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Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the F. R. Bigelow Foundation continued its tradition of providing leadership as new challenges and opportunities emerged in the Greater Saint Paul metropolitan area.
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 Recognizing the importance of strong neighborhoods to the overall health and vitality of the community, the Foundation created a 10-year initiative - The Children, Families and Community Initiative (CFCI).
CFCI aimed to strengthen family units and build healthy communities in the Frogtown and Summit-University neighborhoods, two of Saint Paul's most economically distressed areas.
The Foundation delegated direction of the initiative to a steering committee comprised of residents who planned and managed CFCI's programs to build on the neighborhood's assets.
 In the early 1990s, the Foundation played a leading role in helping the community reclaim the Mississippi River, a primary strategy in revitalizing downtown Saint Paul.
The Foundation helped create the Saint Paul Riverfront Development Corporation and invested in numerous community development projects which have led to a significant transformation of the city's riverfront and downtown.
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Based on a 1992 study of elementary schools in Saint Paul, the Foundation discovered school libraries had become the casualties of a squeeze on school funding resulting in limited hours and resources.
 The Foundation helped created the Library Equity and Excellence Project (LEEP) to improve libraries in the city's elementary schools so that children could have the resources they needed to achieve success in school.
Parents and teachers were involved in developing literacy programs in schools, and book collections and library staffing were significantly enhanced.
After making a substantial investment in the 1980s in adult literacy, the Foundation decided to address the literacy needs of preschool children to help decrease the achievement gap between low-income children of color and white children in the Saint Paul Public Schools.
 In 1999, the Words Work! initiative began operating in Head Start classrooms after substantial research was conducted into best practices.
Words Work! surrounds surrounds three- and four-year-old Head Start children with literacy in the classroom, provides customized professional development and support for preschool teachers, supports parents as the first and lifelong teachers of their children and uses assessment for continual improvement.
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