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Photo by Nicole Aufderhar
Rev. Tim Hart-Anderson of Westminster Presbyterian Church.
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‘A spontaneous eruption of decency'
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By Gregory J. Scott
// A rare partnership to house homeless pairs charitable giving with state funds, business leaders with faith community //
It’s amazing how a little wind chill can speed up a fundraising project. Especially when the money goes toward getting the homeless out of the cold.
In the final weeks of 2009, with plummeting temperatures and icy gusts lending new luxury to the idea of a warm bed, the Downtown Congregation to End Homelessness, a group of 12 Downtown-area faith organizations, pulled off an impressive flash-fundraiser, raising more than $70,000 from their congregations in under 21 days. The last-minute effort was part of a joint push with the Downtown Council to scrounge up $350,000 by year’s end. The money is providing a financial jump-start for a plan by Hennepin County to move 150 homeless individuals out of two shelters on Currie Avenue and immediately into permanent housing.
It’s called the Currie Avenue Partnership, and it’s far from a typical holiday charity drive. Rooted as much in hard-data economics as it is in moral cause, the project promises a rare intersection of shrewd fiscal policy and humanitarian ideals. It has engendered an unprecedented three-way collaboration amongst the government, faith-based and business sectors of Downtown. And if it works, it could make Minneapolis a nationwide model in the fight against homelessness.
A bright idea
Last month, when Cathy ten Broeke visited the Salvation Army and Catholic Charities on Currie Avenue, it wasn’t the overcrowding that shocked her. As coordinator of the Minneapolis/Hennepin County Office to End Homelessness, she already knew that the Downtown homeless shelters were full to the brim, packing 700 residents into facilities intended to sleep only 400, that people were crashing in hallways and chairs. By the close of 2009, the overcrowding was so common that many homeless advocates in the city had begun wondering whether they should open up more shelters.
“What struck me that particular night,” she recalls, “was that there were so many people with a disability that made them eligible for [publicly assisted] housing.”
Most of the men and women she spoke to had no idea that they qualified for such housing. And even if they did, ten Broeke said, they had no idea of how to find a housing case manager to help them navigate the process.
So instead of thinking about building new shelters — an expensive, inefficient band-aid for those suffering from long-term homelessness — ten Broeke said, “Why don’t we think about getting people who are eligible for permanent housing out of these temporary shelters?”
Group Residential Housing is an existing state program that helps low-income adults who have been placed in a registered living setting pay for food and lodging. According to the program’s website, more than 16,000 people use it every month. The budget forecast for the 2010–2011 biennium is $235 million.
“This is money that people are already eligible for,” ten Broeke added. “They just can’t access it. We’re trying to leverage our resources to help connect individuals with a currently existing state program.”
Individuals experiencing long-term homelessness qualify for GRH just as do those who provide housing to such individuals. But funds only become available when a qualifying individual moves into a qualifying unit. So the trick is connecting the homeless to the housing providers — because GRH funds don’t activate until the homeless person settles into the new housing.
“That connection doesn’t just happen automatically,” said Laura Kadwell, state director for Ending Long-Term Homelessness. “You need someone to identify qualified housing who can then help move people who qualify into it.”
And that’s where ten Broeke’s plan comes in.
All ten Broeke would need would be to hire a small team of case managers who could guide eligible Currie Avenue residents toward GRH eligible landlords. She figured it would take $35,000 to support one case manager over a period of six months. She also assumed that each case manager would house 15 people (GRH funds take over the cost of case managers after they successfully house 15 people). Ten new case managers would cost $350,000, then, and could potentially house 150 individuals.
“Once they house their 15 people,” ten Broeke says, “the state money kicks in and will be enough to keep the case manager going. It’s a one-time investment.”
‘The easiest thing in the world’
But how do you raise $350,000? You start by contacting two of the biggest churches in Downtown.
As one of the original co-chairs of the 10-year Heading Home Hennepin Plan to End Homelessness, the Rev. Jim Gertmenian of Plymouth Congregational Church had worked with ten Broeke before.
When she laid out her plan to Gertmenian, he said, “it became a no-brainer. My trust in Cathy as an extraordinary leader is such that, if she asks me to do something on this issue, I have to do it.”
On Nov. 20 Gertmenian brought up the issue with his colleague Rev. Tim Hart-Andersen of Westminster Presbyterian Church.
“It was a brilliant idea,” Hart-Andersen remembers. “But of course the religious communities Downtown don’t have those kinds of resources available quickly. That’s when the thought came to my mind to approach the business community.”
Hart-Andersen represents the Downtown faith community at the monthly meetings of the Downtown Council. He immediately arranged for Gertmenian and ten Broeke to meet with Sam Grabarski, president and CEO of the Downtown Council. Grabarski saw the economic sense of ten Broeke’s plan.
By easing the burden the chronically homeless place on costly public systems — emergency rooms, detox centers and homeless shelters — the Currie Avenue Partnership, ten Broeke argued, can save taxpayer dollars and help resolve many of the livability issues that effect Downtown like graffiti and panhandling. She helped conduct a 2007 study that followed the 266 individuals who most repeatedly cycled through jails, shelters and detox. By housing only six of these individuals, the county found that it could save $13,000 per person in the amount of services used.
“These things were instantly identifiable for the business community,” said Grabarski. “It just makes Downtown more livable.”
Convinced, he got the Currie Avenue proposal on the agenda for the Dec. 3 meeting of the Downtown Council.
In front of 40 business executives, on the 50th floor of the IDS Tower, “Cathy got up and told the story,” said Hart-Andersen. “And these executives were moved on the spot.”
The Council took a straw poll, and support of the proposal was near unanimous.
Less than two weeks after the initial conversations amongst ten Broeke, Gertmenian and Hart-Andersen, the faith communities had a deal with the Downtown Council. If the religious congregations could raise $70,000 by the year’s end, the business community would pledge the remaining $280,000.
“It was fast,” said Hart-Andersen. “Nothing moves that fast in our world typically.”
And the actual fundraising?
“The easiest thing in the world,” said Gertmenian. The following Sundays, both preachers took the story to their congregations, presenting ten Broeke’s story in their sermons. “By the end of that afternoon we were at $30,000,” said Gertmenian. “People were literally handing me checks in the line after church.” All contributions came from individuals, he added, with the largest being $5,000, the smallest $25.
At press time, Gertmenian’s Plymouth Congregational Church had raised $60,000. Hart-Andersen’s Westminster Presbyterian Church had raised $20,000. The Downtown Council had reportedly raised $70,000, one week before the start of their formal campaign at the corporate level. The Council expects to announce the final fundraising tally at their annual meeting on Feb. 3.
Such a three-way financial partnership, with church collections and corporate donations serving to activate available state funds, is rare to say the least. It’s unprecedented in the United States, says ten Broeke, “and its success will be noted by other metropolitan areas.”
“This is something that was waiting to happen,” added Gertmenian. “There has been no push back, no foot-dragging. It’s like a spontaneous eruption of decency.”
Reach Gregory J. Scott at gscott@mnpubs.com.
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FYI
To donate
Those interested in donating to the Currie Avenue Partnership can send checks to:
The Family Housing Fund
Midwest Plaza West,
Suite 1650
801 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, MN 55402
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Carmichael Lynch drops Harley account
UPDATED August 30, 2010, 2:29pm
By Gregory J. Scott
When it comes to selling muscle bikes, three decades is enough. Downtown advertising agency Carmichael Lynch announced August 23 that it was resigning from its Harley-Davidson account, ending a relationship of 31 years with the iconic motorcycle brand. In a prepared statement, Doug Spong, president of Carmichael Lynch, said, "Our agency leadership came to the consensus that we've taken the Harley-Davidson brand as far as we can. It's in our best interest to part ways." Mark-Hans Richer, Harley’s CMO, said, "Our strategies have been moving away from a singular consumer target and a one-size-fits-all agency solution. Rather than accept this new reality, Carmichael Lynch chose a different path and we respect that." The
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Community notebook :: Florence Court apartments
By Gregory J. Scott
1 Comment
At Florence Court, new apartments up, courtyard staysThe mid-August groundbreaking came and went quietly for the FloCo Fusion Apartments, a chic rebranding of a ramshackle cluster of student housing near the University of Minnesota’s East Bank campus. Despite years of resistance from current residents, the new building is officially going up, fanfare or no. Florence Court, as the community used to be called, is one of the oldest apartment buildings in the Midwest, dating back to 1886. The L-shaped structure sits at the intersection of 10th Avenue SE and University Avenue, but is tucked back from the street, hidden until recently behind a BP gas station. The 33-unit complex surrounds a leafy courtyard, which its residents — a colorful
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Watching out for the homeless
By Sarah McKenzie
// Volunteer outreach worker Jerry Fleischaker honored with prestigious McKnight award //After Jerry Fleischaker’s wife died of Alzheimer’s disease, he came across a newspaper article about St. Stephen’s Human Services’ work reaching out to homeless people with mental health issues. The story inspired him to start volunteering for St. Stephen’s. Now the 79-year-old retired pharmaceutical sales representative volunteers full time for the Downtown-based organization. “My wife died of Alzheimer’s in 2002. I saw the care she needed,” Fleischaker told Monica Nilsson, director of street outreach and community education for St. Stephen’s. “I was haunted by the thought that people might be
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Downtown visioning session looks to 2025
By jake weyer
// Whether to add a park north of Central Library will be part of the discussion, meant to produce a 15-year plan for Downtown //It’s been nearly 15 years since Downtown business leaders got together with city staff and elected officials to hash out a long-term plan for the area. Back in 1996, those stakeholders came up with Downtown 2010, a vision that included such grandiose plans as a new ballpark for the Minnesota Twins, a light rail line along Hiawatha Avenue, a new Central Library, completion of the Target Center and the development of the Downtown Improvement District — all realities today. “We’re standing now, planless,” said Sam Grabarski, president of the Downtown Council. “And a lot of good
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A mountain out of a bronze molehill?
By Gregory J. Scott
// The Sid Hartman statue stirs debate about public memorials Downtown //
OK, no one disputes that the guy deserves a statue. Sid Hartman, the nonagenarian sportswriter who has spent the last 65 years reporting for the Star Tribune and WCCO, is probably getting bronzed. The Department of Public Works is ironing out technical details for installing a metallic Sid replica, complete with TV reporter microphone and newspaper tucked under the arm, right outside of Target Center and a block from the Twins stadium, at the corner of 6th Street and 1st Avenue. The Public Works assessment is the final stage in a roughly six-week approval process to get the statue out into the public. No one’s upset about that. As Nick Legeros, the artist who designed
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Biz buzz :: Construction costing Elliot Park businesses
By Gregory J. Scott
1 Comment
For Elliot Park businesses, street improvements come with a price
True to its motto, Band Box Diner can turn “grease into a feast.” But the Elliot Park gem can’t make much out of the road construction that’s transformed its streetscape into a scarred industrial zone.
The throw-back diner is one of the businesses standing to benefit from a sweeping, 15-block reconstruction of Chicago Avenue South — if only it can survive through to the project’s completion.
“It’s kind of like, if you have a half hour for lunch, and then you get lost for 45 minutes, what are you gonna do?” says Brad Ptacek, who has operated the diner for the last 13 years.
Ptacek’s breakfast
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