Rochester mosque to use grant money for workforce training, services

(ABC 6 News) – The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) is providing $18-million dollars in grants across the state to help with the impacts of COVID-19, natural disasters and the civil unrest that has occurred in the last two years, specifically to help underserved communities or economically disadvantaged people of color.

And, the Masjed Abubakr Al-Seddiq mosque (MAAS) in Rochester is set to receive $1.5M from those grants. MAAS serves the East African community in Rochester, and will utilize these funds to increase access for individuals to their workforce training and services.

"Honestly we are very optimistic about what the future holds for many of the community organizations and our community here at large in Rochester," said Abdullahi Adan, an MAAS board member.

The mosque will also be renovating the second floor of its current space, and will expand bus driving, childcare, home health aid, IT coding training opportunities and will also increase job placement assistance.