The development of Dorothy Day Place in downtown St. Paul took a $40 million step forward Thursday, as Catholic Charities announced that it has reached its private fundraising goal after a two-year campaign focused on alleviating homelessness in the city.

The nonprofit launched the fundraising drive in May 2015 with a $5 million lead grant from the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation, which was followed by another $35 million in donations from more than 480 individuals and institutions.

But Catholic Charities is waiting on state bonding money tied up in the Legislature to help cover the balance of the $100 million project.

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‘Moral courage’ training, already planned for St. Paul officers before George Floyd death, takes on more urgency “This was the biggest fundraising effort that Catholic Charities has taken on in recent memory,” said Tim Marx, the nonprofit’s chief executive. “The private sector said it would raise $40 million, and it finished the job. Now, it’s critical that the legislature finish its job.”

Although it has already received about $25 million in public funds from a handful of sources, the project will require another $12 million in general obligation bonds and as much as $15 million in housing bonds, Marx said. The remaining $8 million will be made up through tax credits and other sources, he added.

The two-building complex will replace the Dorothy Day Center, which was opened in 1981 to serve meals to the homeless, Marx said. But as homelessness increased, it evolved into an overnight shelter, with people sleeping on mats on the cement floor. By 2011, it had begun turning people away because it lacked adequate facilities.

The first phase of the Dorothy Day Place project — a 473-bed temporary and permanent housing facility called Higher Ground St. Paul — opened in January across the street from the Dorothy Day Center.

Plans for the second phase include a 177-bed permanent housing facility and the St. Paul Opportunity Center, which will connect homeless people to “critical services to improve their health, income, housing stability, and well-being,” according to Catholic Charities.

Construction of this second building, which is to be built on the site of the Dorothy Day Center, was delayed when the Legislature failed to pass a bonding bill last session. Catholic Charities now hopes to open that building by 2019.

“I think we’re getting mixed — and some disappointing — signals from the Legislature so far” this session, Marx said, adding that the project’s second building must break ground this summer or it risks losing the tax credits.

The homeless are just our neighbors without homes. #DorothyDay2017

Congrats on reaching $40 million goal! — Sandy Pappas (@SenatorPappas) May 5, 2017

State Sen. Sandra Pappas, a Democrat whose district includes downtown St. Paul, said she is optimistic that the Legislature will pass a bonding bill this session.

“I’m very, very hopeful,” she said. “It’s the right thing to do. People shouldn’t be living on mats on the floor. We need to provide people a hand up.”

Marx fears that another failure in the Legislature to pass a bonding bill may jeopardize the future of the public-private funding model Dorothy Day Place relies on.

“We want to encourage public-private partnerships like the one we’ve created here,” he said. “It will have a chilling effect on not only this, but on similar partnerships if the Legislature doesn’t come through.”

HOW TO HELP

To learn more and contribute to Catholic Charities’ Dorothy Day Center, go to: https://dorothydaycampaign.org/.