Emma Norton

"Healing happens when you’re triggered and you’re able to move through the pain, the pattern, the story and walk your way to a different ending.” – Vienna Pharaon

Emma Norton Services is committed to providing safety, stability and sanctuary to some of the most vulnerable formerly homeless individuals and families living in our community. Founded in 1917, Emma Norton’s mission is to provide transformational housing to women and families on their journey of recovery. When you give to Emma Norton, you become a part of this historic community of service in the Twin Cities!

Emma Norton has been expanding rapidly to meet the needs of our community. We are currently working towards one of the biggest expansions in our history, as we prepare to move to our new building, Restoring Waters, in Spring of 2024. This building will have 60 units for single adults or small families, which both expands the number of individuals we can serve, and opens a new avenue for us to serve families and children in this program too. Restoring Waters will primarily serve women, as well as trans and non-binary individuals, and be able to meet a community need for supportive housing for homeless pregnant people. Restoring Waters is itself an innovative project, utilizing trauma-informed design principles in both the architectural and interior design of the building. These design choices will help us promote calm, healing, and empowerment for every person who comes through our doors, but especially for the folks who will be living there. You can learn more about Restoring Waters by watching the video below:

Emma Norton provides not just transformational housing, but also wrap-around supportive services to help our residents and clients meet their goals. Every individual journey of recovery is unique, and every person and family has unique needs to succeed. As the Emma's Place Program Manager Nicque Mabrey once insightfully said, "Before we ever came along, families had dreams for themselves. Families do have plans for their success, and to be honest, many of us are just an event or two from our plans being derailed." Throughout Emma Norton Services, we work to help adults, children, and families as a whole get the plans for their lives back on track.

"I think if I was still homeless, and had to go through the (autism) diagnosis, and go through this next year of intense therapy…yeah, I don’t know how I would handle it. If I didn’t have here, I might have relapsed. I don’t know where I would be then." - Stephanie, a mother at Emma's Place

This year for our Give to the Max Day campaign, we have $12,500 in matching donations thanks to a small group of generous long-time donors. That means you can double the impact you have by giving today!