The Hillside Coalition
The Hillside Coalition is a partnership between Family Freedom Center, Zeitgeist Center for the Arts, Duluth Center for Women and Children, and LISC Duluth. Hillside is one of the most racially diverse neighborhoods in Northeast Minnesota, rich in culture, creativity, and entrepreneurship. However, Hillside also faces systemic barriers to health and wealth, including severe health disparities, unemployment, and limited access to affordable, healthy food. These challenges have contributed to the lowest life expectancy in Duluth, nearly a decade shorter than in other neighborhoods. ​
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This combination of local talent and innovation, alongside deep-rooted inequities, led to the formation of the Hillside Coalition, which is working to remove these barriers and improve the overall quality of life for Hillside residents.
​​The coalition actively drives efforts to improve access to healthcare, healthy food, and transportation, while creating pathways to home and business ownership to foster long-term economic stability. Just as importantly, we ensure that Hillside residents are actively engaged in decisions that shape the future of their neighborhood. By centering their voices in planning and development processes, we aim to build a community that reflects the needs and aspirations of its people.
Some key initiatives of the Hillside Coalition are the 6th Avenue East Project, the Healthy Hillside Vision, and the annual Big Tent: Resource Event. These initiatives aim to improve life expectancy and overall well-being, while bringing the community together to create a foundation for long-term health, equity, and opportunity. By combining the strengths of these four organizations, we are striving toward a future where Hillside is a thriving and resilient community with opportunities for all its residents.
Hillside Coalition Members
Zeitgeist Center for the Arts and Community is about enhancing and enriching the life of our community. We offer artists a venue to earn income from their work, and encourage them to be bold by offering them a venue free of censorship, judgment, or restriction. We support the local economy by committing to purchase from local farmers, businesses, and craftspeople.
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC Duluth) is the nation’s leading community development organization, we have offices in 31 cities and work in hundreds of rural communities across the country. In collaboration with local groups, we help identify priorities and challenges for low-income communities, formulate comprehensive strategies to address them and deliver the most effective support to meet the needs on the ground.
Family Freedom Center creates pathways for Black families to build generational wealth through financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and family self-sufficiency programs. Our initiatives focus on breaking cycles of poverty and fostering long-term economic stability for future generations.
The Duluth Center for Women & Children supports community initiatives to ensure that children living in poverty have abundant opportunities to lead economically secure and productive lives, regardless of the circumstances in which they are born and raised.