Hennepin County increases funding to meet escalating homelessness, By Rochelle Olson, July 21, 2013, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “Nita Wagner was starting to feel more hopeful about her life. She’d been sober for two years, was collecting $800 in monthly child support payments from her toddler’s dad and had settled into a one-bedroom apartment in northeast Minneapolis. But then the payments abruptly stopped, leaving her scrambling to find a way to pay her August rent. ‘For this to be happening and stay straight, this is a challenge,’ said Wagner, who at 37 has drug addiction, prostitution and domestic violence in her past. ‘I won’t cave. I won’t give up, but it sickens me to know we might be going backward.’ Such abrupt and wrenching setbacks are all too familiar to families such as Wagner’s. Now they’re getting extra help from an intensive Hennepin County housing program administered through St. Stephen’s Human Services…”
Tag: Minneapolis
Access to Assistance Centers – Minneapolis, MN
Hennepin County moves social services out into community, By Julie Siple, February 13, 2013, Minnesota Public Radio: “A $40 million project in Hennepin County will bring government help closer to the people who need it. For two decades, county residents seeking assistance with food, money or health care have gone to the county’s main financial assistance center in downtown Minneapolis. Between 25,000 and 30,000 people visit the building every month. Hennepin County has a five-year plan to close that center and move services closer to clients by building six regional hubs, the first of which has been up and running for about four months in Brooklyn Center…”
Low-Income Neighborhoods and Farmers Markets – Minneapolis, MN
Mini farmers markets thrive in low-income Minneapolis neighborhoods, By Madeleine Baran, July 20, 2010, Minnesota Public Radio: “Tim Page has broken up concrete, chased away woodchucks, and battled an overflowing sewer with one purpose in mind — to create a farmers market to bring fresh produce to north Minneapolis residents. The Streetwerks Youth Farmers Market opened two weeks ago in the parking lot of a former gas station, after a year of work, and with the help of a team of young adults from the neighborhood. On the market’s second day of business, three teenagers picked vegetables from a nearby garden, set up a tent on the cracked asphalt parking lot, and waited for customers. As rain began to fall, an elderly woman walked up to buy a basket of okra. The newly minted farmers helped her pick the best batch while cars zipped by along the industrial stretch of Glenwood Avenue. ‘I saw the potential here,’ Page, 47, said, surveying the community gardens across the street from the market. ‘You know how you want to be part of a success? This feels pretty good right now.’ The Streetwerks market is part of a growing movement to open small-scale farmers markets in low-income Minneapolis neighborhoods where fresh produce is scarce. Organizers say the markets are starting to transform the diets — and the economy — of some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods…”