Programs

  • Program 1 [2020]

    CU provides Safe Shelter, Stable Housing, Nutritious Food, and a Path Toward Healing to our neighbors in need. All persons are welcome regardless of faith or spiritual perspective, including those who embrace no faith tradition or practice.Churches United provides shelter, support services, community meals and gatherings for people experiencing or at-risk of homelessness. We consist of two food pantries, two shelters, and one permanent supportive housing apartment complex. Our largest shelter, Micah's Mission, is the only shelter in our area that shelters, men, women, and families. Our food pantry in Moorhead is the largest consumer choice pantry in the area. Micah's Mission Shelter and Community Center, located at 1901 1st Ave N in Moorhead, provides emergency shelter and housing focused case management. There are 51 individual beds and 8 family rooms. Micah's Mission also has allocated space for guest to enter overflow when the need is the greatest. Micah's Mission has a maximum shelter capacity of 112 people. Usually, the community center is open daily from 8am to 7pm, and offers two hot meals every day, a daily bread shelf, nursing services, and other necessities for day-to-day life. The Dorothy Day House, located at 714 8th St S in Moorhead, is a small men's shelter with 16 beds serving our most vulnerable men in the community in a homelike setting. Dorothy Day House also operates a Medical Respite program, which offers greater medical oversight for those recovering from acute injuries or illnesses. Usually, community members are welcome to come and use the laundry and shower services Monday through Friday and receive necessities for day-to-day life.In 2020, 769 individuals were sheltered through both MM and DDH, 107 of those were seniors aged 55+ and 122 of those were children; and 100,506 meals were served between the two sites. In 2020, 509 households accessed shelter through CU. Dorothy Day Food Pantry, located at 1308 Main Ave in Moorhead, is open five days a week: Monday and Wednesday from 6pm to 8pm, Tuesday and Thursday from 1pm to 3pm and Friday from 9am to 11am. DDFP operates as a consumer choice pantry model focusing on healthy food options for our neighbors in need. Dorothy Day Food Pantry West, 2820 Bluestem Drive in West Fargo, is a pop-up pantry that is volunteer operated with administrative support. The pantry is open from 2:00pm to 3:00pm on Monday and Wednesday.In 2020 the pantries served a total of 18,555 households and distributed over 1,609,800 pounds of food to families in need. In 2020 our pantries served 7,433 unduplicated individuals. Of these, 50.46% were women and 49.53% were men. We served 3,166 Caucasians, 613 African Americans, 347 Hispanic/Latino, 723 Native Americans, 109 Asian/Pacific Islanders, 1,080 who identified as Other and 1,395 who identifies as Unknown. Bright Sky Apartments, located at 3305 3rd Ave N in Moorhead, is owned and operated by Churches United. The building provides 43-units of permanent supportive housing in a clean and safe environment. Supportive services include case management and referral, health support, weekly food distribution as well as support and empowerment groups. BSA consists of 43 units ranging from efficiencies to 4-bedroom apartments. In 2020 49 households were housed at the Bright Sky Apartments. These households were comprised of 56 adults and 61 children. In total 19,126 households were served by Churches United in 2020.CU relies primarily on its growing family of supporting faith communities as well as the broader and for support in fulfilling our mission to provide Safe Shelter, Stable Housing, Nutritious Food, and a Path Toward Healing. In 2020, 3,205 volunteers gave 12,806 hours of time in support of our mission across our five locations.We measure our success in direct relation to our mission statement of providing Safe Shelter, Stable Housing, Nutritious Food, and a Path Toward Healing for our neighbors in need. In terms of safe shelter and stable housing, we track the number of guests who stay at our two shelters and tenants at our permanent supportive housing apartment according to their demographic information (age, gender, race, chronic health conditions, where they have stayed previously, and other HMIS information), as well as the number of guests who return to our shelter after being placed in stable housing. We keep a cumulative count of the number of nights guests sleep in a safe bed at our shelters over the course of a year. Being able to shelter more guests shows our success in elping the community. As relates to nutritious food, we record the total number of households served, the number of unique visitors to our pantries, the number of pounds of food distributed, and demographic information about our pantry visitors. Providing more meals to our guests and community is a measure of our success. As regards a path toward healing, we record the number of client appointments with our shelter nurses. Qualitatively, every guest at our shelters receives cmprehensive case management. We document all the meetings, keeping detailed case notes about each household, their goals, and the steps they are taking to reach these goals. Additionally, we measure our community support by recording the number of volunteers, the number of hours served, and the number of organizations and faith communities who support our work. Bringing health care to those who need it is an additional measure of our success.We excel at providing comprehensive care for community members who are experiencing housing insecurity in all stages of their transition from homelessness into permanent stable housing. Our goal is to make homelessness brief, rare, and non-reoccurring. Churches United according to housing-first principles, meaning our on-site case management works with our guests to create goals that lead towards safe, stable, sustainable housing. Along with our on-site case management, Churches United provides a shelter nurse in partnership with Sanford Health. The shelter nurse assists guests with scheduling appointments, medication refills, and daily health concerns. With a person-centered approach as our model for care, we treat people with dignity and respect and involve them in decisions relating to them. Our shelters are low-barrier and provide wrap-around care for the most vulnerable in our community by meeting them where they are at with the least number of restrictions. Churches United practices harm-reduction by implementing practical strategies and ideas aimed at reducing negative consequences. The addition of Safe Haven in 2021 a 27 bed emergency shelter for women who are not accompanied by children and a planned renovation of at Micah's Mission (which will add 5 family rooms and 3 medical respite rooms) increase our ability to meet the need for safe shelter. Churches United currently owns and operates one permanent supportive housing complex, The Bright Sky Apartments. We will be constructing a second permanent supportive housing building in 2022. This new building, The Silver Linings Apartments, will provide 36 units of deeply affordable housing to seniors 55 and older. Our food pantry in Moorhead operates on a consumer choice model, which creates the familiar shopping experience of individuals choosing their items, while providing essential nutrients and variety. By October of 2021, our second pantry location will also be operating on a consumer choice model with expanded hours as well.
    Geographies
    Not indicated
    Dates
    Jan 1, 2020 – Dec 31, 2020
    Source
    990
    No causes provided
    No populations provided
    –
    $5.1M

  • Safe Shelter And Support Services

    CU provides Safe Shelter, Stable Housing, Nutritious Food, and a Path Toward Healing to our neighbors in need. All persons are welcome regardless of faith or spiritual perspective, including those who embrace no faith tradition or practice. Churches United provides shelter, support services, community meals and gatherings for people experiencing or at-risk of homelessness. We consist of two food pantries, three shelters, and one permanent supportive housing apartment complex. Our largest shelter, Micah's Mission, is the only shelter in our area that shelters, men, women, and families. Our food pantry in Moorhead is the largest consumer choice pantry in the area.
    Geographies
    Not indicated
    Dates
    Jan 1, 2023 – Dec 31, 2023
    Source
    990
    No causes provided
    No populations provided
    –
    $5.2M