Photo of young mother cuddling her young son. Photo by Jordan Whitt on Unsplash
Data help
show poverty's impact on Minnesotans and communities

MAHUBE-OTWA Community Action Partnership

"It’s our duty to educate others about what poverty is and what it looks like."

Susan Munson
Child Care Program Manager, MAHUBE-OTWA

Describe the work of your organization: To empower people to see their full potential. That’s truly our goal. MAHUBE-OTWA gives clients the tools and answers questions to better their lives. MAHUBE-OTWA is an awesome resource. We have housing, SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), energy assistance, RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program), mini-programs and more. We help with small steps to improve a person's or family's quality of life. We start with one goal. Maybe it's to check out colleges. Maybe it's to get off of SNAP benefits. We never want to discourage them. We collaborate with other agencies, including RMCEP (Rural Minnesota Concentrated Employment Program) and Minnesota State Community and Technical College. 

How do you use data in your work? We conduct poverty simulation events for counties, communities, school districts, and organizations. We really want the data about each community we are in to answer questions like "How many children are in poverty?" "What’s the median income?" It’s always eye-opening to the participants. 

How have you used Minnesota Compass in your work? It’s our duty to educate others about what poverty is and what it looks like. Minnesota Compass is a great tool to use to break down the data by county, by community, by race and ethnicity, by age, and more.