Focusing Locally — How should we help each other?

Neighbors and Friends,

Thank you for joining me in this curiosity-driven series of letters where we’ve focused on a better understanding of our neighbors, friends, and community. If you missed the introduction to this series, you can find it here or by following the links to my questions below.

1)  How many people need help in our community? (Nov 7th)

2)  Why do so many people need help? (Nov 14th)

3)  When should we help each other? (Nov 25th)

4)  How should we help each other? (This letter)

As a reminder, you are welcome to email your thoughts and questions directly to me at wopata.scott@communityactioncenter.org. Let me extend the invitation to connect with me directly, in person, over a warm cup of coffee in the weeks, months, and years ahead.

Question #4: How should we help each other?

Over the past three letters, I’ve laid a foundation of objective data to clearly understand our neighbors and friends. To summarize my conclusion, we all benefit from a dynamic social infrastructure to effectively help a significant part of our community that has been left behind by market-driven economic forces.

Since my last letter, I have wrestled with the balance of systemic solutions with immediate needs. There is a common critique that food shelves and basic needs organizations are only a band-aid. The argument follows the adage: “give a man a fish and he’ll eat today, teach him to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” This perspective holds a lot of truth and wisdom. I find a local example of this systemic work compelling:

Graduation Rates: The TORCH program in Northfield Public Schools has successfully helped raise graduation rates among some populations of students from 35% in 2005 to 98% in 2024.* Individuals with a high school diploma earn about 25% more than those who did not finish high school.

However, at the risk of extending the analogy too far, what do our neighbors and friends do when they have the knowledge, fishing poles, hooks, and bait, but there just aren’t any fish? What do they do when a salary of $50,000/year ($24/hr) is not enough to survive and be healthy in Rice County? Curiously, nearly 80% of adults experiencing homelessness in MN have a high school diploma or GED.** I asked a friend of mine who accesses CAC services about this dilemma. His response was a bit crass, but thought provoking, “I can’t eat my diploma.”

Perhaps the immediate support or “band-aid” of food shelves and basic needs organizations may serve an important purpose. In 2024, CAC’s housing work helped 300 families maintain stable housing, avoiding eviction and homelessness for nearly 400 school-aged children. Only 49% of students experiencing homelessness graduate in MN.*** When economic forces are squeezing 40-50% of our population, this type of intervention is both a band-aid and part of empowering systemic solutions to work.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs explains that physiological needs (food, water, shelter, etc) are foundational for individuals to succeed with relationships, education, or employment. Taken practically, systemic solutions depend on successfully addressing immediate needs. To our analogy of the day, perhaps the wisest approach is to give a man a fish first; then teach him how to fish when he is prepared, fed, and therefore ready to learn. This research has been well established in school meal programs.

I have come to the conclusion that the right way to help is by building systemic solutions on a firm foundation of immediate support. This foundation requires that we help each other early and often. Emerging patterns from immediate support help guide and inform the creation of systemic solutions. CAC is asking:

“How long can we afford to help people pay for housing they can’t afford before we start building housing that they can afford?”

CAC is launching a capital campaign for our Faribault Housing Development. In response to the immediate needs of families experiencing homelessness, the lack of affordable housing, and the needs of local employers, we’re bringing together partners across the state, city, and community to develop an exemplar project that will provide emergency and workforce housing. By championing zero-energy building principles, families will save more than 60% in utility costs while maintaining housing affordability. Curious? Reach out to CAC’s Faribault Community Resource Manager, Becky Ford, to learn more.

In Northfield, CAC is partnering with the city and Rebound to bring another zero-energy workforce housing project to 1000 Division Street. This is an investment in critical infrastructure and systemic solutions informed by the immediate needs of our neighbors and friends. I am so excited to rebuild this visible corner to downtown Northfield with a collaborative and environmentally sustainable project.

Additionally, CAC is excited to be working with the City of Faribault and Northfield, as well as Carleton and St. Olaf colleges, on reimagining an integrated and coordinated transportation solution throughout Rice County to help people get to work, activities, and medical appointments more affordably. CAC has seen the immediate need for car repairs grow exponentially as families stretch their budgets, indicating that it is time for a systemic solution.

This series of letters has been intended to help us understand our community better by asking questions and exploring data. Today, I focused more on coordinating solutions that are emerging from CAC and other partners. It has been a joy and honor to share my own curiosity with you, and I look forward to future conversations about our community. If you’re inspired to be part of this growing and collective community action, you can donate or volunteer today.

Regards,

Scott Wopata
Executive Director
Community Action Center

* The mission of Tackling Obstacles and Raising College Hopes (TORCH) is to support and empower students in graduating from high school and pursuing future goals, with an intentional focus on partnering with Northfield’s students of color, youth from low-income families, and first-generation college attendees.

** Detailed data about individuals experiencing homelessness is challenging. Although this Wilder Research study is older, the demographics have not changed considerably based on years of reports I’ve reviewed.

*** Based on information from the Center for Public Integrity. Only 49% of students experiencing homelessness graduate in MN, compared to 84% of all students. Interestingly, this ranks MN as the worst in the nation for both homeless graduation rates and the gap between homeless and all students.

**** Although not referenced in the letter, I found this MN Student Survey data eye-opening. 240 students in Northfield and Faribault Public Schools reported that they skipped a meal in the past 30 days because their family didn’t have enough money to buy food. Additionally, nearly 200 students reported that, in the past 12 months, they stayed in a shelter, or somewhere not intended as a place to live, or in someone else’s home because they had no other place to stay.

 

CAC’s vitality depends on the community — from volunteers to donations to program-specific support — so that we can continue to meet our neighbors’ basic needs. Stay Connected