A grass-roots effort to solve Bismarck-Mandan's homelessness problem helped two groups obtain a $122,773 grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation.

The grant money will be used to fund a half-time executive director for the Missouri Valley Coalition for Homeless People and a half-time homelessness coordinator position to guide implementation of Bismarck-Mandan's 10-year plan to end homelessness in the two cities.

The funding will be dispersed over three years.

The grant was written by a group of University of Mary social work students. They had teamed with the Steering Committee to End Long-Term Homelessness and and a group of stakeholders who gave input into the problem.

The panels have been mapping out the best strategy to ease the homeless problem since 2006.

Bismarck Mayor John Warford opened a news conference on Monday at the City/County Building, saying he was enlightened about the cities' homeless problem when he met Philip Mogano, executive director of the National Interagency Council on the Homeless.

Mogano recapped the local issue during a visit to Bismarck.

"When I first met with Mr. Mogano, I did not know much about the homeless issue," Warford said. "My assessment was somebody living in a cardboard box under the Memorial Bridge. … That is not the case."

Warford said there are 247 homeless people in the Bismarck-Mandan metro area daily. "The ones that are especially close to my heart are the mothers and children and the young people who are homeless in our community," he said.

Warford introduced members of the steering committee and thanked them for creating the 10-year plan. He said the grant money will be key to activating the plan through staffing dollars.

He also recognized the University of Mary students involved in the grant application. "This is really an example of leadership in your community," he said. "He credited their work for putting weight into the funding request

"This is what life and living in a community is all about," Warford said. "It's giving back to your community."

"I am excited about this homeless effort we have. I am excited about the coalitions that have been formed in our community. … We are going to do our best to move our homeless effort forward. We are moving into an implementation mode," he said.

Mandan Mayor Tim Helbling added he was happy to team up with everyone involved with the cause.

"Anytime any of us can do something to help those less fortunate than us, it's a good thing,"he said.

Sue Martin of the Ruth Meiers Hospitality House was grateful for the students' help. She said the Otto Bremer Foundation was impressed by the city-wide effort. "It was all of us coming together. You did play a big part in that we did get the grant," Martin told the students.

Brenda Kriedeman, president of the Coalition for Homeless People, said "I see the homelessness daily. One of the things that struck me was the community effort. We as a steering committee started planning things. … The stakeholder meetings were impressive. There was a lot of hard work done. Now that we've got it all together, with the help of the University of Mary, we've got this new person coming on, we can move forward with the plan and actually get it working. That's good news for people working here and most importantly for the homeless."

Nancy Kleingartner, an instructor at the University of Mary and steering committee member, said applying for the staff funding was a growth opportunity for the students. "In the process, they learned a lot about factors that dealt with homelessness, attended several community meetings, came to a city commission meeting. They really got to see social work planning and problem solving in action. I want to thank the students for their hard work and thank the community for allowing the students to partner with them in this very significant undertaking."

"It was a teamwork process," said Ashlie Bieber, speaking for the students involved. "It was a wonderful experience, learning how to write a grant. … It helped to know we were doing something for the community of Bismarck-Mandan and helping the homeless people of the area."

She said she knew there was a problem, but didn't realize how bad it is. Bieber said studies show 41 percent of the homeless are kids. "That was a big red flag for me," she said.

"Most people are living with relatives, living in cars or move from motel to motel. That's why they're so hard to see, because they are not out on the streets like the movies."

"What is exciting about this plan is it is a communitywide plan. … It is an important plan in the name of people who are homeless," said Tom Regan of the United Way.

(Reach reporter LeAnn Eckroth at 250-8264 or leann.eckroth@;bismarcktribune.com.)