New Nonprofit to Address Local Workforce Housing Needs

St. John’s Ministries has launched a new nonprofit, a community development corporation, to serve the greater Green Bay area. The Gateway Collective will focus solely on meeting the workforce housing needs of the area with a socially inclusive housing model.

Socially inclusive housing is a proactive, research-based approach offering high-quality housing with an emphasis on social inclusion and community building. The concept will include workforce affordable and market rate apartments with community gathering spaces and additional support services related to childcare, transportation, financial planning and employment training opportunities.

The Gateway Collective management team will include three well-known professionals: Alexia (Lexie) Wood, Ph.D., Christian Jensen and Julie Kozak. Dr. Wood, currently executive director of St. John’s Ministries, will step into a new role as executive director of The Gateway Collective.

Dr. Wood explained the new concept that the organization will champion: “Socially inclusive housing can be a game changer for many of our community’s essential employees, like nursing assistants, cashiers, hospitality workers, office staff, childcare workers, production workers and security personnel to name just a few. It can also improve talent attraction and retention rates for local employers by enabling employees to live in the community where they work, strengthening the local workforce.”

The Gateway Collective was formed by St. John’s Ministries, a Green Bay area nonprofit that owns and operates St. John’s Ministries’ homeless shelters along with daytime resources, Wellspring and the Micah Center. Its mission is to honor the dignity, restore hope and create lasting change for those experiencing homelessness or housing instability.

While the focus of The Gateway Collective and St. John’s Ministries will differ, both organizations will work in concert to tackle housing instability from different angles.

With Dr. Wood becoming executive director of The Gateway Collective, St. John’s Ministries will begin a search for a new executive director.

Watch for updates as they become available at gatewaycollective.org.