Metro briefs: Hennepin County wins national award for Stable Families Initiative

Hennepin County has won national recognition for a program that's decreased the number of homeless families in emergency shelters.

The award this month from the National Association of Counties honored the county's Stable Families Initiative. The program, started in 2014, reaches out to one-time homeless families at risk of losing their homes again. It was launched after the number of families using emergency shelters peaked in 2013 to 1,572 families in Hennepin County.

The county contacted families to offer services such as childhood education, employment counseling or case management. As a result, the number of families staying in shelters dropped 18 percent and repeat use decreased 33 percent while average family income rose.

The program costs $1 million a year, with about $300,000 from the county and the rest coming from state, federal and philanthropic funds. The county estimates the program saves $2 million a year by housing fewer people in shelters. Hennepin County is one of only five communities in the nation with a "shelter all" policy.

Now, the county says the state is planning to replicate pieces of the program throughout Minnesota.

Kelly Smith

St. Paul leaders hope to identify and address key issues impacting small business owners' ability to open and expand businesses in the city.

The city will hold the next meeting at 8 a.m. Tuesday at the James J. Hill Center, 80 W. 4th St. Another meeting will take place at 5 p.m. July 7 in the third-floor conference room at Metropolitan State University Library, 645 E. 7th St.

Jessie Van Berkel

Chris Eng, of Lindstrom, Minn., has been hired as Washington County's first economic development director.

"He appreciates the importance of collaboration, and his expertise will be invaluable as we seek to improve Washington County's visibility as a destination for economic growth," said Barbara Dacy, executive director of the Washington County Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA).

Eng was vice president of public finance at Northland Securities in Minneapolis, where he was responsible for finding public finance solutions for municipal governments. Previously, he was executive director of the Duluth Economic Development Authority, where his projects included the $30.5 million restoration of the NorShor Theatre, an art deco theater built in 1926.

The Washington County HRA is set to become a community development agency under a recent change to state law, Dacy said.

Eng began his new job last week.

Kevin Giles

The Franklin Library 4-H Club has been named the group winner of this year's Red Wagon Awards by the Minnesota Alliance with Youth.

The award recognizes service efforts and leadership of young people across the state. The club, part of Urban 4-H, meets every Tuesday at Franklin Library in the Phillips neighborhood and has been working on service projects to address homelessness, bullying and discrimination.

The teen winners were honored at a dinner at Macalester College on June 23 and received a $500 scholarship.