A Handbook for the Streets of Downtown Minneapolis, and Beyond

By Claudia Kittock

Most of us spend our work lives giving very little thought to retirement.  It seems part of an amorphous future that has no connection to our present.  I assumed my post-work life would just ‘happen’. I had many false starts and stops, but I kept returning to work that involved people experiencing homelessness, particularly children and teens. The things I did not know were overwhelming and while I am much better educated today, I still have so much to learn. I began my education with people who work at St. Stephen’s.

St. Stephen’s is a 501c3 nonprofit that helps thousands of people find housing and other support. It began in the 1960s when members of the St. Stephen’s Church offered programs for the poor and homeless, initially staffed by volunteers from the parish. St. Stephen’s Church, along with ten other Minneapolis churches opened a few shelters that were believed to be temporary measures for a temporary crisis.

While many of these church-based shelters closed, St. Stephen’s remained open and created programming to assist people experiencing homelessness. The purpose of this programming was to help people access and retain permanent housing, while providing for their daily needs.

In 2002, its founding parish community determined that St. Stephen's Human Services should obtain nonprofit status independent of the church.  While the programs remain true to Catholic social justice teachings, St. Stephen’s Human Services is an independent nonprofit organization. The vision of St. Stephen’s is a community in which housing instability is rare, brief, and non-recurring, ending homelessness as we know it.

People experiencing homelessness live in every neighborhood. They are often invisible, because they ‘look like everyone else’. 80% of people experiencing homelessness have a job.  40% of those people have 2 or more jobs. Most people do not think of children when they think of people experiencing homelessness, yet children represent 35% of the overall homeless population, and young people age 24 or younger are the most likely age group to be homeless.

Homelessness can seem to be an overwhelming social problem.  However, there are ways everyone can help. St. Stephen’s has published a pamphlet titled, Handbook of the Streets.  It is a resource guide published annually for those who are homeless or living in extreme poverty, and is free is to those are homeless, and can be accessed online at:

MINNEAPOLIS: View the 2015-2016 Handbook of the Streets here!

ST. PAUL: View the 2016-2017 Handbook of the Streets here!

The Handbook has phone numbers and locations for places that provide assistance in finding a free meal, a place to sleep, public assistance, health care, education, employment, legal services, and services for immigrants. Anyone can use this resource to assist someone in need of help.

Not knowing what to do to help is as normal as it can be complicated.  However, the Handbook will help you point people in need to those who do this work and do it well.

St. Stephen’s has an outreach team that is out on the streets every day talking with and offering help to people experiencing homelessness. If you see someone in need, calling the outreach team can be a great first step. They can be reached at 612-879-7624.

Ending street homelessness is a huge job, but it can be accomplished. All of us are needed to do just that. Offering help to one person you meet is a start! Every person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect in a community where housing is a basic human right.

Claudia can be reached at claudia@millcitymedia.org