Merrick Community Services

Family & community services merrick's family & community services case managers utilize intervention and prevention resources, tools, information, and referrals to address and/or service the comprehensive and complex needs of the whole family. Merrick case management services are offered through a partnership with ramsey county human services -family & community partnership (fcp) / parent support outreach program (psop) & family emergency funds. Fcp/psop is designed to assist low-income families with basic needs and information regarding community resources. In 2024-25, mcs served 908 individuals and 227 families though this program. In addition, mcs served over 2,822 youth through seasonal programming (backpack giveaway and holiday toy share. Merrick also provides housing supports to families in need, specially focused on preventing homelessness and promoting longer-term housing stability. In this past year, we provided housing navigation support to 414 families and prevented evictions and subsequent homelessness to 184 of those families.

Food shelf providing a variety of high-quality foods and household supplies, merrick's food shelf offers east side of saint paul and maplewood residents nutritious foods through a client-choice model at our arcade food shelf, as well as additional distributions through school and faith-based sites throughout the year. Mcs served 16,640 individuals and distributed 890,000 pounds of food through our food shelves in 2024-25.

Meals on wheels the merrick meals on wheels program provides services that enable area seniors and other homebound individuals to remain independent and continue living in their own homes for as long as possible. This past year, mcs volunteers delivered 32,169 hot meals and served 265 homebound individuals with this program. East side employment xchange merrick is a leader (and fiscal sponsor) for the east side employment xchange, a collaborative of 14 partners serving east side communities with employment services and relationships to area employers. The xchange is focused on creating more equitable and numerous employment opportunities for residents of the east side of saint paul, serving as a single point of contact for employers to source talent and engage east side jobseekers with participant-centered and aspirational coaching. In fy 2024-25, the xchange provided counsel, support, or direction to individuals. Partnership for equitable and resilient communities (perc) in 2024-25, merrick continued to be the local backbone organization for the partnership for equitable and resilient communities (perc) cohort in saint paul. Mcs serves as the convener of a collaborative community table that catalyzes systems change in saint paul through the creation of a data- centered community action plan. We also act as an intermediary for grants/contracts of up to 3.9 million over three years. Perc is a results-driven partnership between community, philanthropy, and government that advances racial equity and justice by shifting power and resources to black, indigenous, asian and southeast asian, and latino/a/x people living in low wealth, under-resourced communities. Volunteer support in 2024-25 we had 465 volunteers who contributed over 12,100 hours throughout our programs and special events, a total value of at least 435,000 (independent sector, 2024).