Empowerment Center/Gage East Apartments

Building a Foundation for Our Children

Rochester, MN

The Empowerment Center is a collaborative project where multiple agencies with shared goals and values will co-locate to provide programming for low income and homeless families and youth at the old Gage East Elementary School. The focus of programming will be early childhood and school age youth development, education, job training, and mental/physical health support. The Empowerment Center won’t duplicate services already provided in the Rochester community, but will make services more accessible to a larger population in a neighborhood with great need. Focusing on the most vulnerable, the children, our goal is to grow healthy children into healthy adults who will be be ready to work and live in our community. We realize transportation can also be difficult in Rochester and the center will simplify access to needed programming for families and youth, making it easier and more convenient to receive the services needed to break the cycle of homelessness.

We need your help!

The total project cost is $2.5 million dollars. These dollars will be used to purchase the former Gage East School and make much needed repairs to the building. The site is in need of a new roof, windows, HVAC system, commercial kitchen and other cosmetic repairs to turn the school into a shared community center. The Empowerment Center renovation will be funded by private and foundation support. This capital campaign is a one-time request. Ongoing operation will be self-sustaining.

The immediate goal is to renovate the school into a usable space for partner agencies to provide supportive services to those living in the Gage East Apartments and the surrounding high-need neighborhood. The long-term goal is to extend the life of the building by a minimum of 20 years and break the intergenerational cycle of poverty and homelessness. Early intervention with young parents and their children will not only break the cycle, but also strengthen our community. The Empowerment Center partners include Family Service Rochester, Lutheran Social Services Link Program, Olmsted County, Rochester Public Schools, Workforce Development, Inc. and the TOTs Program through Center City Housing Corp.

If you’d like to contribute, please go online at GIVEMN.ORG!

The Gage East Apartments provide permanent supportive housing for 30 homeless families and 25 youth ages 16 – 21. Opened in fall 2016, the Gage East Apartments help some of the more than 200-300 homeless families and 60 – 100 unaccompanied homeless youth find a place they can call home.

Center City Housing Corp. is partnering with Essence Property Management, Inc. who will be managing the Gage East Apartments. For more information or to apply, click here.

Join us for a short video about this exciting Rochester community project.