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Programs & Partnerships

  • Through innovative programs and strong partnerships with community education leaders, we’re reaching more young students than ever before.

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  • Target team members volunteered more than 475,000 hours in 2011
  • 88% of K-12 schools have received funding through Take Charge of Education
  • $298 million donated to schools through Take Charge of Education to date
  • 118 Target School Library Makeovers completed from 2007 to 2011
  • 5,000+ schools received a Target Field Trip Grant during the 2010-2011 school year
  • 1,750 Early Childhood Reading Grants were given in 2011
  • 37 schools in 31 cities participated in Target Meals for Minds in 2011
  • Stores and distribution centers gave more than 1,700 book awards to schools in 2011
  • 490 stores hosted Target School Sprees in 2011
  • Nearly 420,000 students took a Target Field Trip during the 2010-2011 school year
  • 311,000+ families connected by the Target-supported United Through Reading program
  • On track to give $1 billion for education by the end of 2015

Take Charge of Education®

With the help of our REDcard® holders, Target has donated $324 million to local K–12 schools since 1997. These undesignated funds can be used for whatever schools need most, from books and school supplies to classroom technology to enrichment programs.

Because of a severe learning disability, an 8-year-old girl was the only one in her third-grade class who couldn’t read yet. “Her self-esteem was pretty low,” remembers artist Donna Jepsen-Minyard, who runs the Art@Adams program at Adams Elementary in Corvallis, Oregon. “She felt like she’d been labeled ’the dumb one.’“

That all changed when her class started a weekly hour of hands-on art instruction. “As it turns out, she’s an incredibly talented artist,” Jepsen-Minyard says, “and her classmates really praised her talent. Looking forward to art class on Tuesday helped her get through the rest of the week and start to enjoy coming to school.”

All 420 Adams students participate in Art@Adams, which is funded almost entirely by donations like those from Target’s Take Charge of Education (TCOE) program, a benefit of Target’s REDcard®. According to an April 2010 survey by the American Association of School Administrators, one third of school districts faced budget cuts between 10 percent and 25 percent for the 2010-2011 school year—making programs like Art@Adams nearly impossible to maintain. “Without the support of our parents and donors like Target, we wouldn’t be able to continue the program,” says Principal Patty Person.

“Art is not only valuable, it’s essential,” says Jepsen-Minyard. In a typical week, her young artists not only learn art technique, patience and perspective, but also touch on science, math and even spelling. (“‘Silhouette’ is a great spelling word,” she laughs.)

Learn more about our goal for increasing TCOE giving to schools in communities nationwide.

“Without the support of our parents and donors like Target, we wouldn’t be able to continue the program.”

Patty Person Principal, Adams Elementary

Target Meals for MindsSM

If kids don’t get proper nutrition, they can’t concentrate or perform well in school. According to a 2010 report, 17.2 million children lived in food-insecure households in 20092. That’s why Target created Target Meals for Minds—an innovative program that brings food to K-12 students and families in need.

In 2010, Target introduced the Target Meals for Minds school food pantry program in five cities, and we’ve since expanded to 37 schools in 31 communities across the country. Target Meals for Minds offers students and their families convenient access to a variety of fresh foods and staples right at school. Each school has a minimum of 65 percent or more of its students qualifying for Free and Reduced Lunch. At some schools, more than 90 percent of the student body qualifies for the program.

Through Target Meals for Minds and our ongoing partnerships with Feeding America and local food banks, Target is helping children focus on learning instead of how or when they will get their next meal. Learn more at Target.com/mealsforminds.

Kids in Need Resource Centers

In 2007, Target became the national sponsor of Kids in Need Resource Centers, a program that puts free school supplies in the hands of teachers and students. Teachers from select schools with at least 70 percent of students enrolled in the Federal Free Lunch program can “shop” at the Resource Centers to supply their students with the resources they need to learn and succeed in the classroom.

Since Target became involved with the program, we’ve helped make it possible to provide free school supplies to more than 1.6 million children and 100,000 teachers annually.

Building Educated Leaders for Life

In 2007, Target began a partnership with Building Educated Leaders for Life (BELL), an in-school supplemental education program that helps transform the academic achievements and self-confidence of children living in under-resourced urban communities.

By sponsoring the BELL Early Readers program, Target was able to help 3,000 K-3 students sharpen their literacy skills year-round. Through our sponsorship of BELL Summer and BELL After School, students benefit from small-group academic instruction, mentorship and a wide range of other enrichment and community-engagement activities.

1 Ellerson, N., (2010). A Cliff Hanger: How America’s Public Schools Continue to Feel the Impact of the Economic Downturn. American Association of School Administrators.
2 Nord, Mark, Alisha Coleman-Jensen, Margaret Andrews, and Steven Carlson. Household Food Security in the United States, 2009. ERR-108, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Econ. Res. Serv. November 2010.

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