Northside Achievement Zone

Powering Potential for Every Northside Scholar

A child reading with confidence. A teen realizing college is within reach. A young adult building a future full of opportunity. You can help make these moments possible.

For 15 years, the Northside Achievement Zone (NAZ) has worked alongside North Minneapolis children and families to ensure scholars have the support they need to graduate high school and succeed in college, career, and life. With 40+ school and community partners, we’ve woven a cradle-to-career network that reaches 2,400+ scholars and 1,200+ families each year.

Meet Zay. A Camden High School graduate and B.E.S.T. and Eddie Phillips Scholar, he’s now a freshman at Augsburg University studying communications and film. Along the way, he served as a Student Board Representative for the Minneapolis Board of Education, a Teen Specialist with Hennepin County, and a NAZ Ambassador. Asked what NAZ means to him, Zay has a one-word answer: community. In high school, he visited Northside elementary schools with his Black Student Union, and watching younger kids see themselves in him showed him that everyone has a role in lifting up the next child. Now he’s carrying his Northside roots to campus with a clear goal: to tell “our stories” and amplify voices from communities like his.

“[NAZ] means knowing there are people in your corner who believe in you.”
— Isiah “Zay”, NAZ Scholar

What Your Gift Makes Possible

Every milestone rests on opportunity, encouragement, and people who believe in a child. Your gift weaves those together.

• A strong start. Early childhood scholarships provide access to high-quality learning experiences that build foundational skills and prepare children for kindergarten success.
• Confident readers and learners. Evidence-based, high-dosage tutoring helps scholars strengthen literacy and math proficiency and build the skills they need for academic success.
• Someone in their corner. NAZ Scholar Success Coaches and individualized plans help scholars improve academic performance and attendance, navigate challenges, and celebrate milestones on the path to success.
• A pathway to opportunity. College and career guidance helps scholars navigate high school graduation, pursue postsecondary education, and prepare for future success.
• Families as leaders. Family Academy parenting classes empower parents as their children’s first and most important teachers.
• Economic mobility. College savings accounts and financial literacy help families build assets for the future.

These aren't separate efforts. They're interconnected threads of support, woven together around each scholar and family.

Because when we invest in the whole child and the whole family, we create opportunities that can change the trajectory of generations.

Add Your Thread. Double Your Impact.

NAZ’s greatest strength is the people who believe in Northside children. You have a place in that story.

Our Vision

We envision a prosperous North Minneapolis — where all children of color are healthy, secure, and academically successful, ultimately realizing their unlimited potential.

Our Mission

Build generational wealth in North Minneapolis by creating a culture of achievement where all low-income children of color have the support they need to graduate high school and succeed in college, career, and life.