About St. Stephen's Human Services
About St. Stephen's Human Services
Our History
St. Stephen’s Human Services, a 501c3 nonprofit, helps thousands of people secure housing and other support each year, but its beginnings were modest. In the 1960s, members of St. Stephen’s Church began offering programs for the poor and homeless. These programs were often initially staffed by parish volunteers. Across the country, homelessness escalated dramatically in the early 1980s due to a number of factors, most critically a national recession, decreased federal funding to local governments by 60%, demolition of affordable housing in many major cities, and the deinstitutionalization of mental health facilities without providing alternatives.
St. Stephen’s Church, along with ten other Minneapolis churches, responded by opening shelters which were believed to be temporary measures to a temporary crisis. Most of these church-based shelters have since closed, but St. Stephen’s began creating programming to assist people experiencing homelessness to access and retain permanent housing. In 1991 St. Stephen’s launched Alliance Housing, a nonprofit affordable housing developer. In 2002, its founding parish community determined that St. Stephen's Human Services should obtain nonprofit status independent of the church. Therefore, while the programs remain true to the Catholic social justice teachings on which they were founded, St. Stephen’s Human Services is no longer connected to the Catholic Church.
Our Board of Directors
|
Jim Nikolai, Chair
|
J. Andrew Herring Christine Jones Loretta Larkey Sandra Larson Jay McGregor Ed Murphy Katherine Schafer |
Our Vision, Mission, and Values
Our Vision
We envision a community in which housing instability is rare, brief, and non-recurring, ending homelessness as we know it.
Our Mission
Ending homelessness.
Our Values
Equity: Housing is a basic human right.
Dignity: Every person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.
Integrity: We expect honesty and accountability of ourselves and others.
Self-Determination: Each person has the ability to know and realize their own success.
Mutual Responsibility: Investing in our neighbors results in a healthy community for all.
Get Involved
Connect
