Dear Friends:

When education is applied to community service, great progress can be made in solving individual, family and community problems. At the Adler Graduate School (AGS), we have been combining education with community service for forty years. Now, we have an opportunity to do even more.

Soon, we will open a new and critical resource for thousands of Minnesotans: the Jim Ramstad Community Service Center. The Center will reflect the legacy of one of our state’s most treasured leaders, retired Congressman Jim Ramstad. In addition to AGS’ graduate-level educational programs, the Center will offer marriage and family therapy, individual mental health counseling, coaching, a pre-school therapeutic child care center, a training program for school counselors, and an art therapy program designed for children. Nonprofit tenant organizations will provide complementary services. Plans for the Center also include the implementation of a new addictions curriculum. We anticipate that Jim Ramstad will provide guest lectures and classroom instruction in the Center, and may locate an office in the building as well.

At the Center, we are establishing a new model for graduate education and its intersection with civic engagement. AGS is dedicated to preparing students and graduates for service to the whole, increasingly diverse community – not just select parts of the community. In the process, our students’ and graduates’ dedication to community service, the highest standards of ethics, and an unmistakable respect for diversity will be nurtured. We are seeking $3.6 million in philanthropic support for the new Center. We would be honored to call you a partner.

Best wishes,

Adler Graduate School

We prepare our Master’s-level students for some of the most challenging work imaginable – helping people change their lives. We work in a variety of communities, and we address a wide range of problems related to the mental health and well-being of individuals, couples, families and organizations.

Thanks to Jim Ramstad

The Mental Health Parity Bill has been passed. According to Robert Pear of The New York Times, this milestone piece of legislation will improve insurance coverage for mental health treatments for 113 million more Americans. In short, Congressman Ramstad’s legislation will offer help for millions who currently lack access to mental health and chemical health services. Jim Ramstad’s legislation will help the Adler Graduate School’s community-based interns and graduates to be even more responsive and effective, and will allow us to reach people who, previously, have been largely unreachable.