Hip Hop and Hope, TNT Kids Fitness earn $250K Bush Prize for community impact – InForum

FARGO — Two Fargo-based organizations are earning recognition for their work making the community a better place.

Hip Hop and Hope and TNT Kids Fitness have been named winners of the 2025 Bush Prize: North Dakota, through the Strengthen ND and Bush Foundation.

Both groups will receive $250,000 to continue their missions.

Hip Hop and Hope helps those affected by incarceration, addiction and homelessness through mentorship and music.

TNT Kids Fitness started as a gymnastics center. It has since expanded into a model for inclusion through its “Able-in-School” program, which uses adaptive physical education to help people with physical or mental disabilities stay active.

“The prize money is a really exciting piece, because it’s going to allow us to do more in North Dakota, to get out into our rural schools and make people more aware about what Able is,” said Kim Pladson, president and CEO of TNT Kids Fitness.

Another development for TNT Kids Fitness is its use of an AI-powered app called Clara, which helps create personalized and modified exercises.

Kjersti Maday joined WDAY as a reporter in May of 2024. She is a native of Granada, Minnesota and graduated from Minnesota State University Moorhead in 2015.