“What I admire most about MacKenzie Scott is she knows us,” Corrie said. “There was clarity in that call they had done their homework on us. From the time we did the video, in which we asked for $1 million, there was several months when they learned about us and came back and said they wanted to put in $3 million.”
Twin Cities Rise CEO Emma Corrie, left, and other leaders of the Minneapolis nonprofit organization. They celebrated a bell-ringing ceremony with Missy Agee, in grey spotted top fourth from right, who received job training at Twin Cities Rise. The group invites trainees to return and ring the bell after working more than one year at a job.
Over three decades, Twin Cities Rise has trained 29,000 people who are underemployed or unemployed, often due to racial or socioeconomic barriers. After a “Riser” works for a year, the organization invites them back for a special honor. The Riser rings a bell in the building lobby and is feted by their former trainers and current co-workers.
In late January, I watched Missy Agee return for her ceremony after a year-plus of working in the public works department of the city of Minneapolis. Agee described turning to Twin Cities Rise not long after completing nine years in prison. She was living in a halfway house when she decided to enroll in the organization’s training program.
“I gotta do something with this downtime,” Agee recalled thinking.
With a portion of Scott’s money, Twin Cities Rise modified its classes so they could be taught inside Minnesota’s prisons. It recently tested the idea at the Minnesota women’s prison in Shakopee.