Facilitating collaborations among education and community organizations to promote lifelong learning and community development.

Southeast Service Cooperative Foundation

Non-profit corporation with tax-exempt, 501(c)3 status

Established April 2003

Location:  210 Wood Lake Drive SE, Rochester, MN  55904

Telephone:  507.281.6673

The Southeast Service Cooperative Foundation is a non-profit corporation organized to perform lifelong learning, planning and development on a regional basis and to assist in meeting specific educational needs of children and adults in participating schools and communities which could be better provided as a collaborative than by the schools and communities individually. Cooperative lifelong educational and community development services provide for maximum effective and efficient use of resources.

The Foundation is located in Rochester, Minnesota and is closely affiliated with the Southeast Service Cooperative (SSC), a public agency initiated in 1976 by Minnesota Statute to serve schools and government units. The Foundation's mission is somewhat broader than SSC’s in that it reaches beyond meeting specific needs of individual entities in administrative and instructional programming to facilitate collaboration by diverse groups within and across communities in southeast Minnesota. 

The Foundation concerns itself with the following cooperative educational and community development domains:

1.       Multi-school/community planning, development, and operation of cooperative programs.
2.       Inter-agency liaison activities.
3.       Cooperative lifelong educational and community development services.

To promote collaborations and partnerships in lifelong learning and community development, the Foundation has defined its functions to meet the following:

1. To conduct educational planning and development on a regional basis, providing: a) a structure for coordination of cooperative multi-school and community planning and project development, and b) a data collection and reporting system with appropriate analysis which will assist in planning and development.
2. To serve as a liaison with governmental and planning agencies, providing: a) a structure for multi-school and community liaison activities, and b) policies and positions on general regional plans or development which may affect other planning agencies.
3. To provide educational, planning, and development services which participating entities determine can best be provided to local schools and communities on a cooperative basis by: a) providing a structure for cooperative lifelong educational and community development related services, and b) delivering or facilitating the delivery of lifelong learning and community development services.

The Foundation's Board of Directors include:

Theressa Arrick-Kruger, Houston County

Karla Bauer, Kenyon-Wanamingo Public Schools

Mary Blair-Hoeft, City of Byron

Lynn Gorski, City of Owatonna

Don Leathers, Austin Public Schools

Bree Maki, Lewiston-Altura Schools

Jason Marquardt, Mabel-Canton Schools

Rob Mathias, Stewartville Public Schools

Jean Roth, Zumbrota-Mazeppa Schools

Monica Sveen-Ziebell, Plainview-Elgin-Millville Schools

The Southeast Service Cooperative Foundation was formerly registered as the Collaborative for Learning and Community.