program schedules are posted online. Freeman closed by inviting questions and said staff will follow up with budget details when available.

Ending: Board members praised the program’s emphasis on access, safety and cross-department partnership; no formal board action was required for the staff report.