As Micheline Miller stood up to be recognized by her cohort and coaches, she celebrated how far they had come in the last year. Just 11 months earlier, Micheline moved into MPHA family housing, escaping an abusive relationship and helping stabilize her family. Now, Micheline is a member of the first cohort in a new partnership between MPHA and Twin Cities R!SE (TCR) providing residents eight weeks of personal empowerment and career training.

The Minneapolis Public Housing Authority is teaming up with TCR to provide MPHA family housing residents with career development resources to help gain meaningful employment. Agency staff connect with new and existing residents to provide information about the new, voluntary TCR programming. When residents express interest, MPHA staff connect them with TCR to get enrolled in career training.

“This new, innovative partnership between MPHA and Twin Cities Rise connects two community institutions to provide MPHA families pathways to greater income and career opportunities,” said Minneapolis Public Housing Authority Executive Director/CEO, Abdi Warsame. “This is a natural partnership for our organizations. The Minneapolis Public Housing Authority provides families with the safety and stability of affordable housing, and Twin Cities Rise can then work with residents to expand their career skills to secure new, higher-paying jobs. This builds on MPHA’s successful track record of success in providing residents a strong foundation from which to thrive.”

“This new partnership between MPHA and Twin Cities Rise epitomizes community collaboration, offering families pathways to greater income and career opportunities,” said Alex Merritt, Vice President of Program Operations at Twin Cities R!SE. “By providing stable housing, MPHA eliminates a major barrier to employment, setting the stage for participants to take advantage of the tools, skills, and resources TCR provides to help people become empowered and employed.”

For Micheline, a mom of two living in one of MPHA’s family homes in Northeast Minneapolis, TCR’s program was more than just career training. The program helped empower her to build the resilience to reenter the labor market.

When Micheline had to stay home with her baby longer than she expected, she couldn’t return to work as soon as she had planned. Micheline had began to feel frustrated, and even depressed, about not being able to work as quickly as she had expected. The program helped her address this emotional hurdle, empowering her to focus on the progress she could make. And for Micheline, that was the most important outcome of the program she experienced.

The Twin Cities R!SE’s customer specialist focused track equipped her with the skills to reach her career goals, but even more importantly, Micheline learned to overcome the emotional hurdles that were holding her back from moving forward thanks to the emotional intelligence portion of the program.

“When I went through the emotional intelligence part of the program, it empowered me to embrace where I’m at now,” said Micheline Miller. “And the support doesn’t end after the 8-week course. They are sticking by our sides, making sure we have the tools and skills we need to actually reach employment.”

With the eight-week program completed, Micheline is eagerly working with her employment specialist to submit applications for remote jobs.

Like Micheline, Alexandria Van Buren gained more than just career skills from the TCR program, it gave her confidence to pursue her goals.

For Alexandria, a mom living in one of MPHA’s family homes in North Minneapolis, the TCR program gave her technical computer skills and support for the next chapter of her career. Alexandria Van Buren had worked for the Minneapolis Public Schools for six years as a cafeteria employee and in commercial and catering kitchens for a stint but as she has gotten older, she craved a work setting that was less demanding on her body. With the hopes of finding work that was less strenuous and that served her community, the Twin Cities Rise program gave her computer and software skills that would be invaluable for that transition.

“I had never heard of emotional intelligence until I started Twin Cities Rise’s program,” said Alexandria Van Buren. “And with some of the assignments you had to really delve into previous situations you were in and how you could have handled situations better. It helped me as an individual.”

Alexandria has completed the first phase of the program, she is ready to put her new emotional intelligence and computer skills to work at a new job. She hopes to find work that serves her community and allows her to interact with youth.

“I would encourage anyone to try the program. Just try it. You will be surprised how much you grow.”

This partnership seeks to build on top of MPHA’s successful family housing program by bringing additional career and empowerment resources to residents. Prior to the TCR partnership, families living in MPHA’s scattered site homes saw an increase in employment and household income, despite not having the additional resource supports. Employment of heads of household went from 19 percent at the time of entering their new home to 70 percent today. Household earned income almost doubled, going from $20,722 when current heads of household first entered their home to $37,321 today. On average, families stay about six years in MPHA’s family housing. Additionally, since 2020, nearly 16 percent of all families leaving these homes have gone on to purchase their own homes.

For the past 30 years, Twin Cities R!SE has been empowering individuals facing significant barriers to employment, often coping with the toughest times in their lives, to achieve long-term and stable employment. The organization provides career training, personal empowerment, and long-term mentoring to support individuals gaining meaningful employment. Recently, the organization received a $3 million grant from global philanthropist MacKenzie Scott to continue its impactful work.