Extra, Extra!

Safe Haven Breaks Ground for new Welcome Center

A groundbreaking ceremony for Safe Haven’s Welcome Center was held October 18 at 10:30 AM. The Welcome Center site is located on the 60-acre Shepherd’s Path campus in Prior Lake. 

Since 1997, Safe Haven has served neglected and abused youth and young adults (including troubled youth, youth in the foster care system, teen moms, etc.) who are now or may be at-risk of out of home placement or homelessness. Safe Haven works hard to establish trust with program participants and build their self-esteem early in the program so that they can benefit from all of our services. The organization has established itself in the community as a resource for at-risk youth in need of support services and will be expanding these services for youth and families in-crisis with the construction of the Welcome Center and five one-bedroom permanent supportive housing units.

With 12,000 square feet, the Welcome Center and apartments are part of Safe Haven’s long-term goal of becoming a comprehensive, multi-service social service agency for youth and young adults in the south metro area. In a time when government social service programs are being slashed and in a suburban location where these services are scare to begin with, Safe Haven will provide the safety net for youth in the area. The Welcome Center will provide independent living skills training, case management, family community support services, on-site nurse screening, free walk-in counseling and hygiene/personal care services and will be the gateway for their supportive housing programs and other community services.

Attending the groundbreaking ceremony were (from left) Board Member Jim Koshak, Board Vice-Chair Susan M. Hadley, Group Home Program Director Jackie Korus, Board Chair Pauline Drake, Transitional Homes Program Supervisor Regan Warren, Associate Director Teri Funk, Executive Director Dan Saad, Board Member Kevin Horkey, Office Administrator Kris Gerold, and Board Member Craig Olson.

Safe Haven Offers Shelter From the Storm

Give him a minute and Dan Saad ’85, ’91 M.B.A., will sell you a dream:
the dream of a better life for troubled Minnesota youth. He’ll tell you
about a kid who lived in a tent behind a church. He’ll mention suburban
youth who couch-hop, the invisible homeless who move from
one friend’s house to another. He’ll talk about kids whose stepparents
throw them out of the house as soon as they turn 18. He’ll ask you,
“Is it right for them to be homeless? I don’t think so, if they’re willing to change.”
Read more…

Safe Haven Offeres Shelter From the Storm (PDF Article)

Development of Non-Residential Support Services

Scott County (where the Shepherd's Path campus is located), like many of the suburban counties we serve, is experiencing unprecedented growth, but lacks a strong network of social services to support this growing population. The newly released census figures show Scott County as the fastest growing county in the state of Minnesota, having increased from 57,846 in 1990 to 89,498 currently - a gain of 55%. This figure is expected to increase to 109,000 persons by the year 2010 according to Metropolitan Council estimates. Some specialized services for youth exist, for teens who are pregnant or experiencing domestic violence for example, but youth and young adults lack a centralized place to go for help.

Dakota County, where our transitional homes are located and where we expect youth to come from for the new facility is the third most populous county in Minnesota, with an estimated population of 374,000 (2003). Dakota is one of the fastest growing counties in Minnesota and has an eclectic blend of first, second, third ring suburbs, small towns and rural communities. Approximately 70,000 children attend school in 10 different school districts. It is projected that the youth population (ages 15 -19) will continue to grow.

For the past several years, these and other counties we work with have been requesting that Safe Haven formalize its outreach services and develop non-residential support services for youth and young families. We often receive referrals for youth who don't qualify for county supportive programs because they don't fit the criteria:

they are "too old" (the vast majority of services are targeted at kids 13 and under), they don't have parental consent, they haven't experienced "county approved" out-of-home placement (a criteria for receiving some services), or they are already homeless (at least one county program that is focused on preventing homelessness can't help someone who doesn't currently have a home they are at-risk of losing).

In addition, community-based organizations and local schools also refer youth who are reluctant to seek help and/or who need an approachable person to talk to about their problems. Other examples include someone from a local church who calls us about a youth in the congregation who is talking about running away. The local school districts also call us about 16, 17 & 18 year old kids who sign up for school, but don't have a home address to list, and are later found to be homeless.

Safe Haven helps kids like these in whatever way we can; sometimes we are able to mediate with families and help youth return to their homes, other times we encourage families to temporarily place youth in one of our supportive housing programs. In these and other circumstances, Safe Haven provides support, counseling, advocacy, referrals and sometimes direct services to troubled or homeless youth in the community. The Shepherd's Path project we seek support for will formalize our community outreach services and help us direct youth through our existing continuum of care or to other resources in the community.

Safe Haven Welcome Center

Shepherd of the Lake Evangelical Lutheran Church approached us about the possibility of opening a non-religiously affiliated youth-focused facility on their 60-acre Shepherd's Path social service campus. After exploring several other options including purchasing a building and leasing space in other locations, Safe Haven's board of directors approved a collaboration with Shepherd of the Lake.

In addition to Safe Haven's facility, the Shepherd's Path campus will also encompass senior housing, a YMCA, a Lutheran Social Services office, and an electronic college campus. The goal of our project on this campus is to create supportive services for community youth and youth in foster care and to establish positive, long-term relationships with young people who find themselves struggling or who are at risk of becoming homeless or dependent on public assistance.

Services offered include independent living skills training, therapeutic counseling and support, case management, family community support services and aftercare/follow-up services. Less intensive services will include on site doctor/nurse screening services, free walk-in counseling services for youth and young families, hygiene/personal care services and essential need services. The targeted population is youth ages 15-21. We will reach our target population through a network of county social workers, churches, housing coalitions and schools.

In addition to formalizing our youth outreach efforts, this project will allow Safe Haven to centralize its administrative operations, which are now scattered among 5 separate sites. Safe Haven plans to include volunteers and interns whenever possible in our programming at the center. For example, Augsburg College , a candidate for a Shepherd's Path distance learning center, is interested in arranging internships at our facility for professional psychologists and psychiatrists in training in their graduate school. Other colleges will also be approached.

One aspect of programming at the new center will be independent living skills classes conducted in our commercial kitchen. Since 2000 when we opened our transitional living facilities, Safe Haven has been using a curriculum that teaches youth basic meal preparation and nutrition. With the new facility, youth in our transitional living program can now also learn how to use commercial kitchen equipment and learn how a commercial kitchen is run. And, for the first time, Safe Haven will be able to open its youth Independent Living Skills program up to kids not enrolled in our programs including youth in Foster Care and community youth.

The 7,500 square foot building Safe Haven is constructing will include:

• 875 square feet for administrative offices (existing positions including the Executive Director, Associate Director, Office Administrator and Bookkeeper will office here, as well as 2-3 new staff positions to be created)
• two 120 square foot counseling rooms
• a 500 sq. foot commercial kitchen in which to teach independent living skills and prepare meals
• a 100 square foot medical/dental exam room
• a 3,000 square foot multi-service room that will be used for dining, group and community events, and can be broken into two smaller rooms
• a 1,300 square foot recreational/activity room where youth can be while waiting for an appointment or can just "hang"
• 300 square feet of bathroom, shower and changing room space where homeless youth can shower or clean up
• 500 square feet of administrative storage space

Transportation - The Shepherd's Path campus is located on County Road 42, a major thoroughfare through the community. We also plan to have a van to provide transportation to and from the facility for youth who need assistance getting to us. There is also a transit shelter planned directly across County Road 42 from the Shepherd's Path campus. The presence of several other organizations including a YMCA on the Shepherd's Path campus will also attract youth to our location.

Collaboration - Safe Haven embarks on this project with the enthusiastic support of our community-based, school and county social service partners. Representatives of Dakota, Scott and Carver Counties have agreed that non-residential community based services are vital to create significant change in the success of keeping families together and training young adults to live independently. Prior Lake, Burnsville, and Chaska area schools have referred youth to our programs in the past and have expressed their strong support for this project (in fact the Prior Lake High School principal has offered the services of their habitat for humanity group to help during construction).

Long-term funding - The Shepherd's Path project is a unique opportunity for us to construct a new facility while keeping costs low. Safe Haven is entering into a long-term lease arrangement with Shepherd’s Path. In the first year, Safe Haven will only have the expense of the construction costs and a partial year of operating costs. In the second year, Safe Haven will begin making lease payments on the land (payment will be negotiated based on our ability to secure program funding). An ongoing strategy for keeping operating costs low is extensive use of volunteers, interns and in-kind donations of items and services.

We anticipate that annual operating costs after the first year will remain in the $250,000 range. We are projecting that around $150,000 of the increased expenses will be covered through program services (basically fee-for-service contracts). An estimated 15-25% of operating expenses will be secured through increased foundation and corporate funding (Safe Haven's corporate and foundation funding has been very limited in the past). The remainder of increased operating expenses will be covered through increased support from local businesses, community-based organizations and individuals.

Importance of this Project

The Shepherd's Path capital and program development project will streamline Safe Haven's operations by centralizing and expanding our administrative services. More importantly, this project will allow Safe Haven to serve a new and larger set of youth in the community. Youth who are in trouble or need help, but are not participants in our supportive housing programs will now have an informal, safe place to go for help and support. Safe Haven will also now be able to include youth who are currently placed in foster homes in our independent living skills programs -- one of the most comprehensive in the region.

Safe Haven staff and the community we serve are very excited about the Welcome Center at Shepherd's Path because it provides new opportunities for collaboration among not only other agencies on the Shepherd's Path campus, but schools, churches and county social service programs, it will provide centralized intake services for at least four counties, by offering free services in an accessible location, it will break down barriers for youth seeking help and it will be the first centralized social service facility south of the river.