Minnesota Agencies

The commissioner of health shall convene a 12-member council to advise the commissioner on the development of the request for proposals for community solutions healthy child development grants. In advising the commissioner, the council must consider how to build on the capacity of communities to promote child and family well-being and address social determinants of healthy child development; review responses to requests for proposals and advise the commissioner on the selection of grantees and grant awards; advise the commissioner on the establishment of a transparent and objective accountability process focused on outcomes the grantees agree to achieve; advise the commissioner on ongoing oversight and necessary support in the implementation of the program; and support the commissioner on other racial equity and early childhood grant efforts.

The commissioner must convene meetings of the advisory council at least four times per year. The council began monthly meetings in December 2023.

The advisory council shall expire upon expiration or repeal of the healthy childhood development program.

The commissioner, in consultation with the three ethnic councils and the Indian Affairs Council, shall appoint a 13-member Community Solutions Advisory Council, as follows:

• three members representing Black Minnesotans of African heritage, one of whom is a parent with a child under the age of eight years at the time of the appointment;
• three members representing Latino and Latina Minnesotans with an ethnic heritage from Mexico, a country in Central or South America, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, or Puerto Rico, one of whom is a parent with a child under the age of eight years at the time of the appointment;
• three members representing Asian-Pacific Minnesotans with Asian-Pacific heritage, one of whom is a parent with a child under the age of eight years at the time of the appointment; three members representing the American Indian community, one of whom is a parent of a child under the age of eight years at the time of the appointment; and
• one member with research or academic expertise in racial equity and healthy child development.