WAITE PARK — Soon after Jamie Pendelton moved to the St. Cloud area from Wisconsin about five years ago, she found herself separated from her husband. She had two kids, ages 16 and 9, and another on the way. Her ex-husband had family ties here, but she had no one.
“I was new here, and I wasn't employed yet … a displaced homemaker kind of situation,” Pendelton said. “I needed to build the basement to be able to build the whole foundation.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Her first concern was getting health insurance for her kids. She had a background in social work and had to look for a job.
“It was achievable on my own, but having a help up to prevent anything that could have happened. You know, lights can go off. Evictions happen, and if there's a lapse, it could definitely have been ugly,” she said.
She found Avivo, which helped with insurance and rent, helping her finish a lease that required two-incomes so that she could move somewhere more affordable.
She happened to find work through Avivo, too. Once she was employed, they helped her finish her master’s degree in social work.
Now, she’s the program manager for the Minnesota Family Investment Program, or MFIP, for Sherburne County.
“The purpose of it is to gauge barriers to employment,” Pendelton said, from transportation and health to experience and other barriers. It’s a tool to bridge the gaps during hard times, Pendelton said.
She’s now the person helping others through difficult periods. Pendelton is just one of the nearly 10,000 people Avivo serves in Central Minnesota every year.
ADVERTISEMENT
A little about Avivo
Avivo started in Minneapolis in 1960 as a county vocational center serving people with disabilities, said Kelly Matter, president and CEO of Avivo.
Serving about 200 people a year, they primarily helped people with physical disabilities, helping assess their ability to work in the community. Their services expanded with community needs.
Now, their services include addiction and mental health treatment, skills training, employment programs and more. They primarily serve people living in poverty or who have other barriers to employment, but still serve people with disabilities, Matter said.
“We believe that … everybody that wants to work can work," Matter said. "We have a kind of zero-exclusion policy. If you want to work, there's the job for you, and we will support you.
"Self-sufficiency and self-esteem … many of us wrap that around our employment.”
Avivo serves Stearns, Benton and Sherburne counties, among several others.
Avivo started working in the St. Cloud area in 1989, providing career training and vocational rehabilitation services, serving people who were laid off or unemployed but also people with disabilities. For instance, Avivo helped workers laid off when Electrolux closed its plant in 2019, Matter said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Within the last 30 years, Avivo has been providing services to people experiencing homelessness, including doing street outreach. They help people find permanent housing, employment and other services.
Planning a 'tiny home' shelter for St. Cloud
In 2020, Avivo opened a first-of-its-kind shelter, 100 “tiny homes” inside one shelter in Minneapolis, which provided safety and privacy for people experiencing homelessness while being more cost-effective than a single-standing tiny home. It is a very low-barrier shelter, meaning they meet people where they’re at, Matter said.
“The only criteria to Avivo Village is that you have to be sleeping outside,” Matter said.
People don’t have to stop using substances like alcohol or drugs. They allow domestic pets.
They don’t divide by gender, so gender identity isn’t an issue.
“We believe housing is a right, and the first step is shelter. And then, you know, then people can take those next best steps," Matter said. “We've been able to show that this low barrier model with wrap-around support is effective in moving people into permanent housing."
ADVERTISEMENT
Avivo is planning to build a similar shelter in St. Cloud, hoping to open in the first quarter of 2026. While the details are still being finalized, the shelter will be supported through a combination of state, county and city funds, as well as direct-fee-for-service billing through health plans and private donations.
Some community members and business owners have expressed concern about the new shelter, including its location near St. Cloud Financial Credit Union. Issues that have been raised about other shelters in the area, such as Lincoln Center , include neighbors reporting noise, drug use, prostitution, trespassing, harassment, violence and crime.
Matter said Avivo has a proven track record.
“I can't say, ‘Trust me, trust us. We don't have these issues.’ But we don't have the issues. I think the community's gonna have to experience it for themselves,” Matter said.
Matter recognizes that low-barrier shelters can be difficult to manage.
“It’s not easy … It’s got to be designed with intention,” Matter said. “There is a high staff ratio. … That has to be in place, or it won't be successful. And that comes with the price tag.”
But ultimately, it’s less expensive to shelter and provide services for people than to leave them to fend for themselves, with police, jails and emergency departments taking up the slack.
ADVERTISEMENT
“We are serving people, period. Human beings, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers," Matter said. "So we want to make it easy for people to access shelter."
By the numbers …
Avivo in St. Cloud
- 1989: The year Avivo started serving Stearns, Benton and Sherburne counties.
- 24,000: the number of families Avivo has served in the area since 2013.
- More than 7,000: The number of people Avivo has connected to employment who previously weren’t working and were receiving public assistance.
- Quarter 1, 2026: Scheduled opening for Avivo Village St. Cloud, an indoor “tiny home,” low-barrier shelter modeled another Avivo shelter in the North Loop area of Minneapolis.
- 48: The number of indoor tiny homes Avivo will provide for people experiencing homelessness in the St. Cloud area.
Avivo Village North Loop tiny home shelter (as of Nov. 13)
- 633: Number of people served since opening in December 2020.
- 253: Number of people who have moved on to safe, permanent housing.
- 214: Number of overdoses that have been reversed.
- 18: Number of babies born to Avivo Village residents.
- 52%: Percent of people housed who identify as Native American.
- 40: Number of veterans served.
- 35: Number of pets (25 dogs, 10 cats) that have lived with residents.
More information
- For more about Avivo, to donate or to get help, visit avivomn.org.
- Contact Avivo at 612-752-8000 or contact@avivomn.org.
The Trust Project
