The McKnight Foundation is issuing more than 15 million dollars in grants to help move welfare recipients in Minnesota into work. The foundation is funding twenty-one partnerships around the state made up of local employers, community groups and branches of government. The money is intended to help an estimated 34 thousand welfare recipients get job training, child care, transportation and other services they need to find and hold down a job. The Headwaters Regional Development Commission in Bemidji was the first partnership to receive its grant last September. David Hengel is the Economic Development Director.