 For release: January 29, 2014
Contact:
Don Sabre Hennepin County Human Services and Public Health Department, 612-348-2247
Alex Nee, VEAP (Volunteers Enlisted to Assist People), 952-955-8320
Maria Elena Baca. Hennepin County Public Affairs, 612-348-7865
News release
Hennepin County Human Services and Public Health Department
(HSPHD) and VEAP (Volunteers Enlisted to Assist People) will hold a joint grand
opening ceremony on Tuesday, February 4, 2014 to celebrate the two
organizations' collaboration in the new service center at 9600 Aldrich Avenue
South in Bloomington.
The public is invited to visit 5-7 p.m., Tuesday, at 9600 Aldrich Avenue South, Bloomington.The event will include facility tours and refreshments.
Residents on the southern end of the county can access a range of county
human services, as well as the community resources and connections VEAP has
offered for more than 40 years.
“Hennepin County is proud to partner with VEAP,” said 5th
District Hennepin County Commissioner Randy Johnson. “Offering all of Hennepin
County and VEAP’s resources under one roof, in the community, will help
Hennepin County clients to get the help they need more quickly, and achieve
independence that much sooner.”
VEAP is a multiservice human services organization established in
1973 by a group of churches in Richfield. Now, 41 years later, VEAP serves residents
of Bloomington, Richfield, Edina and a portion of South Minneapolis, with the
largest food pantry in Minnesota, transportation for low-income seniors and an
array of additional social services.
"VEAP could see that the need in our community was
growing, we had to take action to ensure that the people who were struggling
would get the help they needed," said Susan Russell Freeman, Executive
Director of VEAP. "This meant purchasing and renovating our new community
service center, inviting Hennepin County HSPHD to join us, and partner
with us in deepening all areas of service to the community. We are very pleased
with what we’ve all been able to accomplish even in the first month of
service."
The VEAP Community Service Center is part of the county’s human
services regionalization plan, which aims to move human services delivery from
one downtown facility to six locations around the county, closer to where
clients live, work and attend school. The new location in Bloomington is the
second human services “hub” to open. Another office co-located in October 2012
with Community Emergency Assistance Programs (CEAP) and the Osseo Public
Schools, at the Northwest Family Service Center in Brooklyn Center.
Four more offices are scheduled to open over the next two years,
in Hopkins, north Minneapolis, downtown Minneapolis and south Minneapolis,
before the county’s main human services office at Century Plaza closes for
good, likely in 2015.
Hennepin County clients from the south suburban region will find
many of the same county staff there with whom they have interacted at Century
Plaza for the past several months.
Two-thirds of the 46,000 square foot building are occupied by
VEAP, with HSPHD occupying the northern third. The building features a 146-seat
shared lobby, a childcare center, a joint teaching and commercial kitchen and
an expanded warehouse and distribution space for VEAP's food program.
Clients can seek Hennepin County assistance at the new facility Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and on Thursdays, 8:30 a.m.-6:30. p.m.
VEAP offices are open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., and Thursdays, 8 a.m.-7 p.m.
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Look for more news on the Hennepin County website at www.hennepin.us/news.
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