Discover Wenatchee's Steven Hightower: Uplift Awards Nominee

We now know who stands to be recognized at the 2025 Wenatchee Valley Uplift Awards.

The nominees were announced earlier in the month. Among them is Steven Hightower, Behavioral Health and Crisis Programs Director at Catholics Charities in Wenatchee.

These awards are part of a larger celebration: the Martin Luther King, Jr. Multicultural Fest, scheduled for Jan. 18 at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. (Click here for more information.)

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Hightower is imperishably modest and self-effacing, shunning all the trappings of local notoriety. For nine years he has been at Catholic Charities, "working with individuals with behavioral health disorders - specifically mental illness and substance use disorders," Hightower says. "What that means to me, really, is having the opportunity to serve the community, serve these populations and help them improve their quality of life and get on the path to recovery."

Social uplift "is relevant to the field I'm in. I'm pretty fortunate to work for an agency that has such a reach in the community."

Relief for the vulnerable and afflicted is a bedrock tenet of Catholic social teaching. It's a challenge for Hightower and his colleagues - looking after populations who've been grounded down by, among other things, a vicious housing crisis.

"As you know, housing is very difficult [to come by] and we have a large homeless population in our region," Hightower says. "A lot of that is associated with untreated mental illness and substance use disorder. We really try to support individuals in many aspects of their lives - not only treatment for those disorders, but helping them establish housing and whatever other issues they have."

What the behaviorally impaired and addicted and unhoused need first and foremost, Hightower says, is shelter.

"We need some housing first models," he tells KPQ. "A lot of studies do show that if individuals have housing, they're more successful at progressing in other parts of their lives and taking care of other problems."

The Landing, MN is giving the homeless in Rochester, Minnesota a place to land.

While Rochester, Minnesota is home to the world-famous Mayo Clinic, it is also home to many who are facing homelessness. Thankfully, in 2018, The Landing MN was founded which is a resource-based non-profit organization that assists multiple individuals with fulfilling needs, such as handling medical resources, seeking housing, and obtaining necessities for day-to-day living. Get a glimpse at the impact The Landing, MN is making in the community at the photos below and at their website here.

Gallery Credit: Jessica Williams