St. Joseph’s Home for Children in Minneapolis

Catholic Charities’ St. Joseph’s Home for Children in Minneapolis, which began closing some services last August, has found a buyer that will continue the campus’ legacy of 135 years — serving children — but with a slightly different focus.

Hennepin Schools, a public charter elementary and middle school whose 400 students include Somali and Latino immigrant families, has signed a purchase agreement for the 12-acre property. Plans are to close the deal by the end of this summer, said Wendy Underwood, Catholic Charities’ vice president of social justice advocacy and engagement. Hennepin Schools plans to combine its two campuses into one, and open in the fall of 2022, Underwood said.

“While it is bittersweet to say goodbye to a campus that has played such an important role in our history,” Underwood said, “we are confident that Hennepin Schools will continue the campus’ important legacy in serving the community by nurturing and developing children to their full potential.”

St. Joseph’s grew out of Catholic Charities’ St. Joseph’s German Catholic Orphan Society in 1869; it was established at its present location in 1886. Care provided has evolved to meet society’s needs, and most recently has taken the form of a Hennepin County emergency shelter and the county’s central intake center for child protection placements. Over the last five years, Catholic Charities and Hennepin County have stressed trying to keep children in their homes, with relatives or in foster care, not institutional facilities. That led to St. Joseph’s closing its emergency shelter in August and ending its service as the intake center several months later.

After the purchase, Hennepin Schools will begin renovations on campus to meet its needs, Underwood said. But remaining on the property through May 2022 will be Catholic Charities’ Hope Street, which includes a 28-bed emergency shelter for homeless young adults ages 18 to 21, and transitional housing for 12 males ages 16 to 21. Funded partly by Hennepin County as the county’s largest youth emergency services provider, Hope Street also offers crisis, mental health and chemical dependency counseling, medical care, living skills training and one-to-one and group educational and employment assistance.

“It’s most important to us to have no disruption for the youth we are currently serving,” Underwood said of Hope Street. Catholic Charities will decide what type of facility and services to provide through Hope Street after May of next year, she said.