Songs of Hope™ is housed in a dormitory at Concordia University, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA. The project rents the facilities and is not affiliated with the University nor has any religious affiliation. Rather, Songs of Hope™ is an entirely nonprofit project of Sounds of Hope, Ltd., a Minnesota arts organization. The beautiful urban campus of CSP is located about halfway between the city centers of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, which are commonly known as the Twin Cities.
Three to four participants, from different cultures and/or countries, share a big room. Each room is equipped with 3 or 4 beds, dressers, desks, chairs, lamps, and tables. With the help of staff, roommates may arrange their rooms as they choose. Large community bathrooms are located on each floor, and consist of several toilets, showers, and sinks. Each floor also includes comfortable community lounges which are used during free time and other activities.
Boys and girls are housed on separate floors or wings. Staff members and international Adult Companions are also housed on the participants’ floors to provide close supervision and needed help.
In each room, there is a Big Sister or Big Brother, who is a ComeBack Kid (that is, a returning participant) to help the new participants. Together, the roommates are responsible for keeping their room clean and doing their own laundry, with the help of staff. There are daily clean-room checks and weekly cleaning days, with very competitive prizes given for the cleanest room of the week (the prestigious Steady Light Award), the best clean of a room on cleaning day (One-Time Shine Award), the best décor (House Beautiful Award), and others.
The dorm, as well as the whole University area, is surrounded by wide, green spaces, far from the streets and safe for outdoor games.
Meals are a communal experience, with all staff and participants taking turns helping with aspects of meal preparation, clean-up, and dishwashing.
The project truly aspires to create a large international family, and meals become an important, shared activity of the community!