Raina McLaughlin is a recovering addict, an alcoholic, a new mother and homeless, and up against tremendous odds to remain on a straight path to a stable life.

In March, the 27-year-old Native American woman was spending another night at the Missouri Slope Areawide United Way emergency shelter in south Bismarck.

“I’m pregnant now and I need to get my stuff together,” she said. “It’s very comforting here. I’m grateful and blessed to have a place like this to come to. All of these people are like my family. We try to look out for each other.”

People of color, especially Native Americans, are an overrepresented segment of the homeless population.