Do a Google search for North Minneapolis, and before you even finish typing “Minne…” the top results will be “North Minneapolis shooting” and “North Minneapolis Crime.”
In the news, the North Minneapolis neighborhood has become synonymous with crime, despair and hopelessness. But every day at Haven Housing, we witness joy, community and hope within the North Minneapolis neighborhoods we call home.
Over 450 women and children reside at Haven Housing’s North Minneapolis programs each year: adult women and single mothers and their children, working to overcome crisis, heal from trauma, and create a life full of potential and hope. A wide body of research and our decades of experience tell us that “women heal in community.” Our programs create intentional communities within our walls, and in our beautiful, vibrant and diverse North Minneapolis neighborhoods.
Ascension Place
St. Anne’s Place
Next Step Housing
Ascension Place, in Near North, provides transitional housing to women seeking to heal and create a more hopeful future.
St. Anne’s Place, in the Jordan neighborhood, provides emergency shelter, safety and stability to women-led families experiencing homelessness.
Next Step Housing, in the Camden neighborhood, provides permanent supportive housing to women and women-led families working to maintain housing stability.
As 39-year residents of the North Minneapolis community, we embrace our surroundings and the people and places that make our neighborhoods so special, and we encourage our women and children to do the same.
At Ascension Place, housed in the former convent building of Ascension Church, current and former residents gather every summer in our beautiful backyard to celebrate each other’s successes and share their stories at our annual Alumni Barbecue. During the school year, we delight at the joyful sounds of students at Ascension School enjoying recess on their playground. Our summer biking program, funded through Our Streets Minneapolis, connects women with nearby trails and bike paths, just minutes away from our front door.
On sunny winter days, you can find St. Anne’s Place staff and volunteers sledding with the kids at Theodore Wirth Regional Park, just blocks from our shelter building on Russell Avenue. Each week, Northside Boxing Club hosts the kids from St. Anne’s Place. And Climbing Club at the northside’s Minneapolis Bouldering Project is another popular outing with St. Anne’s Place kids.
Our women from Next Step Housing enjoy visits to the Camden Farmers Market and summer picnics at nearby Webber Park.
Thirsty Whale Bakery, in the Webber-Camden area, makes personalized birthday cakes for every child celebrating a birthday at St. Anne’s Place. And, sometimes, when our staff needs a treat, we head down the street to Cookie Cart for their famous homemade cookies.
Haven Housing is honored to be an important thread in the fabric of North Minneapolis, providing stability and hope for women and children throughout the community. We invite you to visit us any time for a tour of our home. Contact us to schedule a visit.
Want to learn more about the very special neighborhoods that we call home? Visit www.northmpls.org.