Fox21Online
April 7, 2021
DULUTH, Minn.– A new executive director has been named for chum in John Cole. Cole is currently the interim director at Align Minneapolis, which is similar to Chum.
Current Executive Director Lee Stuart will be leaving her post and retiring June 30 after eight years of service in that position. Cole will take over the day after.
“I’ve had that privilege for the last eight years and it’s been a great experience for me and for the organization. And so being able to hand that off and to have the next voice of leadership come forward I think is just a really good opportunity,” said Stuart.
CHUM names new executive director
The agency, which addresses homelessness in Duluth, will be led by someone who ran a similar organization in Minneapolis.
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John Cole
CHUM, a faith-based organization that serves homeless people in Duluth, has named a new executive director.
John Cole, currently the interim director at Align Minneapolis also a faith-based homelessness organization will begin June 1 and replace current executive director Lee Stuart, who plans to retire June 30, CHUM said in a news release Wednesday.
Cole, born in the Caribbean, came to Minnesota in 2011 after founding Friends Hotline of Antigua and Barbuda, a nongovernmental organization supporting youth in crisis. At the same time, he was youth director for the Diocese of North Eastern Caribbean and Aruba of the Anglican Church.
In a Tumultuous Year, COVID Puts Homeless Crisis Front and Center
From summer to fall 2020, a homeless encampment was based near the Lake Harriet bandshell. We went inside the homeless encampment, where a cityâs growing housing crisis took on faces and names.
The Lake Harriet homeless encampment
The Lake Harriet homeless encampment, photographed in late September, is across the street from the Lake Harriet Bandshell and overlooks the lake.
Editorâs Note: Some of the homeless persons in this article agreed to speak with only limited attribution. Others are highly vulnerable individuals. As a result, the editors decided to identify all only by their first names.