EVENTS

The 2023 Minnesota Legislature is now in session, and we’re busy at the Capitol advocating for chosen family hosting. Check out our 2023 Legislative Agenda to see what we’re up to! And consider joining us!

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PAST EVENTS

Get to Know CloseKnit Webinar

Zoom- 12pm Thursday, November 17, 2022

Join CloseKnit on Thursday 11/17 to help us kick-off Give to the Max Day! Learn how we are building a racially equitable response to youth homelessness. We will have time for questions & discussion. #CloseKnit

Council on Social Work Education 68th Annual Program Meeting

Hilton Anaheim in Anaheim, California – November 10-13, 2022

We will be presenting our paper, “Easing the Burden: How Couch Hopping Youth and Informal Adult Hosts Identify and Address Relational Challenges” at the CSWE 2022 Annual Program Meeting.

CAEH National Conference to End Homelessness

Toronto, Canada – November 2-4, 2022

We are excited to present  “Chosen Family Hosting: Investing in the Adults Already in Young People’s Lives” at CAEH22, the National Conference on Ending Homelessness in Toronto, Canada.

The Society for the Study of Social Problems 72nd Annual Meeting

Omni Los Angeles Hotel at California Plaza – August 5-7, 2022

We will be attending the 2022 SSSP Annual Meeting  to present two of our papers:

We will present “The Costs of Caring: Navigating Material Challenges When Adults Informally Host Youth Facing Homelessness” as a part of the “Reimagining the Care Economy” panel.

We will present “Easing the Burden: How Couch Hopping Youth and Informal Adult Hosts Identify and Address Relational Challenges” as part of the “Family Formation Versus the Standard North American Model” panel.

European Association of Research on Adolescence 2022 Conference

Dublin, Ireland – August 24-28, 2022

Our incredible researchers will be presenting “Easing the Burden: How Couch Hopping Youth and Informal Adult Hosts Identify and Address Relational Challenges” at the EARA Conference in Dublin, Ireland.

Chosen Family Justice Launch Webinar
Wednesday, June 29th 1:30pm-2:30pm

Advocate for caring connections which are crucial to the movement in preventing youth homelessness!

Learn how you can help the movement to prevent youth homelessness and reduce racial homelessness and reduce racial inequities by honoring and investing in existing caring adult connections, especially with renters in BIPOC communities.

Register at the above Eventbrite link.

Get To Know CloseKnit Webinar
Noon Wednesday November 3rd, 2021
Noon Tuesday March 15th, 2022

Does youth homelessness distress you?

Are you outraged that 73% of Minnesota youth facing homelessness are BIPOC when only 26% of all Minnesota youth are?

Can you spare half an hour?

Zoom with us to learn how CloseKnit is building a racially equitable response to youth homelessness.

Statewide Transition Coalition: Disrupting the Pipeline to Prison
Friday, November 12, 2021, 9:30-11:30am

Join CloseKnit and other organizations, elected officials, policy professionals, and individuals who have been impacted by the criminal justice system as we identify innovative interventions for disrupting the pipeline to prison. CloseKnit will present at 10am on our upstream approach to preventing youth homelessness.

Register HERE

“Hope Is a Discipline”
Spirituality of anti-racist persistence
Thursday, October 14th, 4-5:30pm

A conversation with Helina Haile and Jacqueline White, hosted by Sacred Ground Center for Spirituality

Register HERE

Given the apparent intractability of racism, how do those of us committed to imagining and enacting a truly just society, persist? Join Helina and Jacqueline as they discuss the spiritual practices that ground their work as colleagues working to decrease the overrepresentation of BIPOC youth among Minnesota youth facing homelessness. As a touchstone for our discussion, we will use the words of the prison abolitionist Mariame Kaba: “Hope is a discipline,” as well as the words of the civil rights lawyer Derrick Bell: “It is a question of both, and. Both the recognition of the futility of action—where action is more civil rights strategies destined to fail—and the unalterable conviction that something must be done, that action must be taken.”

Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless
2021 Annual Conference Presentation
Friday, October 8th 9:30-10:45am

We’ll be presenting at this years MCH conference! Our session is titled “Chosen Family Justice : Addressing Barriers and Engaging Landlords to Resource Hosting Arrangements with a Youth’s Natural Supports” . We look forward to sharing our upstream approach to stabilizing and resourcing chosen families as a prevention method rooted in racial equity!

CloseKnit Open House!

NEON‘s 1st floor conference room
3-6pm, Wednesday, July 28th
Short Presentations at 3:30 and 4:30
Special treats made by Cookie Cart youth!

Have you ever had a young person stay with you because they had issues at home? Perhaps your child’s friend, a neighbor or an extended family member? These are the kinds of arrangements, which keep young people connected to loving community, that we’re working to stabilize. 

Come learn more about our approach that rejects racist assumptions that young people from underestimated and under resourced communities don’t have caring adults in their lives. 

30-minute Quick Take
Get to Know CloseKnit Zooms!
5 pm Wednesday March 3, 2021
5 pm Tuesday April 6, 2021
Noon Tuesday May 4, 2021
Noon Tuesday June 8, 2021

Does youth homelessness distress you?

Are you outraged that 73% of Minnesota youth facing homelessness are BIPOC when only 26% of all Minnesota youth are?

Can you spare half an hour?

Zoom with us to learn how CloseKnit is building a racially equitable response to youth homelessness.

Bring your questions and your passion! Register here.

Strengthening the Village
Challenges, Needs, and Resiliency
of Young Adults Facing Homelessness and Informal Hosts
Research paper presentation by:
Mallory VanMeeter, PhD candidate, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood Thematic Conference
Milan, Italy CANCELLED
May 27-29, 2020
Couch hopping is often framed as a risky choice. But for some emerging adults, staying with an informal host can be a step toward stability. Our research expands on that finding, highlighting the risks and challenges of hosting relationships, along with the ways hosts and emerging adults navigate barriers to stability. Our interviews also suggest that formal support services could help these relationships thrive, strengthening the village that young people need to make a successful transition to adulthood.

A Closer Look at Couch Hopping
How Youth and Informal Hosts Describe Challenges
and the Supports They Need to Stabilize These Arrangements
Research paper presentation by:
Mallory VanMeeter, PhD candidate, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Society for the Study of Social Problems Annual Meeting CANCELLED
August 7-9, 2020
San Francisco

Who Can I Count On?
Supporting Youth Facing Homelessness
in Identifying Natural Supports
Presentation by:
Jacqueline White, Founder and Director, CloseKnit
Kenna, College Student
15th Annual Evergreen Conference, Bemidji, MN
March 11-12, 2020
When a young person, for whatever reason, first can’t live at home, they typically approach people they already know, staying with extended relatives, the families of friends, or neighbors. Although both the young people and their adult hosts often find these informal relationships deeply meaningful, they can easily break down due to financial stress, lack of clarity around house rules, and other issues. Come learn how to stabilize these intergenerational hosting arrangements. Drawing on the perspective of a young person with lived experience of homelessness, we’ll demonstrate how our Universal Needs Cards can help youth articulate their unmet needs and how our Circle Mapping Tool can help youth identify sup- portive people in their lives.

Strengthening the Village
Strategies for Stabilizing Hosting Arrangements
Between Youth Facing Homelessness and Supportive Adults
Workshop presentation by:
Mallory VanMeeter, PhD candidate, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Jacqueline White, Founder and Director, CloseKnit
Brenda Pritchard, HOPE Homes Specialist, HOPE 4 Youth
National Summit on Youth Homelessness, Washington DC
March 2, 2020
Young people facing homelessness are not alone – they have mentors, neighbors, teachers, and family (chosen or otherwise) that together form their “village.” Sometimes, these supportive adults also provide housing in arrangements that range from couch hopping to longer term hosting. Interviews with hosts and youth revealed that at least some of these informal arrangements are safe, supportive, and potentially long-term. But they also encounter significant barriers to stability, rooted in both interpersonal and structural challenges. In this session, attendees will use real-life scenarios of youth and hosts to explore possible practice approaches and policy solutions to fostering permanent supportive connections.

CloseKnit Huddle
Monday, October 28, 2019, 1-3 pm
Neighborhood House, 179 Robie Street East, St Paul
(following the quarterly meeting of
the Minnesota Human Trafficking Task Force
from 9 am to noon, also at Neighborhood House)

Community members, social service staff and young people with lived experience of homelessness are invited to join our learning community to learn how to facilitate permanent connections for youth facing homelessness. Contact Jacqueline at jw@closeknit.us for more information.

Beyond a Bed: Stabilizing Informal Hosting Arrangements 
An interactive workshop presented
by CloseKnit Director Jacqueline White
and Cindy Ley, Executive Director, Open Doors for Youth, Elk River
Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless Annual Conference
September 17 & 18
Mayo Civic Center, Rochester

When a young person, for whatever reason, first can’t live at home, they typically approach people they already know, staying with extended relatives, the families of friends, or neighbors. These informal networks, which exemplify the belief that a community has a collective responsibility to care for its young people, are especially strong in rural areas, communities of color, and Indian country. Using the Circle of Support approach piloted by Open Doors for Youth in Elk River, we’ll learn strategies to stabilize these upstream intergenerational hosting arrangements, which both young people and their adult hosts often find deeply meaningful, but can easily break down due to financial stress, lack of clarity around house rules, and other issues. Investing in these caring relationships is a cost-effective way to build on existing strengths in communities that often lack access to expensive housing-based solutions for youth facing homelessness.

Loving Youth Out of Homelessness:
A New Look at a Traditional Practice
An interactive workshop presented
by CloseKnit Director Jacqueline White
Minnesota Indian Housing Conference
August 21-23, 2019
Treasure Island Resort and Casino
5734 Sturgeon Lake Rd, Welch, MN

When a young person, for whatever reason, first can’t live at home, they typically approach people they already know, staying with extended relatives, the families of friends, or neighbors. These informal networks, which exemplify the belief that a community has a collective responsibility to care for its young people, are especially strong in Indian country. We’ll learn strategies to help stabilize intergenerational hosting arrangements, which both young people and their adult hosts often find deeply meaningful, but can easily break down due to financial stress, lack of clarity around house rules, and other issues.

Critical Dialogue:
Social Work Responses to Problems in Social Health and Wellbeing
Friday, August 9, 2019, 8:30am
Society for the Study of Social Problems Annual Meeting
New York City
Dialogue co-presenter: Susanna Curry, PhD, CloseKnit researcher and Assistant Professor at California State University, Sacramento

Scholars and professionals grappling with complex practice problems that relate to health and wellbeing will share their perspective on elements “missing” from conventional intervention strategies and research.

CloseKnit Huddle
Monday, July 29, 2019, 1-3 pm
Neighborhood House, 179 Robie Street East, St Paul
(following the quarterly meeting of
the Minnesota Human Trafficking Task Force
from 9 am to noon, also at Neighborhood House)

Community members, social service staff and young people with lived experience of homelessness are invited to join our learning community to learn how to facilitate permanent connections for youth facing homelessness. Contact Jacqueline at jw@closeknit.us for more information.

A big thanks to the Sauer Family Foundation for underwriting our Huddles in 2019!

Maximizing Community Resources for Homeless Youth:
The Role of Host Homes
Tuesday, July 23, 2019, 2:30–3:45 p.m.
National Conference on Ending Homelessness
Washington, DC
Workshop co-presenter: CloseKnit director Jacqueline White

Host homes are a highly flexible, community-based model for addressing youth homelessness. This workshop provides everything you need to know to recruit, train, and support host home providers and the young people they are hosting. It also highlights lessons learned from implementing informal host home arrangements that can translate to a dynamic diversion practice for young people.

Family and Kinship Strengthening 101
Monday, June 17, 2019, 1:45 – 3:45 PM
Point Source Youth Conference
NYU, New York City

This interactive workshop featured leaders in the space on how to support youth, chosen family, kin, and adult allies with strengthening work, mental health support, and case management. CloseKnit researcher Mallory VanMeeter presented CloseKnit’s findings based on interviews with youth facing homelessness and the adults who informally host such youth. These arrangements can often take on qualities of chosen family.

Permanent Connections Huddle
Monday, February 25, 2019, 1-3 pm
Neighborhood House, 179 Robie Street East, St Paul
(following the quarterly meeting of the Minnesota Human Trafficking Task Force)

Community members, social service staff and young people with lived experience of homelessness are invited to join our learning community to learn how to facilitate permanent connections for youth facing homelessness.

A big thanks to the Sauer Family Foundation for underwriting our quarterly Huddles in 2019!

‘Reveal’ Celebration
Learn Our New Name and See Our New Logo!
With a reprise appearance by The Friendly Quartet
Sunday, February 24, 2019, 7 pm
Butter Bakery Cafe, 37th and Nicollet

Butter, a neighborhood cafe that serves as a job training site for youth at risk of homelessness, will be opening Sunday evening expressly for this special event.
Enjoy some of their yummy bakery treats! And The Friendly Quartet, comprised of Minnesota Orchestra musicians, will play Mendelssohn’s beautiful String Quartet in E Minor, opus 44 #2.

Your $20 suggested donation will benefit the nonprofit program which will formerly be known as Minnesota Host Home Network.

Sponsored by HGA and Butter Bakery Cafe.

How can we best help young people who are homeless?
A presentation and guided conversation
Led by Jacqueline White, Director, Minnesota Host Home Network
11 am, Sunday, February 12, 2017, Spirt of St. Stephen’s Catholic Community
What if the “answer” to youth homelessness lay with the youth themselves? Rather than making our goal helping youth become “self-reliant,” what if we helped them create a supportive circle of caring adults?

Join us for the Minnesota Host Home Network Summit!
11 am – 3:15 pm, Wednesday October 12, 2016, Mayo Civic Center, Rochester, MN
held in conjunction with the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless Conference
You’re invited to attend one or both of our free Summit sessions and join us for lunch, which is $20. (See details below.)  We also encourage you to attend the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless Conference on October 11 and 12; conference attendees are welcome to join us at the Summit sessions. You can register online until September 26.

Welcoming Congregations: First Steps in Addressing Youth Homelessness
11 am – 12:15 pm
Any effort to respond to youth in a housing crisis needs to be LGBTQ affirming: LGBTQ youth are overrepresented among young people experiencing homelessness. In conservative areas, congregations designated as “welcoming” to LGBTQ people can be an invaluable resource in setting an affirming tone for all youth. Come hear from faith-based volunteers who’ve helped galvanize their communities to respond to local youth experiencing homelessness and learn about the Minnesota Host Home Network’s survey of Welcoming Congregations in Greater Minnesota.

Presenters:
Joe Kruse is a cofounder of the Minneapolis Catholic Worker  an intentional community and house of hospitality where he has lived for the past 5 years. The Minneapolis Catholic Worker has partnered with Avenues for Homeless Youth to provide a room and hospitality for young LGBTQ adults who are receiving case management through Avenues.  The community’s work also includes a weekly open neighborhood meal, ethical food production through gardening and working with a Catholic Worker farm in Lake City, MN, and anti-racism activism and organizing in the Twin Cities.

Ron Ofstead co-chairs the Finding Home Task Force  a social action group at White Bear Unitarian Universalist Church focused on addressing needs of homeless youth in the NE metro suburbs. The Task Force has initiated a host home program and spearheaded the development of the North Star Youth Outreach Center, which recently opened at Tubman Center East in Maplewood. Ron has parented biological, adoptive, and foster care children.

Cheryl Wold coordinated the yearlong discernment program at Union Congregational Church, a United Church of Christ (UCC) in Elk River, which resulted in an overwhelming vote to become an Open and Affirming (LGBTQ-affirming) church. This commitment then led the church to ask how it could best support LGBTQ homeless youth in their semi-rural community. Cheryl is a cofounder and the current board president of Open Doors for Youth, a drop-in resource center for all homeless youth that opened in Elk River in 2015 and has already assisted nearly 100 young people.

LUNCH 12:30 – 1:45 pm
Continue our conversation over lunch with Peter Murray, faith outreach coordinator at OutFront Minnesota, the statewide advocacy organization for LGBTQ Minnesotans.

To reserve your lunch, please register online by September 26 for the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless conference, enter OUTFRONT as the promo code, and the $20 lunch option will appear. You will have an option to pay by credit card or check, and to note any dietary restrictions.

The Interview Project:
How Can We Stabilize Youth-Initiated Informal Hosting Arrangements?
2 pm – 3:15 pm
Working with University of St. Thomas professor Ande Nesmith, Minnesota Host Home Network researchers are interviewing youth who’ve initiated housing arrangements with adults they already know, as well as with their hosts. They’re examining these relationships in light of the Host Home Best Practices developed by the Network, with an eye toward identifying how best to stabilize these informal hosting situations. Developing expertise in how to support these resourceful youth and their community hosts offers the exciting possibility of catching youth earlier, before their homelessness becomes more entrenched.

Presenters:
Ande Nesmith is a professor and researcher at the University of St. Thomas School of Social Work. She has studied outcomes, interventions, and services for runaway, homeless, and foster youth for twenty years both locally and nationally. Currently her work focuses on innovative ways to serve youth that also engages communities.

Jacqueline White and her former partner became the first hosts in the Twin Cities GLBT Host Home program, in which young people in need of housing choose to live with trained community volunteers who provide room in their home and a caring presence. Jacqueline later adopted Amy, the young woman they had hosted. She is the founding director of the Minnesota Host Home Network, which champions permanent adult connections for young people experiencing homelessness. She also bears a striking resemblance to Host Home Mom who would really like it if you “liked” her on Facebook!  

Listen to great music on Saturday, September 17, 2016, and support us!
The Minnesota Host Home Network is a nonprofit beneficiary of Common Ground Meditation Center 6th Annual Music Festival. The festival itself is free, but donations for nonprofit partners will be accepted. This will be a day of community celebration with food, music, dancing and family fun!

This year’s festival will feature well-known musicians Passed Presents (Jayanthi Kyle & Alicia Steele) Ellis, Dean Magraw,  Larry Long, and Linda Breitag, as well as spoken word performances by Louis Alemayehu and dance calling by Ann Carter.

So mark your calendar for noon to 4:30 p.m., 2700 E. 26th St., Minneapolis
It’ll be the place to be—Host Home Mom will be there! Please join us.