The COVID-19 pandemic “added a healthcare crisis on top of a housing crisis, and the only way to truly solve either is going to require bold investments and innovations in both,” said Michael Goar, Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ CEO, ahead of the social services organizations’ annual social justice assembly March 1.
Inadequate access to housing is a growing problem in Minnesota, especially with the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent economic downturn – but Black and Indigenous adults have been hit particularly hard.
A nearly five-month, national search for a president and CEO of Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis ended Nov. 10 with the announcement that Michael Goar, leader of Big Brothers Big Sisters Twin Cities, will replace Tim Marx effective Jan. 4.
Several people in homeless shelters run by Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis have tested positive for COVID-19 and are being cared for in isolation centers set up for that purpose by Hennepin and Ramsey counties, the nonprofit agency said.
Discovery of an alleged fraud scheme involving money intended to help the homeless obtain housing with the assistance of Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis has resulted in charges against several people and the investigation continues.
Although Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis has resettled refugees since the 1970s, its program became massively unpredictable in the past two years, prompting leaders to announce May 2 their decision to shift the nonprofit’s focus from refugee resettlement to helping children in the Hennepin County child protection system.
The brutally cold weather covering the eastern two-thirds of the country at the start of 2018 kept Catholic agencies scurrying to find ways to make sure no one was left without warm shelter and hot meals.
One year after the opening of a $40 million drive to expand the Dorothy Day Center in downtown St. Paul, $31.2 million has been raised to provide a meal, a place to sleep and a way forward for those who are homeless.
As a guest of Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Tim Marx, president and chief executive officer of Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, was seated in the gallery of the Capitol Sept. 24 to hear Pope Francis address a joint meeting of Congress. Marx said he’s bringing inspiration and affirmation from the pontiff home to Minnesota.
