Neighborhood House names new president

Jake Spitzack
Staff Writer

Janet Gracia, a seasoned nonprofit leader with more than 30 years of experience, has been named the next president of Neighborhood House. She officially takes the helm June 5 following Nancy Brady’s retirement. Brady held the position for about 10 years.

Founded in 1897 and located at 179 Robie St. E., Neighborhood House assists residents of Ramsey County with basic needs services such as food, housing, education and more. Gracia’s duties as president include overseeing the nonprofit’s sustainability and all its programming, which annually serves 16,000 immigrants, refugees and low-income people.

“I was ecstatic and humbled [to be selected],” said Gracia. “Taking on the responsibility of an organization that has provided such important services since the 1800s, and to be able to carry on that legacy in a community that supported me, means a lot.”

When Gracia and her newborn daughter moved from Iowa to the West Side in 1990, she immediately discovered Neighborhood House when seeking assistance as they settled into their new community. She quickly landed a job at the American Red Cross on the West Side, so she didn’t need its services for long, but she has never forgotten what the help meant to her.

“I had a lot of privileges that perhaps some don’t, but I needed to fill in some gaps while I was looking for my new job, like where I could get immunizations for my daughter,” said Gracia. “The Neighborhood House is such a pillar of the West Side community that I instantly became very connected to it.”

Today, Gracia is deeply rooted in the West Side. She has lived and worked within a one-mile radius of her home for 30 years. She lived at the Wabasha Street Terraces for many years before becoming a homeowner in the neighborhood 22 years ago.

After her time with the Red Cross, Gracia worked for the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, officing at the Neighborhood Development Alliance on the West Side. For the past 30 years, she worked for the Girl Scouts River Valleys, half that time in executive positions. Most recently she was senior vice president of culture and impact. She also served on the Girl Scouts of the USA diversity equity inclusion advisory council. (Can you guess where her office was while with the Girl Scouts? Yes, the West Side.)

Gracia also led volunteer efforts for the Girl Scouts. She was a troop leader for each of her two now-adult daughters and at one point they toured Neighborhood House on a field trip. When the girls in the troop – one of whose family shopped at the food market there – saw the need for food support, they decided to plant a community garden at Belvidere Street East and Kansas Avenue. Over two years, they donated 500 pounds of produce to Neighborhood House.

“It was the girls that did it but it’s another example of why I feel connected to Neighborhood House, and of how people are very compelled to give back to Neighborhood House when they see a need,” said Gracia.

Neighborhood House offers adult education programs in English, citizenship, General Educational Development (GED), computer skills and more; a parent and early childhood education program that helps children ages 1-5 prepare for school, and a youth literacy program that helps kids in grades 3-12 learn to read. The organization’s youth program offers a lending library, homework help, after-school events and a free summer camp. Coming soon for high schoolers is a youth advisory council. Family coaches also provide families with resources that help them plan for their future.

Other programs include the housing stability program that provides emergency financial assistance and other resources to help prevent evictions and homelessness, and the Latino Leadership program, a free 7-week course conducted in Spanish in-person and via Zoom that teaches about leadership and goal planning. Neighborhood House also runs a free food market stocked with nutritious food – appointments can be made by calling 651-789-3602 – and hosts fresh produce distribution events and other food support services. It also operates the Francis Basket food market near Sibley Manor on West 7th Street. The food market has seen record-high demands for two consecutive years. Last fiscal year, it distributed 665,320 pounds of food to nearly 11,000 individuals and 5,000 families. Last year, food shelves across Minnesota had 7.5 million visits, an increase of 2 million from the previous year.

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