South Minneapolis Native American clinic and housing set to open in September
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The Native American Community Clinic announced this week that its south Minneapolis health clinic and affordable housing project is expected to open in September. And those interested in applying for one of its units are able to apply today.
The $55 million project along Minneapolis’ American Indian Cultural Corridor is being spearheaded by the clinic and a coalition of public, private and philanthropic partners. They include the city, Hennepin County, Wellington Management, UnitedHealth Group and other organizations.
The 83-unit Wihinaphe Apartments, which means “New Beginnings,” according to a clinic press release, will be above the 30,000-square-foot health center.
During a walkthrough of the construction site, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said it's logical for the city to invest in such a project.
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"When you have access to dental care, to mental health, medical care, addiction treatment, all in the place where you live, you're more likely to get better,” Frey said. “It makes sense for our city to be investing in it."
The mayor noted Minneapolis contributed $4 million from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, $22 million in housing revenue bonds and $750,000 through the Great Street Grants.
Hennepin County Commissioner Angela Conley was also on the construction site tour and agreed with the concept of locating a health clinic with housing.
“When you have the foundation of housing, which can be the catalyst for sobriety, for mental health care, for all of the things, when you combine that with a clinic, you're only setting people up for success,” she said
In addition, Conley said, the campus is on a transit line and across the street from a grocery store.
“So you have this structure here, that is really like taking care of the whole person,” the commissioner said. “It's not disjointed, and sometimes health care can be very disjointed.”
Dr. Antony Stately, the clinic’s president and executive officer, said the campus is designed as an indigenous space.
Stately pointed to the space where a mural designed by Native American artist Marlena Myles will be installed. Dr. Stately says the artwork represents the pathway Dakota people take while on earth.
"It's all intended for you to have this experience when you walk into the building, that you're in an indigenous place of healing and support and well-being,” Stately said during the tour. “The place is designed for indigenous people, native people specifically, and it is intended to represent them, so that they know that this is a place where they belong."
The clinic's lobby floor also has a rendering from Myles that represents the Bdote, where the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers come together. The Dakota consider this area sacred.
Interested renters can go to the clinic's website for information about applying to live in a unit.
