The past year was full of achievements, both big and small. We want to look back on some of the accomplishments we’re most proud of and celebrate them with you. All the progress we made this year is thanks to our hardworking staff, our resilient families, and our generous community! Thank you for supporting our work in 2024 and beyond.
1. We Welcomed St. Anne’s Place
Our proudest accomplishment of 2024 was adding St. Anne’s Place as an additional shelter to support families. You can learn all about the gift process and St. Anne’s Place here. Our partnership with St. Anne’s Place has expanded People Serving People’s commitment to helping families experiencing homelessness and deepened our outreach to North Minneapolis. Their work is also inspiring new ways to bring the warmth and intimacy of a small shelter into our Downtown Minneapolis space.
This acquisition enabled us to save 16 shelter rooms from closing while bringing the efficiencies of a larger enterprise to a smaller shelter. Most importantly, the staff at St. Anne’s Place continues to show us new ways of helping families heal. We’re so excited to learn and grow alongside St. Anne’s Place in 2025!
2. We Raised Our Minimum Wage
Sometimes the “market rate” for a position doesn’t match the cost of living in the community. This year, People Serving People evaluated what it truly takes to thrive while living in Hennepin County. Then we ensured all staff, regardless of “market rates,” were provided a living wage. We raised our minimum wage to $25 an hour – a $5 increase – in the first half of 2024. “Financial stability ought to be a right, not a privilege – for all of us,” as Hoang Murphy said in his article on the pay increases. We’re proud of this investment in our work because well-paid staff are better positioned to support our guests in achieving stability and self-sufficiency.
3. We Offered More Support for Our Spanish-Speaking Guests
We saw a sharp increase in Spanish-speaking guests over the past two years. To better accommodate these families, we’ve hired more bilingual staff, translated documents, partnered with translation services, and offered English language learning classes to our guests. We continue to solicit feedback from guests on ways we can better support everyone’s needs in 2025 and beyond.
4. We Cared for Families and Staff During a Crisis
The attack on St. Anne’s Place, which occurred in early September, was a deeply traumatizing experience for our families and staff. However, the attack was also an opportunity for us to lean into our values. In addition to repairing the building, we offered counseling services to both shelter guests and staff affected by the incident and moved families into local hotels until safe shelter arrangements could be made. We also took action, contacting elected officials and MPD leadership, demanding justice – restorative justice, for St. Anne’s families and staff. The attack, while harrowing, brought us closer together. It demonstrated the power of neighborly support, as hundreds of people donated in the following weeks to help us recoup our expenses. Finally, it fueled our resolve to build a tight-knit community that stands up for our most vulnerable neighbors – families experiencing homelessness.
5. We Created a Vision for the Future
Over the past year, our Senior Leadership Team has worked hard to create a new strategic plan that redefines our values and centers the voices of our families. Feedback from our guests and community stakeholders was instrumental in shaping this plan. Staff conducted hundreds of surveys, interviews, and focus groups to learn how we can improve our work in the coming years. Over 94 families participated in this info-gathering process, offering their perspective on topics like programming, safety and security, family engagement, and more. This endeavor marks a huge step forward in our commitment to centering families in our work. We are immensely proud of this new strategic plan, and we can’t wait to share it with you in 2025!
