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St. David Center seeks $10 million in bonding to expand children’s mental‑health services in downtown Minneapolis
Summary
St. David Center requested $10 million in bonding (House File 244) to renovate the former YWCA on Nicollet Mall into a children and family services center to serve early‑intervention, mental‑health and developmental therapy clients and expand staff and training capacity.
Representative Katie Jones and St. David Center CEO Julie Shortall presented House File 244 on March 25, requesting $10 million in bonding to renovate the former YWCA building on Nicollet Mall into an expanded children-and-family service center.
Jones said St. David’s serves more than 7,000 children and families with early-intervention therapies and that more than 2,000 children are on the organization’s waiting list for services. Julie Shortall said the project would convert the vacant fitness center into clinical space, expand mental-health and pediatric therapy capacity, and create 150–200 jobs plus up to 70 internship placements annually. Shortall estimated the total project cost at about $35 million and said the $10 million bonding request represents less than one-third of that total; the organization reported $9 million already raised in private philanthropy.
Shortall said the expansion is designed to reduce future public costs by intervening early (potentially reducing special-education needs and later system costs). The project is shovel-ready and planned in phases so allocated funds could be used immediately. Committee members asked about prior child-care funding and tax status; witness said the organization did not receive the large child-care funds discussed elsewhere and that St. David’s is a tax-exempt nonprofit.
The bill was presented informationally; no committee vote occurred during the hearing.
