Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery

The following piece was featured in Social Venture Partner's June 16, 2011 EPCON Conference Program.

Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery’s mission is to end child abuse and neglect and create strong, healthy families. The Crisis Nursery offers a 24-hour crisis line, crisis counseling, community referrals, parent education classes, a family support group, and overnight residential care for parents to place their children voluntarily—newborn through age six—for up to three nights while they address their crisis. In addition, families that access the Crisis Nursery three or more times may be able to access the Crisis Nursery’s 4th Day Home Visiting Program—intensive, ongoing work with a qualified, experienced Crisis Nursery home visitor.

Still Innovating After 28 Years

Innovative is not often a word associated with non-profits, let alone 28 year-old ones. Yet that word aptly describes the programs of Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery. In 1999 the Crisis Nursery began its 4^th Day Home Visiting Program. The Crisis Nursery had grown to be a vital resource for families in the community. Yet for families facing multiple challenges, the Crisis Nursery saw an opportunity do more intensive work.

“It couldn’t be just about sheltering children for three nights if the organization wanted to truly impact its mission to end child abuse and neglect,” says Crisis Nursery Executive Director Mary Pat Lee. “Given the relationship the Crisis Nursery could build with families that called the Crisis line, The Crisis Nursery staff saw an opportunity to go deeper with some families and home visiting has been proven to be one of the most effective ways of doing so.”

Under the 4^th Day Home Visiting Program—which is supported generously by Social Venture Partners—a Crisis Nursery field worker helps families set longer term goals and works on those goals with the family on an ongoing basis.

Measured, Targeted Growth

In 2010 the Crisis Nursery saw a special opportunity to more than double the capacity of its Home Visiting Program through a grant from the Homelessness Prevention Rapid Rehousing Program (HPRP). It took an innovative eye to see the opportunity, though. “HPRP includes monies and supports to help people stay housed and get re-housed,” says Molly Kenney, Family Services Director at the Crisis Nursery. “Though we shelter children, we hadn’t seen ourselves as a supportive ‘housing’ organization.”

The Crisis Nursery knew, though, that it had relationships with some of the hardest to reach families in the community, and saw that with HPRP it could go even deeper in its service offerings to these families. The Crisis Nursery’s 4^th Day Home Visiting Program now serves over 40 families at any given time and has helped over 49 families access HPRP subsidies and support and stabilize their housing since the beginning of 2010.

Today and Beyond

The Crisis Nursery program staff have kept their eye on innovation. Recently they have completed implementation of The Nursery Way, child care protocols aimed at helping children repair developmental needs and helping parents gain deeper a understanding of child development.

“We’re early in our experience with The Nursery Way, but we think it has a chance to be seen as a best practice in the community, especially when working with children who have experienced crisis and trauma,” said Lee. 

In addition, over the next three years the Crisis Nursery hopes to continue expansion of the 4^th Day Home Visiting Program, perhaps beyond Hennepin County. “The capacity building support provided by SVP has better positioned us for growth,” Lee said.