A message from President & CEO,
I am filled with immense pride and gratitude for our funders, donors, volunteers, and staff – for your support and commitment to Avivo’s mission. Thank you!
This year was marked by significant challenges yet filled with profound hope and resilience. No doubt, 2023 tested the strength of our community.
- Three people in Minnesota lost their lives each day to overdoses; and for each person lost, there were 13 nonfatal overdoses.1
- Nearly 8,400 people are homeless any given night in Minnesota, a 6% increase from the prior year. The number of residents in the seven-county metro area experiencing homelessness increased 13%.2
- The helping professions like ours faced daunting obstacles of significantly high staffing shortages amidst an even higher demand for services.
The acuity of need is greater than we’ve ever seen. Our own staffing shortage hamstrung some Avivo service areas; we navigated challenges in receiving payments from contracts. We made the hard choice to reduce positions at Avivo by 37, nearly 10% of our workforce. And we closed the year with a significant deficit, not unlike peer nonprofit providers serving the community Avivo serves.
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Despite these large hurdles, Avivo remained driven by its values – regarding people with absolute dignity, leaning into curiosity through challenge, and extending a radical welcome to all. This is the Avivo Way. We do whatever it takes to help individuals access recovery, advance economically, and end homelessness. We are focused on our mission with a 2024 plan that recovers and increases revenue from services and fundraising as well as attracts and retains talented professionals for this worthwhile work.
In this report, we celebrate considerable successes. Minnesotans are moving from homelessness to housing, finding success in recovery from addiction and mental illness, and entering in or advancing careers. Avivo is becoming a leader in providing high-fidelity, harm-reduction care. And Avivo is also a highly sought-after, employment services provider by Minnesota counties to help families move off public assistance.
We couldn’t do this life- and community-changing work without you! Together, we can create the opportunity for everyone to have a home and the chance to live well and work well. On behalf of all of us at Avivo, thank you for your continued support.
With gratitude,
Kelly Matter
President and CEO, Avivo
1Minnesota Department of Health, Statewide Trends in Drug Overdose: Preliminary 2022 Data Update
2 Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness, 2023 Minnesota Point-in-Time Count
2023 at a glance
9,918
people served
1,745
individuals served in finding or maintaining housing to avert homelessness
2,213
people accessed Avivo’s substance use disorder treatment and mental health services
12
Minnesota counties served
1,784
individuals entered jobs or careers
1,173
families moved off public assistance and into work
58%
of people Avivo serves identify as Black, Indigenous or persons of color
85%
of Avivo participants lived at or below 100 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines ($31,200 for family of four)
ABSOLUTE DIGNITY
We walk alongside our community without judgement while offering an integrated continuum of services to help people thrive. Everyone is deserving of happiness, health, and value. People trust Avivo with their lives, their next steps.
National funding award from the Foundation on Opioid Response Efforts (FORE) expands Avivo’s opioid response
This first-ever funding from FORE enabled Avivo to add a harm-reduction navigator to its street outreach team.
Attention is focused particularly on Native American communities and communities of color who are experiencing a disproportionate impact from the opioid epidemic. The navigator leads education on overdose protection, manages harm-reduction supplies and conducts training, and is the harm-reduction point of contact for Avivo’s teams.
Avivo expanded its response to the increased community need for care for people using opioids who are experiencing homelessness.
Avivo Village houses nearly 150 individuals in permanent housing since opening in 2020
Avivo Village, a low-barrier transitional living shelter, has become a critical part of the continuum of care for people experiencing homelessness and living unsheltered in Hennepin County.
One hundred, indoor individual dwellings provide safety and privacy for each person. Residents find stability to engage in wrap-around services geared to support them on their journey to permanent housing. Individuals facing substance use disorders or mental health challenges are welcomed by the team and find a supportive environment for their next steps.
Since opening in 2020, 443 adults have been served and 147 moved into permanent housing!
TERRISA
Terrisa was homeless for about 17 years. She had lost a child and lost her husband. According to her, she was stressed and so down, nearly to the point of committing suicide. A friend told her about Avivo Village. Terrisa said that she cried the first night she was there. She had her own place and didn’t have to worry anymore.
“They help you with mental health. If you have chemical dependency, they can support you with that.” According to Terrisa, it was a perfect steppingstone. Now she is living in an apartment of her own in the community.
“All I needed was people who were going to help me to help myself, to get myself better.”
Avivo’s street outreach team connects with individuals experiencing homelessness and living unsheltered in Hennepin County.
zAmya Theater partnered with Avivo Village and the North Loop Neighborhood Association (NLNA) to inform a play that celebrates Avivo and NLNA’s partnership in supporting housing.
Employees from SFM package harm-reduction kits for Avivo’s street outreach team.
LEAN INTO CURIOSITY
We ask questions, take risks, listen to people we serve, and humbly embrace learning. Challenges aren’t barriers; they are opportunities. We do what it takes and leverage relationships, science, and service to have life-changing impact in individuals’ lives and communities.
Avivo partners with CenterPoint Energy for HVAC training program
Avivo partnered with CenterPoint Energy to launch a Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) training program at the Regional Apprenticeship Training Center in North Minneapolis.
Student recruitment is focused on enrolling students from diverse communities for these high-demand energy careers. The training center was equipped with lab components for hands-on training to prepare for and achieve industry licensing and certification.
Eleven students enrolled in the first HVAC session, and graduates will start careers quickly in the HVAC field.
Avivo and Wildflyer Coffee equip youth with employment and support to move out of homelessness
A second year into their partnership, Avivo and Wildflyer Coffee are supporting youth and young adults experiencing homelessness and housing instability through work, employment services, education and other life supports.
Youth participate in Wildflyer’s four-month work and life skills training while receiving career counseling, employment services, and other family life support services from Avivo. Twenty-one youth and young adults to date have completed this unique program. (pictured: Wildflyer Coffee program manager MacKenzie Diessner)
In 2023, Avivo helped 231 youth and young adults advance well-being and economic stability through completing their education, find training and employment, and enter careers.
EMMANUEL
Emmanuel emigrated from Rwanda with his family in 2019. He had a five- to 10-year plan to buy a home and get an education for his daughters. A refugee resettlement organization connected him with Avivo to help him find employment to support his family. His Avivo counselor spoke Swahili and, according to Emmanuel, he would give him hope that things would get better. With Avivo’s help, he found employment. He often worked extended hours and more than one job and made a downpayment on a house. He started a career as a housing case manager working with the initial refugee resettlement organization.
“Now I get to do for others what other people did for me.”
Training graduates, pictured with trainers, receive credentials to enter careers in telecommunications.
Minnesota Representative Aisha Gomez visits and meets families in Avivo’s recovery program.
Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan (pictured third from the right) and Cathy ten Broeke (center), Assistant Commissioner and Executive Director of the Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness, tour Avivo Village.
RADICAL WELCOME
Avivo provides radical hospitality – spaces that are safe, inclusive, and culturally relevant to all. We celebrate the power of living authentically. We commit to fostering a culture that rewards the courage to do so.
Renovated apartments instill confidence and sense of self-worth for mothers going through recovery with their children
Nor-Son Custom Builders, in partnership with Housing First Minnesota Foundation and other vendor partners, volunteered the labor and provided substantial amounts of materials to transform four apartments which are home to mothers and children in Avivo’s family recovery program.
They virtually rebuilt the units and updated the hallways and stairwells of the two-story, 100-year-old apartment building, which houses 10 families.
For years to come, the remodeled apartments will provide safety and instill confidence and self-worth in mothers recovering together with their children.
Avivo provides housing supports for new apartment building serving Native American residents moving out of homelessness
Bimosedaa, a 48-unit apartment building developed by Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative, opened at the end of the year to serve Native American community members experiencing homelessness. Avivo leases the units and provides on-site social services, such as help with government aid and job applications, housing supports, and rides to appointments.
Avivo’s spiritual care coordinator provides culturally relevant services to residents, like talking circles to process trauma and smudging ceremonies. (photo courtesy of Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative)
Avivo’s nonjudgemental and harm-reduction approach helps residents increase safety and well-being while living with substance use and/or mental health concerns.
LASHONDA
LaShonda shared that she had her first son at a very young age and had stepped out on her own to raise him. Those early parenting years included fleeing from an abusive relationship with her oldest daughter’s father. She shared that her initial experiences with treatment were unsuccessful; she stayed sober for only five months. With family treatment and housing at Avivo, she has maintained recovery for nearly two years. “In other treatment programs you are away from your children. It is hard to jump into life sober with children when you have been away from them.
[At Avivo], I was able to have a second chance at being a mom and be with my daughter. Do it right this time.”
Avivo Community Support Program participants enjoy a graffiti lettering class led by a peer and member.
New Branches churches coordinate a Welcome Kit drive to provide basic household items for residents moving into Bimoseda.
An Avivo-hosted career fair draws eight employers to meet Avivo student graduates and share career opportunities in high-demand fields.
FINANCIALS
REVENUE
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TOTAL
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EXPENSES
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TOTAL
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JOY NGUYEN,
MARSDEN SERVICES
“Volunteering with Avivo provides me with a sense of purpose and achievement that just goes beyond,” shares Joy Nguyen. “It’s a win-win for everyone to support and engage with Avivo.” Joy Nguyen is the community engagement and outreach manager at Marsden Services, a long-time Avivo business partner. Joy represents Marsden on Avivo’s Business Partner Council. She volunteers in Avivo Institute of Career & Technical Education’s training programs sharing practical insights with students on workplace success. She loves to see students grow in confidence and interview experience when she leads them through practice interviews. Sometimes practice interviews turn into real opportunities for careers at Marsden.
“Contributing allows me to create stronger bonds with my community and unite with people who are like-minded and have a shared commitment for making a better future for everyone.”
GIVING & GRATITUDE
Avivo’s impact in the community is propelled by the amazing support of Avivo donors, partners, and volunteers. Thank you for supporting Avivo, its participants and families!
X raised in charitable giving and United Way wait for Financial numbers
1,310
volunteers donated 20,771 hours
$763,011
is the estimated labor value of our volunteers’ hours (Independent Sector)
$878,621
is the fair market value of goods donated
Join us in celebrating our full list of amazing donors — corporations, foundations, organizations and individual donors — by checking out our full, printable 2023 Appreciation Report
To see the financials in greater detail, view the printable PDF
MISSION
Avivo’s mission is to increase well-being through recovery and career advancement while working to end homelessness.
1900 Chicago Avenue
Minneapolis, MN
612 752 8000