Open Your Heart Special Projects |
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Through our strong partnerships with hunger and homeless service providers across Minnesota, Open Your Heart is uniquely positioned to identify and address current and emerging needs. By conducting continuous research within the community, we strategize to overcome barriers and prioritize geographic and demographic considerations, ensuring support reaches diverse populations. In alignment with these efforts, we annually issue special requests for proposals, as resources allow, to respond directly to pressing and evolving challenges. Open Your Heart 2024 Request for Proposals (RFP)A Special RFP focused on projects designed to serve unsheltered Minnesotans through effective and immediate solutions. Problem Statement: Unsheltered Homelessness in Minnesota Unsheltered homelessness in Minnesota is a critical and growing issue, affecting thousands of individuals and families. On any given night, over 10,000 Minnesotans experience homelessness, with about a third not in a formal shelter. This lack of stable housing worsens health disparities, increases mortality rates, and burdens public health systems. Open Your Heart issued a special Request for Proposals (RFP) to gather insights on addressing unsheltered homelessness. By encouraging even small initiatives, we aim to identify overlooked areas and explore alternative solutions. We received an overwhelming number of requests, highlighting the significant need. Below are the projects being supported through this RFP. $10,000 | Blaine Funding to support Linus’ Pet Haven, a new program/initiative that will allow survivors of domestic and sexual violence who are unhoused when fleeing for safety to bring their pets with them into the emergency shelter. This is a critical service, as 97% of survivors report that keeping their pets with them is a key factor in deciding whether to seek shelter, and 50% would remain in unsafe situations if they could not take their pets. By introducing this program, Alexandra House, Inc. is expanding their offerings to include individuals and families with pets who might otherwise avoid seeking the necessary safety of emergency services. $10,000 | Coon Rapids Funding to provide housing assistance dollars to youth, specifically pass-through dollars for youth who do not qualify for FHPAP housing funds and need assistance obtaining housing stability. Although these individuals are employed, their income does not meet minimum qualifications for market rate housing. HOPE 4 Youth’s goal is to bridge the gap to allow them to move into stable housing and eventually support themselves. $10,000 | Nisswa Funding is dedicated to restoring dignity and promoting the value of work and service. Additionally, a fund will be established that helps with deposits, emergency utility needs, rent, etc. to formerly homeless residents who contribute their time and efforts to serving others. Funding for this request encourages residents to become stakeholders in their community and work to keep their neighborhood looking beautiful. $10,000 | Minneapolis Funding in support of Wildflyer’s Stabilizing Futures project, which will provide both accessible basic needs resources and intentional stability stipends for youth experiencing homelessness. Young people without safe and stable shelter will receive essential supplies and gift cards, allowing them the dignity of choosing the items they need. Additionally, they will have the opportunity to apply for a stability stipend, which can be used for housing, transportation, or education expenses. The impact on unsheltered youth will be to support their success in our program and beyond by addressing their basic needs and their barriers to successful employment and stable housing. Union Gospel Mission Twin Cities $5,000 | St. Paul Funding will help increase capacity to meet recent, heightened demand for unsheltered men in St. Paul. Union Gospel Mission has added 28 beds at their Bethel Hotel emergency shelter, where they provide a safe, warm, dry place to sleep and three hot meals each day, year-round. They also offer a holistic range of wraparound services to support men in moving toward longer-term stability. This project impacts unsheltered Minnesotans by overcoming the loss of a reliable shelter space. Union Gospel Mission ensures that they have a warm, dry, safe place to spend each night and nourishing meals during the day. A sudden shelter-closure is devastating for these men, many of whom also face barriers in accessing information and transportation. $5,000 | Brainerd Funding will support the extension of operational months for their overnight shelter for unhoused individuals, allowing it to remain open through Summer 2025. Previously, the shelter was only available to guests during the winter months. Funding from Open Your Heart will contribute to Bridges of Hope’s capacity to continue addressing the critical need for emergency shelter in their region by supporting: 1) staff time to provide direct guest support; 2) ongoing operations while staff maintain the shelter each night; and 3) essential program supplies such as blankets and cleaning materials. $5,000 | Red Wing The grant will help fund the overnight shelter which provides direct support to unhoused adults in Goodhue County. In addition, the grant will help launch the new day program which will assist the unhoused obtain the social determinants of health they are lacking. The overall goal of both programs will be to build community. It is only by building community that individuals and families will be able to become less reliant on social programs. Once the basics of food, safety, shelter and community have been established then one can achieve self-actualization. By being able to provide a place for guests to be during the cold winter months and providing a year-round day program for all community members to access, the groundwork is laid for those facing some of the greatest barriers to healthy living will be able to receive the services they need. $5,000 | Bloomington Funding to expand Oasis for Youth’s outreach to unsheltered youth populations in Bloomington, Richfield, and Edina. Specifically, they will advertise their programming with Metro Transit, enhance partnerships with local businesses and law enforcement to identify areas where unsheltered youth populations are in their community, and expand their outreach at transit hubs. Suburban Hennepin County has seen significant poverty growth over the last three years, alongside an affordable housing crisis, and a shortage of jobs with livable wages. As a result, Oasis for Youth is seeing a significant increase in unsheltered youth experiencing homelessness in their community. This request will allow their “Mobile Oasis” program to build capacity and provide additional outreach on Metro Transit and at transit hubs where unsheltered youth congregate. By meeting youth where they are and addressing their basic needs and connecting them to services, their program helps ensure that youth can stabilize their lives. $5,000 | Duluth Funding to support their Community Housing Program, which operates 45 units of permanent supportive and transitional housing and assists youth, ages 18-24, in finding other housing opportunities through the St. Louis County Coordinated Entry system and beyond. Funding from Open Your Heart will provide these youth with financial assistance opportunities for direct housing costs associated with the transition from homelessness to stable housing. South Central Human Relation Center (SCHRC) – PATH Outreach $5,000 | Owatonna Funding will enhance the capacity of the PATH program to not only help connect with homeless individuals and refer them to services and support but also be able to assist the individual to short term shelter using motel vouchers for 2–3-night stay, depending on each individual’s situation. The short-term shelter would support the individuals in being more able to follow through with attending assessments/evaluations, housing stabilization, housing search and other behavioral health appointments to support ongoing support and services. And most importantly give the individual a shower and a warm bed. St. Andrew’s Community Resource Center $5,000 | Mahtomedi Funding to support St. Andrew’s Community Resource Center’s hotel shelter overflow program. By offering access to free hotel stays in the area, they can provide shelter for more families who are living in a place not meant for habitation and provide case management so families can become more stable. They are the only Family Sheltering Program in Washington County and receive over 40 calls a month requesting shelter for families. Open Your Heart funding will allow them to shelter more families in the East Metro who are experiencing housing instability. |