Homelessness is complex.
The way home shouldn’t be.
A partnership of Union Gospel Mission, the Damiano Center & Chum
Union Gospel Mission, the Damiano Center, and Chum have been feeding, sheltering, and standing alongside our neighbors for generations. Now, we are aligning our programs into one coordinated system: a clear, supported pathway forward that walks with our neighbors from outreach to triage to shelter to stabilization to housing.
Each organization keeps its name, its mission, and its identity. What changes is how we work: not side by side, but as one coordinated system. That is the Pathway Forward.
The Pathway Forward: Total Funding Progress
Union Gospel Mission, Chum, and the Damiano Center all recognize that, to take our neighbors in need from crisis to permanent housing, we can no longer go it alone. We’re uniting and aligning. And we need your help.
Combined totals reflect current project budgets and will be updated as project costs are finalized.
Union Gospel Mission
$30.6M of $31.1M goal
Union Gospel Mission’s new Mission Engagement Center is nearly there. Help close the gap.
Chum
$12.7M of $19M goal
Chum needs $4.1M to close the construction gap for its transitional shelter and $2.2M to fund new programming during its first two years of operations.
Damiano Center
$2.5M of $2.7M goal
Help us close the remaining gap to fund our delivery van, outdoor pavilion, and updated kitchen equipment so we can scale for the Pathway Forward network.
Why Now?
157% rise in chronic homelessness in St. Louis County over the past decade
Over the past decade, chronic homelessness in St. Louis County has tripled. Duluth serves as the region’s hub; people arrive here from hospitals, jails, and surrounding communities that have nowhere else to send them. They are already our neighbors. The question is not whether Duluth responds. It’s how well.
Today, the path to help is hard to find, especially in a crisis.
Multiple organizations offer overlapping services with different doors, different intake processes, and unclear next steps. For someone in a housing crisis, that confusion isn’t an inconvenience. It’s a barrier.
And even when someone does the hard work — completes treatment, finds their footing — the system too often leaves them without a next step. Progress stalls. People cycle back into crisis. Effort goes unrewarded.
Duluth needs a better-built system. That’s what Pathway Forward is.
The Partnership
3 Trusted Organizations.
1 Unified Front.
Union Gospel Mission, the Damiano Center, and Chum have been feeding, sheltering, and standing alongside our neighbors for generations. The Pathway Forward doesn’t dismantle that work — it enhances it.
Each organization keeps its name, its mission, and its identity. What changes is how we work: not side by side, but as one coordinated system.
The Front Door
Drop-in warming center
The Table
Emergency congregate shelter with bunk beds
The Bridge
Transitional family shelter with semi-private and private rooms.
Backed by Duluth’s downtown and business community, and aligned with city and regional revitalization efforts
“This was really an opportunity to come together and show what can happen when everyone sits at the table.”
Kristi Stokes
Downtown Duluth President
The Pathway
Five Clear Steps.
One Pathway Forward.
Pathway Forward replaces guesswork with a clear, supported journey. At every step, people are met with dignity and a defined next step.
The same trusted organizations. A single compassionate mission. One smarter system, designed to ensure no one gets lost or left behind.
The Roadmap
A Phased Approach
Pathway Forward is a deliberate, phased transition built on existing investments and paced to keep every current service running while the new system comes online.
Phase 1: Align
Phase 2: Build & Transition
Phase 3: Integrate
Now through 2027
- Planning, program alignment, and community input.
- Programs and roles are mapped to each organization’s strengths.
- Back-end operations are coordinated.
- Capital fundraising, including state support, moves toward completion. Services continue uninterrupted.
2027–2028
- Construction of Union Gospel Mission’s new Mission Engagement Center across from the St. Louis County Government Services Center.
- Completion of Chum’s shelter renovation and expansion.
- The Damiano Center’s kitchen scales up to serve all three sites.
- Housing teams grow to help people stay stably housed.
2028 and beyond
- The full system comes online: one point of entry.
- Coordinated shelter at 300+ beds.
- Shared data for smarter resource decisions.
- 40 units of permanent supportive housing opening at Mission Heights. One pathway, fully connected.
Support
Fund the Pathway Forward
We aren’t asking you to believe in an idea — we’re asking you to fund a real-world operating model. One built by the people who do this work every day, designed to make every dollar go further.
Three trusted organizations have done the hard work of building a smarter system. What happens next depends on the community it serves. Give directly to the organization closest to your heart — whichever you choose, you’ll know exactly where your investment goes.
All gifts are tax-deductible and designated exactly as you direct.