Poetry Pathways

Poetry Mini-Grants for K-5 Classrooms

About Poetry Pathways

Poetry is vital to Minnesota communities, serving as a powerful medium for cultural expression, community building, and drawing attention to important stories and issues, while also providing a space for healing and reflection. It plays a crucial role in education and youth engagement, enriching the social fabric of the state.

Questions?
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Why Poetry Mini-Grants?

Poetry Sparks is a mini-grant opportunity provided to K-5 classrooms in Minnesota to bring the creative work of the Minnesota Poet Laureate Gwen Nell Westerman to young students. Using materials developed by Westerman, the program will allow schools to bring diverse and talented poets, teaching artists, and writers into classroom to encourage young people to explore place, identity, and community, and to develop critical thinking skills and foster connection across generations. This program is offered by the Minnesota Humanities Center in partnership with The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library as the Minnesota Center for the Book.

Mini-grant Amount: $1000

Requirements: Applicants receiving funding commit to holding one in-person workshop for a K-5 classroom in their school district with a Minnesota based poet or teaching artist, using the materials developed by the Minnesota Poet Laureate, Gwen Nell Westerman. Applicants can choose to hold more than one workshop if they choose, and can expand beyond the materials provided as long as one workshop has touched on those materials.

More Details (click to expand/collapse)

Resources Provided

Three (3) videos from the Minnesota Poet Laureate, poems featured in the videos, and additional MHC supplemental material.
One (1) copy of poetry collection “Songs, Blood Deep” by Gwen Nell Westerman.

Selection Criteria

Applications will be accepted through March 13, 2026. MHC will begin reviewing applications on March 17, 2026. Awards will be made March 20, 2026.
Priority will be given to:
- Locations outside the 7 county metropolitan area (Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, Washington) to ensure broad geographic access across Minnesota.
- Minnesota based K-5 classrooms that demonstrate a compelling and clearly articulated reason for hosting the workshop, including identified student needs and connections to curriculum, school priorities, or community engagement.
Our goal is to support workshops that are thoughtfully planned, responsive to local contexts, and positioned to create meaningful impact.

Additional Links

Apply for a Mini-Grant

The Minnesota Humanities Center is currently accepting applications for a mini-grant for the 2025-2026 school year. Activities undertaken under the mini-grant must be completed by June 30, 2026. Mini-grants are limited and applications must be received by March 13, 2026. Please apply through our online form.

Apply for a Mini-Grant

Apply for a Poetry Pathways Mini-Grant and bring the power of Poetry into your classroom.

Apply Now

Brought To You By

The work of the Minnesota Humanities Center is to create a stronger Minnesota by increasing our understanding of the beauty, wisdom and stories of its people. Only through partnerships can we facilitate programs like Poetry Pathways, that build our connections and deepen our understanding of ourselves and our communities. In addition to the incredible teaching artists and poets who have helped to design these programs, we thank the financial sponsors of this work:

The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library as the Minnesota Center for the Book

Poetry Pathways is funded in part with money from the Clean Water, Land & Legacy Fund that was created with the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

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