In 2023, after years of serving Green Bay through St. John’s Ministries, a group of Christian leaders saw an urgent gap in how housing services were offered. They had witnessed countless families and essential workers — those just above federal poverty thresholds — struggle under unstable housing, despite working full-time. Determined to prevent crisis before it arrives, they launched The Gateway Collective as a new nonprofit focused solely on socially inclusive housing: a model where affordable and market-rate units coexist, support is embedded, and community is intentional. Drawing on the relational, on-the-ground experience from homeless services, they committed to stepping upstream — engaging people before they “fall through the cracks.” Their first project, City Center Lofts, emerged as a tangible vision of that calling, integrating financial tools, on-site advocacy, and community gathering spaces so that housing does more than shelter: it becomes the foundation for upward mobility and dignity.