Agate Housing & Services

Food and housing are fundamental needs for every person. Without these, a person often cannot keep a job, keep up their grades, manage their mentor or physical health, or successfully face the many other challenges each of us face in life. Agate gives its clients food and shelter first. After that, we work with them to figure out what they need. Then we walk side by side with them, addressing their unique challenges, on the path to permanent housing. After that—life.

Agate serves low-income residents of Hennepin County who are experiencing or are at risk of homelessness. Agate reaches thousands of households. The organization provides a full continuum of services, including street outreach, emergency shelter, supportive housing programs, and eviction prevention programs. We serve individuals with the highest needs and provide housing and basic needs services. Agate’s mission is to end homelessness and relieve hunger through action and advocacy.

Alleviating hunger is an integral part of our mission. Within Agate’s shelter, clients receive three meals daily, providing both emergency shelter and critical food access for some of the Twin Cities’ most vulnerable residents. By securing the basic needs of housing and food, clients can begin their journey toward stability and permanent housing.

Support from this donation will provide healthy meals to Valiance shelter residents. Shelter operations are funded through County government contracts. But those contracts only cover 58% of the cost to run the shelter and provide support to its guests. In Agate’s case, that leaves a gap of $1.2 million that philanthropy must fill. These philanthropic dollars cover meals for the residents, personnel costs for staff to be present and work with guests to find and get into permanent homes, and more.

The Valiance will be a unique shelter space in the Twin Cities, specifically serving cisgender women and people who identify as transgender or gender nonconforming, designed with input from people living in shelters. The beds are in suites of six. A single suite can assist community-building and, most importantly, create safer spaces – perfect for trans refugees already flocking to MN in the current political environment. An estimated 2,000 trans refugees are already in Minnesota.