Lutheran Social Service launches public campaign for new Center for Changing Lives in Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS (March 19, 2008) – Four years ago, Becky Hentges was pregnant and had nowhere to go. Drug addiction and depression made it difficult to gain stability. With affordable housing, counseling, parenting classes and employment help from Lutheran Social Service, she now works full time, has reunited with her older daughter and is making a new life with her family in Maple Grove.
Hentges, representative of the life-changing value of one-stop access to social services, shared her story at a press briefing today announcing the public campaign for the new Center for Changing Lives in Minneapolis, a unique venture that will bring public and private partners together to offer a “campus” model of social services on a much larger scale. Steel is already in place as construction progresses on schedule for an end-of-year finish.
Officials from Lutheran Social Service and Hennepin County described the center as a project unlike any other in the country and announced that the private phase of campaign had secured $23 million, leaving $4 million left to raise.
"We are 86% of the way there!" said Mark Peterson, President and CEO of Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota. “Support so far has been stunning. Now, we are inviting others in the community to participate in this amazing project to bring it to completion.”
The Center for Changing Lives has gained financial support from 33 foundations and businesses including Wells Fargo, Target, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans and a $1.2 million challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation. Lutheran congregations from Bloomington to Grand Marais are also on board with lead gifts, along with several hundred individual major donors. Peterson said he is hopeful Minnesotans will join the effort to secure remaining donations needed, a requirement to receive the challenge grant monies.
The Center will include a comprehensive service center, 48 units of affordable housing and new construction for Messiah Lutheran Church. It will be home to the Minneapolis office of Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota, Messiah Lutheran Church, the Phillips West Neighborhood Organization, and Kaleidoscope.
A wide range of social services will serve the residents of the Phillips neighborhood, the Twin Cities and, in some cases, the entire state. Services include financial counseling, housing, youth services, mental health, employment, a clothes closet, food pantry, adoption, pregnancy counseling, refugee services, and a Personal Finance Center.
Lutheran Social Service and Hennepin County, working together to provide 48 apartments of affordable housing and access to supportive services right on site, also see the new Center as an opportunity to be part of the growing work to end homelessness.
"Housing and access to support services right on site will be instrumental in helping families develop long-term stability," explained Peter McLaughlin, Hennepin County Commissioner and Co-Chair of the Center for Changing Lives campaign. "This is a visionary project. The services delivered through this Center will bring incredible value, not only to the well-being of our citizens in the Twin Cities, but to citizens in counties statewide."
Messiah Lutheran Church, a multi-racial, neighborhood faith community, located a block away from this site for almost a century, will also be relocated in the Center to offer spiritual support and a variety of social services.
So far, passersby can see that the footings and foundation walls are in place, steel beams are three stories high, and many apartments are already framed. Interior drywall will occur in mid-summer, followed by landscaping in August. Housing tenants are expected to move in by early October, while employees will move in by late November 2008.
Major partners working together in the Center for Changing Lives include Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota, Messiah Lutheran Church, Hennepin County and Faith in the City, representing seven Lutheran institutions, such as Thrivent Financial for Lutherans and Fairview Health Systems.
For ongoing progress reports, visit
www.centerforchanginglives.org
