CHURCHES UNITED IN MINISTRY

Chum’s mission statement is “People of faith working together to provide basic necessities, foster stable lives, and organize for a just and compassionate community.” Forty-two faith communities are members of Chum. They provide Chum with spiritual and financial support, as well as hundreds of volunteers to sustain our programs that serve over 15,000 people a year.

Chum’s primary goals are:

1. To provide the most basic of human needs, food and shelter and welcome, to all those seeking assistance.

2. To foster stable lives through support services designed to help people achieve housing stability, healthier lives, and greater self-sufficiency.

3. To organize for a just and compassionate community by mobilizing volunteers to help provide for basic needs and support services and to advocate and organize for social policies that impact people who are marginalized and least represented where decisions are made.

Strategies for Shelter and Stabilization Services:

Chum's emergency shelter and family shelter accommodate more than 1,000 people a year (adults and families with children), seven days a week, year-round. Chum is one of few 24-hour emergency shelters in Minnesota. We use a "low barrier" approach, welcoming all who come, accommodating those under the influence, and for up to six guests with companion animals.

Our drop-in center (day shelter) serves about 125 people a day, in addition to shelter guests, and provides them with access to facilities (bathroom, shower, laundry, etc.) and support services to assist with housing, public benefits, medical and dental care, addiction recovery programs, and other supports.

Our street outreach program targets about 150 people who are living on the street or in places unfit for human habitation, who are high-users of public systems. Outreach also works with people who will become homeless upon discharge from correctional or medical facilities.

Steve O’Neil Apartments provide permanent supportive housing for up to 44 families with children who have experienced chronic or recurring homelessness. Chum’s supportive services include intensive case management, Early Childhood programming, and youth and family support.

St. Francis Apartments provide permanent supportive housing for up to 39 elders who have experienced chronic or recurring homelessness. Both Steve O'Neil Apartments and St. Francis Apartments offer housing in the context of housing first, harm reduction, and trauma-informed practice. Staff promote sobriety, healthy choices, food security, and self-sufficiency.

Chum’s emergency food shelf is one of Duluth’s largest food shelf operations, serving the public five days a week in multiple locations across our city. Last year, we distributed 533,152 pounds of food to 5,481 households (unduplicated). About 25% of our food shelf users are regular monthly visitors (the remaining 75% average three visits a year) and 48% of the beneficiaries are children.

Our Outreach and Advocacy program focuses on policies of inclusion and social justice, providing voice to those on the margins.

Our Congregational Outreach and Advocacy work unites people with diverse incomes, ethnic backgrounds, racial identities, and faith traditions to address policy and system changes that promote equity and inclusion.

Chum’s emergency shelter is Duluth’s largest shelter for adults experiencing homelessness and our family shelter is the only shelter for families who are homeless, but not fleeing domestic violence. Our emergency shelter is an 80-bed congregate shelter for adults. Our family shelter (located in the Steve O’Neil Apartments) has six apartments for families with children. Our policy is never to turn anyone away because of lack of space; we add sleeping pads on the floor in the congregate shelter if all beds are full. When the family shelter is full, we set up a separate room in the congregate shelter to accommodate families temporarily, until a more suitable shelter arrangement becomes available. In 2023, Chum sheltered 1,437 people (1366 adults and 70 children).

Chum’s drop-in center (day shelter) serves as the community’s living room for many who are homeless, as well as those experiencing the isolation of living in nearby adult care facilities for people with physical or mental disabilities or treatment centers for addiction. We typically see about 125 people a day (in addition to those who are staying at our shelter) who come in to get out of the weather, rest and eat a hot meal, use shower and laundry facilities, and access our support services. Chum’s staff (social worker, housing advocates, street outreach worker, and health and wellness coordinator) help clients access medical and dental care and assist people with applications for housing, health insurance, and public assistance programs (SNAP, WIC, MFIP, General Assistance, Emergency Assistance, and SS and SSDI).

Our street outreach worker makes contact with who are living on the streets, in encampments, in cars, or other places unfit for human habitation. She also reaches out to people in detox centers, jails, or emergency rooms who will become homeless upon discharge and often drives hundreds of miles a week to cover the length and breadth of Duluth to meet with people who are homeless wherever they are staying. In addition, she shares responsibility for staffing the United Way 211 Homeless Outreach Hotline and we receive referrals from clients, other non-profit agencies, police, and affiliated churches.

Chum’s food shelf is one of Duluth’s largest food shelf operations, serving the public five days a week in three different locations across our city. Our food shelf served 5,481 households (unduplicated). A recent survey of visitors indicated that a majority spend one-half or more of their income on rent and they simply run out of money and then must decide whether to partially pay their rent or utilities or go without food.

Chum is supported by volunteers and contributions from 43 faith communities.

Since 2011, Chum has consistently provided shelter to more than 1,000 people each year. Last year than number was nearly 8,000. Some people seek out Chum’s shelter more easily on their own, while others struggle with issues and barriers to staying in a shelter and continue to live on the streets. Nearly 100% of the people coming into our shelter disclose having a recognized disability, mental illness, or addiction (including addiction to opioids).

In the same time span, we have consistently provided increasing pounds of food at our food shelf each year, with more than 500,000 pounds of food distributed last year.

We, along with other partners in the Homes for All Coalition, have been successful in advocating for bonding bills which last year provided $90 million for affordable housing. We made it easier for people on the Minnesota Family Investment Program ("welfare") to marry by assuring that their benefits are not immediately reduced because of marriage. We have advocated successfully to expand the Working Family Credit to adults age 21 - 25 without dependents, and we fought off attempts to reduce the renter's credit in MN.

In partnership with St. Luke's and Essentia Health, we have established the Health Care and Homelessness initiative to improve the quality and coordination of care, particularly at transfer of care. This initiative has resulted in improved communication between hospital social workers and Chum. The Duluth Family Medicine Residents now hold regular hours at Chum, and in partnership with the local Catholic Worker Community and First Covenant Church, we have established Duluth's first respite house for people who are discharged from the hospital with no place to go other than shelter.