Bemidji Area Rapid Response to Homelessness:
In October of 2018 the Northwest Minnesota Foundation (NMF) was made aware of community members concerned about the hungry and homeless population in the Bemidji area. Knowing there was a harsh winter ahead NMF convened leaders from across the community to develop a collaborative plan of action. In all over 100 organizations from the Bemidji area have signed on to be a part of this effort. Without dedicated volunteers in the community none of this work would have been possible.
Through a set of planning sessions this group developed three main priorities; Build Community Awareness; Create Daytime Shelter and; Increase Evening Shelter Capacity. NMF awarded four grants to expand overnight shelter capacity at two area organizations and to add two complementary daytime shelters in the winter of 2018/2019.
NMF’s investment in these critical areas resulted in:
- 263 homeless individuals received assistance
- Support services were accessed 1,079 times
- Three organizations received grant funding from NMF to support evening and daytime shelter for the winter of 2019/2020
Work continued through the summer of 2019 to create a resource guide that is included in this newsletter. This guide highlights the resources that are available for those in need in the community. A pocket-sized version has also been created for community organizations and area businesses to hand out when they encounter someone needing help.
Those interested in having copies of this newsletter to post at your business or the pocket-sized version to handout please contact Cory Boushee, Program Officer at NMF at coryb@nwmf.org.
