MiraclePlace Pasco – Metro Ministries
Based in Florida’s Tampa Bay area, Metropolitan Ministries is a nonprofit organization with a mission to care for people experiencing homelessness and those who are at risk of becoming homeless. Serving their community since 1972, Metro Ministries celebrated its most recent achievement at MiraclePlace Pasco—a campus redevelopment and expansion project in Holiday, Florida.
Through this project, Metro Ministries with the support of Reinvestment Fund will help stabilize and empower children, families, and individuals in need in Pasco County and double their capacity to provide life-changing programs and family crisis resources in the community.
The construction for this expansion began in June of 2023. The first phase of the expansion, completed in June 2024, includes a new 10,000 square foot Family Support Center, complete with a food pantry, clothing drive, and case management in a private meeting space to promote client dignity while meeting basic needs.
This first phase is poised to meet the growing outreach and homeless prevention resource needs of the West Pasco community.
In addition, an additional 24 residential housing units will be constructed for single women and homeless families with children offering 24-hour staff support, three hot meals a day, trauma counseling, education, childcare, after school programming, health and wellness, spiritual care, employment training, housing assistance, and case management.
“We are deeply grateful for the genuine care, guidance, and support we received” said Deandra in a case study, a single mother who was able to maintain stable housing and prevent her family from becoming homeless through the services of the Family Support Center.
In June 2024, Metro Ministries also broke ground on the new state-of-the-art 10-classroom early childhood learning center. Providing education and food security in a safe and affordable childcare space, the new early childhood education center will serve families living at MiraclePlace Pasco as well as families in need throughout the Tampa Bay community.
According to the Florida Department of Education, there were over 1,800 homeless students in Pasco County alone. The center will be accredited with the State and provide trauma-informed programming to help children experiencing homelessness overcome their challenges.
Reinvestment Fund provided a $6M New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) allocation for this project along with partners, Chase Community Equity and Florida Community Loan Fund. The $23 million project represents the coming together of support from generous individual donors, private foundations and public agencies in the community, including State of Florida Department of Children and Families and Pasco County Commissioners.
About Metropolitan Ministries: Founded 52 years ago as a local, independent nonprofit, we provide hunger relief, emergency shelter, and residential programs, education and job training, family support services, affordable housing, mobile outreach, and an array of comprehensive services that alleviate suffering, promote dignity, and instill self-sufficiency for at-risk, struggling, and homeless individuals, families, and children in the Tampa Bay region. Locations in Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas Counties. Metro’s services touch and change the lives of more than 90,000 individuals and families, as well as 157,000 children each year.
Learn more about Reinvestment Fund’s New Markets Tax Credits financing.