Connecting people with resources will become much easier when agencies are located across the hall rather than across town.

This will be a springboard for further program development and creation in our community – utilizing resources that we don’t know about or are under-utilizing. I’m really excited about that!”

“When you’re as broken as I was, you don’t have a lot left to lose.”

“Homelessness in Owatonna isn’t visible to many of us. People don’t often see the need. It’s hidden. People are sleeping on a friend’s couch, in their cars, or maybe one night at a hotel, because they don’t have a safe place of their own.”

After years of conversations and dreaming of better solutions, the level of enthusiasm across the community for the new Oak Hill Community Center project is exciting.

She seemed to have life under control but, under the surface, Roxanne says she was miserable and dying.

“I believe so strongly in partnership. No one can do this alone. If we want to create change, we can’t do it ourselves."

Monsignor Cook is looking forward to welcoming Sacred Heart Catholic Church’s new neighbors: Oak Hill Community Connections. The new co-location agency will share an Owatonna city block with the Catholic church and school.

 It started small. Several years ago, his good friend Jim Packard reached out to Pastor Joel Stauffer, now the Lead Pastor at New Life Community, of kids sleeping on their bedroom floor or sharing a bed with their siblings because they had no bed of their own.

Anne sees the difference this service has in the broader community, “I can’t stress enough about the profound gratitude of people who receive these services. It changes the way they see this place when they know people here care. Being able to do good in your own community, that’s about as good it gets.”

“I knew about poverty in our community, but I was surprised by the extent of mental health needs – taking care of themselves and their families, affecting their work performance, and more – across the community.”

Steele County is one of the highest counties in southern Minnesota for homeless and displaced people.

For some students in Owatonna’s school district, a pop quiz isn’t the most stressful experience of their day. It’s hard to pay attention in class when you have no place to live.