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FOR RELEASE
March 13, 2003
CONTACT:
Bill Fredell
Lutheran Social Service
651/969-2288Becky Benson
Incarnation Lutheran Church
651/484-7213Incarnation Lutheran Church and Lutheran Social Service Team Up to Bridge Gap in Housing for Homeless Teen Mothers With Children
ST. PAUL, Minn. (March 13, 2003) Where do 16- and 17-year-old homeless mothers with children find emergency shelter? In the Twin Cities, there hasn't been a safe place for them - until now.
n mid-April, Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota (LSS) and Incarnation Lutheran Church in Shoreview will open LSS LifeHaven, a short-term shelter that will provide housing for up to 90 days, and include case management, parenting and life skills for six young mothers and their children at a time. An Open House is planned for the congregation on Sunday, April 6 from 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The community is invited to tour the shelter on Tuesday, April 8 at noon.
The shelter will help alleviate a huge gap in housing services, since most family shelters don't accept minors without parents, and youth shelters typically don't accept infants, said Susan Phillips, director of LSS Youth Housing Services. With few alternatives available, many homeless youth seek unsafe shelter options to keep their children with them.
"Homeless youth are an invisible population," explained Phillips. "You might not notice them in shopping malls or at the grocery story. But there are literally hundreds of kids living in unsafe situations and they have no place to go. About 60% of those we serve in transitional housing have children. LifeHaven is going to make a big impact." Phillips added that she has already received a dozen calls from other organizations that want to make referrals to LifeHaven.
Four years ago, Incarnation formed a group to determine a strategy for identifying and supporting a local mission project where they could devote significant financial and volunteer resources and see the visible benefit of their efforts. At the same time, LSS was interested in opening a service for homeless minor mothers, a service that is not available in the Twin Cities and would meet a critical unmet need.
"In his ministry, Jesus was constantly and personally responding to the needs and cries of the marginalized in society with healing action and words of hope," said Rev. Jeanne Markquart, Incarnation Lutheran Church. "Likewise, in our ministry with minor moms at LifeHaven, though there is a financial commitment, the people of Incarnation are most energized by the opportunity to personally interact with the beneficiaries, to support them in their difficult journey, and to help these young moms and their children know that they are cared for, that they are loved, and that there is hope for their future."
Rev. Alan Loose, director of LSS Cooperative Ministries, said that LifeHaven is a major faith-based initiative that blends the expertise of each organization into something that will have an enormous impact on the lives of young mothers with children. He said that, as government seeks to reduce funding for social services, congregational partnerships like these will become even more important to the well-being of those who are most vulnerable in our community-kids.
Incarnation volunteers drew up renovation plans for a duplex that was purchased at 325 Jenks Avenue in St. Paul. Weekly work crews worked for months and contributed thousands of hours in volunteer labor to prepare the home for six mothers with children. Incarnation has provided $70,000 towards renovating the facility, and has pledged up to $50,000 each year for the first five years of operation.
Along with receiving safe housing, the young moms will work with an advocate to set goals and make plans to include work, school and more permanent housing.
Incarnation Lutheran Church will play a key role by providing mentors, educators, financial planning, job placement assistance and volunteers to help with needs for apartments. Volunteers have also collected home furnishings, quilts, diapers and other supplies to prepare for the opening of LifeHaven.In 1997, the Wilder Research Center conducted a survey that indicated that most homeless kids leave home at age 13 or 14. The majority of these kids leave to escape physical, sexual and emotional abuse. Nearly half of the youth surveyed reported that they suffered physical mistreatment by an adult; one quarter of youth surveyed said they were victims of sexual abuse in their homes. About 60% said they would likely never live with their families again.
With increasing numbers of homeless youth showing up on the streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul in the 1980s, LSS developed street outreach, a Safe House shelter and scattered site transitional housing services for vulnerable kids. Rezek House, an LSS transitional housing service for youth in St. Paul that opened last year, and now LifeHaven, are a direct outgrowth of these services. Major funders of the LifeHaven project include Incarnation Lutheran Church, McKnight Foundation, Department of Health and Human Services, Family Housing Fund, The St. Paul Foundation, The Andersen Foundation and the Mardag Foundation.
Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota offers a wide variety of human support services relating to the basics of life-food, shelter, safety, physical and emotional well-being. The non-profit organization, headquartered in St. Paul, serves over 100,000 Minnesotans yearly with operations in 300 Minnesota communities, and employs over
2300 people. LSS serves all people regardless of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, disability or age. Comprehensive information about statewide services can be found through the agency's web site at www.lssmn.org
LSS Office of Communications
Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota
2485 Como Avenue
St. Paul, MN 551081-800-582-5260
651/642-5990
FAX 651/969-2360
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