Invest in Our Community
Project Home engages area faith communities to provide emergency shelter space and volunteer support for Ramsey County families facing homelessness.
By Randi Ilyse Roth, Executive Director
Our vision is: People of faith working together to relieve the effects of poverty and to address its root causes. Our board and our staff are deeply serious about making this vision a reality. All of our programs work towards that end.
Our Department of Indian Work food shelf is there to help families who cannot put food on the table. Our Project Home shelter is there for families with children who do not have housing. These direct service programs meet immediate, essential needs of families in poverty. And they work in upstream ways too, providing connections to education and other resources that will help families do better in the long run.
Our after-school programs work to ensure that African American and American Indian children have culturally specific, enriching educational experiences beyond those that the public school day can give them. The children in our program are making literacy gains and are finding a warm and nurturing school-home in these programs. But the funding for these programs has been significantly cut in the past year as the Greater Twin Cities United Way, the foundation community, and state government sources have cut back on funding for work with children in grades K – 5.
In general, all of these programs are funded in part by government contracts and foundation grants. But those sources provide only part of the funding. The key to these programs’ survival is funding from individuals and from faith communities.
Our newest program, Opportunity Saint Paul, seeks to deliver more than 5,000 hours of highly effective tutoring and job coaching through our excellent non-profit partners, right where it’s needed most in our East Metro. This program also seeks to raise awareness of poverty in Saint Paul, and to inspire more people in the faith community to volunteer in efforts that will make the difference to raise people out of poverty.
This is long-term work. All of it. And we need your support.
On October 26, 250 people will gather at Mount Zion Temple to hear more about this work and to have the immediate opportunity to respond by making a financial investment in Interfaith Action. It is the opportunity to invest in the future of Saint Paul and all of the members of our community. Whether you are invited to the breakfast by a member of your faith community or you sign up online, we look forward to welcoming you to our Bringing Faith to Life Breakfast.
Advance registration is required. Call Kristi Anderson at 651-789-3843 if you have questions or would like to attend.
Warm Regards,
Randi Ilyse Roth
Executive Director