Align Minneapolis

Align MPLS (formerly Downtown Congregations to End Homelessness), established in 2008, it is an interfaith coalition of 18 Minneapolis congregations and people with lived experiences of homelessness that addresses homelessness by focusing on long-term solutions through a combination of education, advocacy, prevention, and working directly with persons impacted by homelessness.  

Here are some of the major programs Align undertakes to address homelessness:

 The Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program supports individuals and families by providing one-time rental assistance in a time of financial crisis, effectively helping people stay in their homes rather than face eviction and becoming homeless. ERA served 114 households in 2023 to keep people in their homes and prevent homelessness! 

Street Voices of Change (SVoC) empowers people who have current or past experiences with homelessness by offering a loving community that meets regularly to create positive change and restore dignity to every aspect of the homeless experience. SVoC members reach out to the sheltered and the unsheltered, offering community and support for coping with this traumatizing experience.
They campaign for affordable housing policy solutions by participating in advocacy actions at the State Capitol with Homes4All and the MN Coalition for the Homeless (Homeless Day on the Hill 2019 pictured here).  They also meet with elected officials and county policy makers. To date they have developed a Shelter Residents Bill of Rights, which has been adopted in Hennepin County, and they have successfully campaigned and leveraged support for a soon to be opened shelter for women of color experiencing homelessness. Recently Street Voices of Change was honored with the Northern Light award for Inspiring Organizational Leadership at the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless 2023 Conference.

StreetSong MN is a program that empowers the homeless through the power of song. Made up of persons currently experiencing homelessness as well as those who care, StreetSong MN educates and uplifts through community singing and sharing messages of inspiration through music. StreetSong choir welcomed two new co-Directors in 2024 and started its eleventh season!

Congregational Engagement: Align enlists the participation of its congregational constituents in addressing and combatting homelessness through regular advocacy campaigns, giving our interfaith and ecumenical membership opportunities to use their voice to support policies or reforms that will create more affordable housing, undo housing injustice, and improve services for persons experiencing homelessness. Congregants also engage in goods drives, providing the unsheltered and the sheltered with much needed items.

Your generous donation to Align MPLS today can help us bring 
together our participants and empower their work in meaningful ways.  
Here are a few examples of how you can impact the 
work of our SVoC members:

$25 will pay for bus tokens for one participant to attend 10 weekly Street Voices of Change meetings
$50 will help 2 participants attend 10 weekly SVoC meetings
$100 will purchase 10 T-shirts to identify and spread camaraderie in participants of SVoC and StreetSong MN

By educating people and organizing against housing injustice, we can together find solutions to keep people in their homes and build agency for our community’s most vulnerable.  

Please support Align’s unique work through a financial gift on Give to the Max Day 2024!

THANK YOU!

Katie Dillon
Director, Align Mpls