Interfaith organization launches new effort to house migrant families

CATHY WURZER: Beginning this week, houses of worship in the Twin Cities will open their doors to provide extra beds to migrant families who need a place to stay. According to a recent story in the Sahan Journal, Hennepin County staff say their shelters for families experiencing homelessness are beyond capacity, and half of the families in the shelters are recent arrivals from the southern border and major US cities. The nonprofit Interfaith Action of Greater Saint Paul is coordinating the new program. And CEO Liliana Letran-Garcia is on the line to talk about it. Liliana, thanks for taking the time.

LILIANA LETRAN-GARCIA: Thank you, Cathy. I'm truly grateful for the chance to join your program today and share with you and all your listeners the exciting launch of our new pilot program, Faithful Hospitality. Thank you for opening the platform.

CATHY WURZER: It's a pleasure having you here. It's a pleasure having you here. Say, how did this program come about? What's the genesis for this?

LILIANA LETRAN-GARCIA: Absolutely. In the month of November and December, we had the chance to work with the state of Minnesota and partners at Minnesota Housing and Hennepin County and try to determine how our organization and our faith communities could address the impact of the new arrivals had in the Hennepin County shelter system.

Right now, there are 400% over capacity. So Faithful Hospitality will provide mobile shelter in the Twin Cities, houses of worship to help Hennepin County deal with an overflow of families experiencing homelessness and are seeking asylum.

CATHY WURZER: Wow, that's a lot of work. Is each congregation getting some money in order to house and maybe feed these new residents?

LILIANA LETRAN-GARCIA: Absolutely. So when we designed the program, we wanted to ensure that houses of worship will receive a stipend of $5,000 every 30 days that they open their space to house these families. Outside of offering the physical space, they are also gathering their congregations, and they will have on-site interfaith volunteers helping guests feel safe and welcome.

Right now, we have-- every month, we will have three houses of worship opening their doors, serving around 72 individuals. After they leave the shelter, families will be transported to a day center located in an area church. And there, they will be able to receive integration services.

CATHY WURZER: OK. See if I understand this then. So if the shelters are already filled to capacity and each church is providing, what, 60 to 80 additional beds, does that really relieve the overcapacity issues in Hennepin County or does more need to be done?

LILIANA LETRAN-GARCIA: Definitely more needs to be done. But our program, it's about providing transformative service to the families. So our goal is not just to offer a place that they can stay, but to be able to provide them with information in how to navigate the city and community resources to reach self-sustainability within 90 days to six months. So we are measuring impact not by only the numbers that we're serving but how many families can leave the shelter system into more permanent housing.

CATHY WURZER: I understand. I'm sure there are probably a number of individuals seeking asylum. Do you know how many?

LILIANA LETRAN-GARCIA: The numbers that Hennepin County was able to share is around 2,000 to 3,000 individuals currently here in the state.

CATHY WURZER: And I'm sure the program is trying to connect people to attorneys and other services to navigate the immigration court system, which can be pretty complicated.

LILIANA LETRAN-GARCIA: Absolutely. So that will be one of the goal of the day center to be able to provide legal support, rapid exit housing, language education, and employment services.

CATHY WURZER: So we focused on Hennepin County. How about Ramsey County shelters, are they seeing capacity issues too?

LILIANA LETRAN-GARCIA: Not at this point that I am aware. Most of the asylum seekers' families are going through the Hennepin County shelter system. And so we will be receiving the referrals only from Hennepin County at this point just because the situation is dire in Hennepin County.

CATHY WURZER: Where are many of these families coming from? Do you know?

LILIANA LETRAN-GARCIA: Yes. Based on the data, some of the families are coming from Ecuador, Guatemala, and Venezuela.

CATHY WURZER: And do you know their stories as to why they've made this journey?

LILIANA LETRAN-GARCIA: Yes. So some families are sharing their journey from their home countries here to the United States. Some of them are fleeing a civil war that is happening in their countries due to drug cartels, due to instabilities in their in their own governments, and they can no longer be safe in their home countries.

CATHY WURZER: So they are arriving here. And as you say, this program is to not only provide shelter but also services to get them on their feet. And I'm wondering how long do you think this might last? How long will you expect to keep the program going?

LILIANA LETRAN-GARCIA: Right now, this is a pilot program, so we will be able to run this pilot for 15 months. We are trying to see the effectiveness of the program to make it permanent. But at this point, it's just a pilot. We wanted to reach our goals, right?

So the goal of Faithful Hospitality are to alleviate capacity challenges in shelter system in Hennepin County, decrease the cost of serving families experiencing homelessness, and for us is to empower interfaith partners to live out their faith values. So again, we are going to track the data, making sure that we can show impact to this program.

CATHY WURZER: A quick question here, Liliana. And I'm wondering once the newcomers get on their feet, I'm wondering, do you think they'll stay in Minnesota, will they go elsewhere, hard to determine that at this point?

LILIANA LETRAN-GARCIA: I think they will stay in Minnesota. One of the things that I see some win-win situation for all community is that currently, we have 200,000 job openings in the state of Minnesota. 36% are frontline staff. We have a lot of families that are coming with competencies and skills that can address those shortage of employees that can address those gaps that we have in the state.

So I do believe that we're in a position to meet those demands. They are families that they have a strong agricultural background that can really address those shortage of agricultural workers in the state. So I truly believe that we are in a position to keep that labor force here in the state.

CATHY WURZER: Final question. For folks listening right now who might wish to help, are the ways they can do that?

LILIANA LETRAN-GARCIA: Absolutely. So please access our web page Interfaith Action of Greater Saint Paul, and you will be able to find all the links and the ways you can help.

CATHY WURZER: All right. Sounds like you need maybe some volunteers and donations perhaps.

LILIANA LETRAN-GARCIA: Yes. We are looking for volunteers for the overnight shelter, people that can stay over at the houses of worship, and definitely any inclined to provide diapers and wipes, of course. We always welcome those.

CATHY WURZER: All right. Liliana, thank you so much.

LILIANA LETRAN-GARCIA: Thank you for your time. Greatly appreciate it.

CATHY WURZER: We've been talking to interfaith action of greater Saint Paul CEO, Liliana Letran-Garcia.