A community forum to discuss homelessness and housing in Dunn County is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Apr. 7 at First Congregational UCC, 420 Wilson Ave.. Menomonie.
Padraig Gallagher, executive director of Stepping Stones of Dunn County, will be the main speaker. The forum will be livestreamed at www.menomonieucc.org for those who wish to participate remotely.
The forum’s goal is to update a broad spectrum of the Menomonie community on the growing needs for emergency housing and to create a conversation about how best to expand housing options, according to a press release from the church.
Gallagher will also discuss Stepping Stones’ evolving role in this area.
He said in the press release that the COVID-19 pandemic underscored serious gaps in housing available to families and individuals in Dunn County over the past two years.
“Stepping Stones provided an unprecedented number of shelter nights in 2021 – over 9,000 shelter nights in a city that’s over 15,000 people and a county that only 45,000 people,” he said. “That’s basically equivalent to one in five Dunn County residents having to spend one night in shelter.”
A first step responding to this need was taken last November when the city applied for a grant from the state’s Neighborhood Investment Fund program. That brought an award of more than $1.4 million to Stepping Stones of Dunn County to build a 20-bed emergency homeless shelter on Stout Road.
Menomonie is one of four Western Wisconsin cities to be awarded a grant from the state fund.
Gallagher said this grant is “going to be a real game-changer for our ability to meet the needs of homelessness in Menomonie.”
Mayor Randy Knaack called the collaboration to build the new shelter “people helping people, and that’s what it’s all about.”
Further information about the forum is available from Rev. Kathleen Remund (pastor@menomonieucc.org) or by calling 715-235-5838.