Fiscal Year 2024: September 1, 2023 – August 31, 2024
Dear Friends of LDA Minnesota,
Another eventful year has passed at LDA. While our programs and services were growing with new partnerships and state grants, we also found ourselves moving in new directions.
After 15 years of owning our property in Golden Valley, LDA’s board of directors and staff decided to sell the property and move to a smaller office location nearby. Over the pandemic we found our programs and staff adjusted to working at home and online. Like many organizations, we established new ways of working and delivering service and have not gone back to pre-pandemic ways of work. Our building has been underutilized since 2020 and when a buyer approached us with an offer to purchase, we took some time to reflect on our building usage and future plans. Our new location is filled with natural light, spacious yet right-sized, and provides space for meetings and client services.
Our team continued to deepen our partnership with INDIGO Education in 2024. Together, we secured two state grants to expand our teacher licensure, mentoring and preparation work in charter schools statewide. LDA’s teacher mentoring programming was awarded a three-year grant from the MN Department of Eduction and INDIGO Education in partnership with charter schools was awarded a Special Educator Pipeline 5-year grant to help pay for teacher prep tuition in LDA’s program. With these grants, the partnership aims to increase the number of licensed special educators, increase the diversity of special educators statewide, and increase the retention of special educators in charter schools statewide.
All of LDA’s board and staff thank you for your continued support of our work. Whether we’re training new teachers, providing a diagnostic assessment to a child, or delivering a reading intervention to groups of students in schools, our commitment to our vision remains: All adults and children with learning challenges are understood, accepted, and empowered to achieve their life goals.
Best,
Martha Moriarty
Executive Director
Our mission: LDA Minnesota serves individuals, families and communities impacted by learning differences, equipping and inspiring learners to thrive and lead fulfilled lives.
Our vision: All adults and children with learning challenges are understood, accepted, and empowered to achieve their life goals.
Values:
- Quality: As a leader in the field, LDA stays abreast of current research and the needs of our community. We evaluate our work to ensure that our clients are making progress and we are exceeding their expectations for service delivery.
- Accessibility: LDA provides individualized educational services to under-resourced and underserved communities that would not have access to high quality services otherwise. We strive to offer information and services to all populations regardless of abilities.
- Outreach: LDA strives to be a resource for information in the community; we do this through our community partnership, advocacy efforts, and programs.
- Strengths: LDA believes all learners have strengths and abilities; we value, respect, appreciate, and recognize each unique life experience.
- Equity: LDA believes all learners can thrive. LDA strives to develop cultural competency and to eliminate policies, practices, attitudes and cultural messages that perpetuate disparities based on race, culture, ethnicity, ability, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or socioeconomic status.
- Self-determination: LDA believes that we all have the ability to learn and grow at any age. LDA provides services across the lifespan. We believe individuals with disabilities should have full self-determination by understanding their condition(s) and determining future goals.
- Justice: LDA stands with our community against racism, oppression and injustice and will work toward ending racial disparities that plague our systems, schools and neighborhoods. We know that traumatic events can negatively impact teaching and learning environments.
LDA Board of Directors 2023-2024
Cheryl Coombs, President
Craig Foss, Treasurer
Paul Wallace, Secretary
Cathy Borbos, PhD, MPH
Scarlett Ferguson
Catherine Lenagh
Michelle Mattison, LLMSW
Pahoua Yang, PhD, LP, LICSW, MSSW
LDA Key Staff 2022-2023
Martha Moriarty Executive Director
Nichelle Williams-Johnson, Education Services Manager
Dr. Jennifer Christensen, Program Manager
Dr. Daniel Macari, Mentor Manager
LDA directly served 1,461 individuals during Fiscal Year 2024 (Sept. 1, 2023 – Aug. 31, 2024), of those served, 91% were children and families; 9% were adults; 77% were low-income; and 80% were people of color. LDA provides information, training, and resources statewide with direct services focused on the Twin Cities metropolitan area.
Learning Connections, a 27-year collaborative partnership with urban schools, promotes learning success for children at-risk for reading and/or math failure. The Learning Connections Program is an academic intervention service that directly addresses the children behind Minnesota’s opportunity gap statistics. During the school year 2023-2024, the Learning Connections Program served 287 students in grades K-12, approximately 91% of whom were low-income and 94% students of color. For students receiving reading or math interventions during the school year: 93% showed positive growth, and 60% exceeded expected growth expectations in reading and 80% exceeded growth expectations in math, thereby narrowing their gaps in reading or math from their peers. Eighty-two percent (82%) of students self-reported that they have more positive feelings toward reading and are getting better at reading.
Assessment, Tutoring, and Executive Function Skill Building Services help individuals understand how they learn and gain strategies to improve their learning. These highly specialized, personalized, and intensive services are tailored to meet the specific educational and vocational goals of children and adults. Educational assessment services are offered to persons age 5 and older, and include both diagnostic and informal educational assessments to identify and document academic strengths and weaknesses. In 2023-2024, LDA provided individualized services to 67 individuals through online and in-person instruction:
- 100% of tutoring students who completed 12 or more sessions achieved their target goal
- 94% of executive function skill building students who completed four sessions made progress to their target goal.
- 100% of assessment clients agree or strongly agree that the assessment was helpful and contributed to them being able to access more appropriate services or accommodations at school or work (50% strongly agreed and 50% agreed). 100% would recommend the service to others.
Learning Disability & ADHD Support Services provide adults with learning and attention challenges the knowledge, resources, and support to help them understand and manage their learning and attention challenges through weekly and monthly support groups, focused workshops or training sessions, and consultations. In 2023-2024, 45 adults gained skills and resources to better manage their challenges and achieve their academic, vocational, and personal goals. Delivered online and in-person in FY2024, 100% of support group members responded to surveys rating the service as “very positive” or “positive” and 100% said they would recommend the group to others.
Teacher Preparation and Licensure Program trains aspiring special education teachers for the Academic Behavioral Specialist teaching license. The program is approved by the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB).
- The Program graduated its fourth cohort of teacher candidates, recommending three candidates for licensure in May 2024.
- 85% of the candidates were retained in the program, the average GPA was 3.87. A total of 15 candidates were enrolled in the program during FY2024, of those 42% of the candidates identify as Black, Indigenous, or Persons of Color (BIPOC)
Financial Statements
ASSETS
| Current Assets | |
| Cash and cash equivalents | $879,217 |
| Accounts receivable, net of allowance | $145,330 |
| Note receivable, current | $8,526 |
| Prepaid expenses and other assets | $21,598 |
| Total current assets | $1,054,671 |
| Property and equipment | $446,288 |
| Less: accumulated depreciation | ($1,907) |
| Net property and equipment | $444,381 |
| Total Assets | $1,689,838 |
LIABILITIES and NET ASSETS
| Current Liabilities | |
| Current maturities of long-term debt | $0 |
| Accounts payable & accrued expense | $45,610 |
| Accrued employee benefits | $55,916 |
| Accrued interest | $29,562 |
| Deferred revenue | $15,187 |
| Total current liabilities | $146,275 |
| Long-Term Debt (net of current maturities) | |
| Notes payable | $500,000 |
| Less: current maturities | $0 |
| Long-term debt (net of current maturities) | $500,000 |
| Total Liabilities | $646,275 |
| Net Assets | |
| Without donor restrictions | $1,028,604 |
| With donor restrictions | $14,959 |
| Total Net Assets | $1,043,563 |
| Total Liabilities and Net Assets | $1,689,838 |
STATEMENT of ACTIVITIES
| REVENUES/GAINS/PUBLIC SUPPORT | |
| Program revenue | |
| Fees for Service | $205,769 |
| Gov’t Grants & Contracts | $582,014 |
| Total Program Revenue | $787,783 |
| Contributions | |
| Foundation, trust, corp grants | $130,986 |
| General Public support | $27,664 |
| Rental Income | $17,800 |
| Net assets released from restrictions | $0 |
| Total Public Support | $176,450 |
| Non-operating Revenue/Gains | |
| Investment Income | $4,625 |
| Gain on sale of real property | $585,375 |
| Tota non-operating revenues | $590,000 |
| Total Revenues/Gains/Public Support | $1,554,233 |
| EXPENSES and LOSSES | |
| Program Services | $992,258 |
| Support Services | |
| Administration | $80,094 |
| Fundraising | $32,173 |
| Total Expenses and losses | $1,104,525 |
| CHANGE in NET ASSETS | $449,708 |
| Net Assets – Beginning of year | $593,855 |
| Net Assets – End of Year | $1,043,563 |
Total Cost of each major Program at LDA Minnesota
| Learning Connections | $417,156 |
| Teacher Prep & Licensure | $377,360 |
| Diagnostic Assessments | $114,834 |
| Public Education, Instructional & Support Services | $82,971 |