The IRS has approved our paperwork, we are official.
We are a 501c3 charitable organization!!!

We have been blessed, one by one, with some terrific Board Directors & Advisors who are coming along with us and saying "YES, we can do this."  This is needed, this is important, and I am proud to be a part of it!  Thank you Board!  We are still in search of a few key individuals- 1. a medical professional (OBGYN, CNM, Family, LPN)   2. property maintenance guru   3. advisors from large MN companies to help us with grant connections.

As for a facility, we are still looking in Minneapolis for the right place to house Emerge.  While we wait for our 501c3 approval we look with great anticipation.  And when we launch (fingers crossed, in the next 3 months) we will be all-hands-on-deck, needing support to prepare our facility (clean, paint, decorate, cook, teach...) for the women.

A special place to house & guide emerging lives.

What's new in May?

Updates on Emerge.

Paperwork:  As an update to the Feb. 10th posting regarding the paperwork, we did hear back (May 5th) from the IRS- but we weren't approved yet for our 501c3 status.   They need more information from us.  It was a bit of a let-down, considering the hundreds of pages and hours put into the 1023 application already, to hear a "no, not yet".  But that is way better than a "no, never".   Staying hopeful!
So, again- more paperwork and another review of the application are pending.

People:  We have a great group of people on our Board!  We meet once a month, and have been getting through many paperwork-intensive meetings.  While we are still growing we are so excited for the dynamic talent of those who have stepped up.  We have fun, and we get a lot accomplished.  Let me (Becca@emergetwincities.org) know if you can think of someone great (CPA, attorney, medical advisor, property & legal)  in a professional role who would love to give back to the community.

Place:  Our property hunt continues, and we are still hopeful that an investor/investors will pursue something with us that is a win for them, and a win for Emerge!  The majority of our leads have been in S. Mpls, in the Powderhorn/Phillips/Ventura Village/Elliot neighborhoods.  If you would like to be on this planning and building committee I would love your help.  Our hope is to eventually find room sponsors for each of the womens' bedrooms- a couple, individual, church or family would be in charge of painting, decorating, furnishing and filling a room and could maybe become mentors to the woman/child staying in that room!

Just like my first job mowing lawns when I was 10, we're SAVING up funds. Only this time, instead of a watch from Herbergers- we're cashing in on hope & mercy. We are changing lives!

 We are accepting donations!  Through our ministry partner, Ace in the City, we have the opportunity to start saving up for our Mothers Academy.  Please be a part of providing single mothers with a home and hope- consider being a monthly or one time steward.  We would be so grateful for your monetary donation.  (And many in-kind gifts in the future!) 

Please make your 100% tax deductible check out to "Ace in the City", 

and write Emerge in your memo line.  Mail to:

 Emerge Mothers Academy c/o Rebecca Erickson

8600 Tessman Circle N

Minneapolis MN  55445

3P's update

Here's an update (as of Feb. 2012) on the 3 P's Emerge Mothers Academy.

Paperwork:  After MANY hours of work- Our 1023 is in the mail!
Pray with us that it would arrive safely,
that an efficient person would be the one to review it,
that everything is thorough and complete (lacking nothing!),
that it would be immediately approved
that we would get documentation to be an official 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

People: Help us find passionate and talented people to serve as Board Directors,
financial supporters, and our future first residents!!!

Place: We have ideas and hopes for the location; a facility suitable for residential life and academics- where, how, who, when, ease in working with the city/county, and a smooth licensing of the building-  please pray with us on these matters as well!


It's an exciting time for EMA, we are right on the cusp of seeing the launch of this needed ministry.
We are hopeful for expeditiously reviewed paperwork and approval, and then the subsequent staffing of EMA (summer 2012).
View our website, and feel free to email me about any ideas or questions!    emergetwincities.org

Thank you.

P P P: Next steps- paperwork, place, people

       Emerge Mothers Academy (EMA) is on the lookout for time, talent and treasure.
Well what does that mean; what does time, talent, and treasure look like in a time like this?  How could you possibly think I have anything to offer?
Good questions!  I, too, ask these questions.  As I anticipate great things to come- spiritual things, emotional things, and an amazing opportunity to serve a lot of women and children in need.  So what is there to offer?   Simply the things you already have.  We need your eyes, and ears, we need your connections, your friends, and your prayers!  Together we can easily accomplish the next steps for EMA.

Paperwork, Place, People.

The next steps for EMA are the aforementioned 3 p's.  First, Paperwork.  (who doesn't love talking about paperwork!)  :)  Oh yay.  SO, our name was approved by the Secretary of State, and now we are getting the ball rolling for the paperwork on which we have been working so diligently (bylaws, articles of incorporation, business plan, our 1023). This all needs to be submitted to bolster our efforts in getting our 501c3 business, a non-profit business tax status, up & running in 2012.  (Also still hopeful that the government will see our paperwork, love it, stamp us with vigor & excitement, knight us with a sword accolade for all the good things to come, and let us loose in the first 6 months of 2012, not the last!).

Second, we are keeping our eyes, ears, and hearts open for that special place to call Home for our Mothers Academy.  We have seen a number of properties already, 4 frontrunners in Minneapolis.  Naturally, each comes with a price tag (really? darn!), and each is laced with it's own unique hurdles of construction/licensing/permits/maintenance/leases/zoning.  Luckily I know some people, ehem, who know a little bit about building things.  Clearly, I am not speaking of myself in the third person: I cannot even figure out how Angry Birds builds these rickety structures that I just cannot knock down for the life of me.   Back to hurdles: anyone out there a track star in high school?  Hurdles were never my thing, neither was running, nor discuss, nor shot-put, nor those super tight biker-shorts.   But before you assume I have no athletic skill may I plead for some dignity and inform you that in the midst of my theatre and speech I also took to the slopes, and I was the center dancer in dance school (if you know what this means, then you KNOW what this means, if not- never mind...clearly both proving to be real helpful at this point in my life, hmmm, nope). Also in elementary school, at punt pass kick Play Day, I won the tug-of-war 5 years in a row, and scored a sweet t-shirt.  Also, getting me no where.   Again, I digress,  sheeesh the point is-  hurdlers:  help me with a strategy to bend Mpls and Hennepin county in our favor for residential/child housing in commercial or mixed building.  So, getting over the hurdle- is it the lift, the timing, the speed, the spread, or the length?  Or is this all about coordinating all 5?  In which case, "yikes", my brothers didn't give me the nickname Grace as any sort of compliment, I better get this coordination thing figured out.

Finally, we have already been overwhelmed and blessed with the amount of interest and support there is for EMA.  Thank you, to each of you, who has offered ideas, curriculum info, book suggestions, wisdom and time with us!  We are so grateful to have you in our corner, (like boxing coaches, not naughty 3 year olds), and to have you as ambassadors spreading the word about EMA.   We will continue to network to look for the right people (you) for our Board of Directors, volunteers (mentors, painters, laborers, friends, cooks, child care providers), our staff (2012), prayer team, and resource team.  Envision the uncle sam poster "I want you" with the finger.  (whatever finger it is that gets you to respond sooner).  All jokes aside, dear friends, I'd love to have each and every one of you on-board in some manner.  Let's have lunch, call me!

Our story...

  The development of Emerge Mothers Academy (EMA) a the story of many ladies who have overcome trials and challenges, and have pressed on.  And, along our journeys, we've heard even more stories that have compelled us to keep going and to share our healing with others along the way.  With that said- the preparations for EMA have begun.

Emerge Mothers Academy is an intentional learning program, and home for single moms- it is a campus for learning, and a residence for healing.

  For me, Judy and Maureen (EMA's founders), it is the fruit of our obedience.  It's what came about when the three of us, who have lived through betrayal, pain, & despair, decided to continue to labor in love, and serve in faith.  When the three of us get together and all say- it's clear that God is not through here yet- then we know we have so much more we can do.
  EMA is a non-profit organization designed to house and instruct single mothers.  These women are given a safe place to stay, so they can take the time they need to figure out how they got here, and what steps they need to take to be sure they never go back.  And more, it's a place for the women to do the hard work it takes now, changing the patterns from which they came,  in order to offer a bright future to their children.  A future filled with hope.  A new legacy.

  Mothers who are confused, scared and weary are welcomed in with open arms.  But once that momma is in, the sleeves get rolled up (chop chop as Maureen would say of me), and she gets to work.  Life patterns need to be changed.  Skills need to be learned.  Hands-on parenting needs to happen.  An education must be completed.  Emotional healing must take place.  And spiritual maturity needs to develop.
She's here to get her work done, to be diligent, to grow & change, and become a confident woman and caring mother.



Indeed, moms we want you to come and feel safe and loved.  And in return we expect you to get to work because we all have lives to guide and a rich heritage to create.


"Welcome!  You're on your way out."  -Corky Hall