Duluth nonprofits launch Pathway Forward to coordinate homelessness services

A person looking for help in Duluth has often had to piece together a survival plan one stop at a time: a meal at the Damiano Center, a bed at CHUM, and longer-term help through Union Gospel Mission. Pathway Forward is meant to make that route less confusing, with the three organizations trying to line up shelter, services and housing so people in crisis are not bounced from one intake process to another.

The initiative was publicly rolled out Tuesday by leaders from CHUM, the Damiano Center and Union Gospel Mission. They said the first phase will focus on planning, aligning operations and gathering community feedback through 2027, not on immediate construction or a sudden shift in daily services. The clearest promise for guests is simpler navigation: fewer duplicate steps, a clearer path from street outreach or shelter into stable housing, and a system that is easier for staff to manage when someone walks in without a plan.

The need is hard to ignore. Union Gospel Mission said its data show chronic homelessness in St. Louis County has risen 157% over the past decade. A separate estimate cited by local reporting put the number of people experiencing homelessness at more than 6,000 in St. Louis County and more than 600 in Duluth. HUD’s 2024 Point-in-Time count recorded 577 homeless households on Jan. 24, 2024, in the Duluth and St. Louis County continuum, while Minnesota’s 2025 count later put the statewide total at 8,392 people on a single night in January.

That pressure is showing up inside the organizations themselves. CHUM said it currently serves more than 125 guests nightly in a building built for 30 beds. After renovations tied to federal and state funding secured in 2023 and 2024, the shelter is expected to provide 168 beds. CHUM’s temporary move to the Damiano Center during construction, and Damiano’s renovation of its third floor to support shelter operations, show how quickly the local system is being forced to adapt while people continue to arrive seeking help.

The broader structure also matters. St. Louis County’s Continuum of Care is the regional planning body for homelessness services, while the Heading Home Advisory Council oversees planning, coordination and funding activities. Duluth’s Housing Indicator Report says communities that receive Continuum of Care grants must use coordinated entry, and St. Louis County receives more than $3 million a year through that federal stream. Pathway Forward fits that framework by trying to make the system work more like one network and less like a collection of separate front doors.

Each partner brings a deep local history. CHUM says it was founded in 1973 by 10 churches in Duluth’s Central Hillside neighborhood and now includes more than 40 member congregations. The Damiano Center says it is the largest emergency meal provider in Northeastern Minnesota and the largest free store in Duluth. Union Gospel Mission said in December 2024 that it has helped people for more than 100 years and has moved six times. The next test is whether those long-standing institutions can turn that legacy into something people in crisis feel right away: shorter waits, clearer directions and a more direct route to housing.